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Disney Lays Off 7,000 Employees As Streaming Subscribers Decline


Disney lays off 7,000 employees as streaming subscribers drop

Disney+’s struggles come as its arch-rival Netflix has emerged from its own troubled period.

San Francisco:

Entertainment giant Disney said on Wednesday that it was laying off 7,000 employees, the first major decision by Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger since he was asked to return to lead the company on last year.

The layoffs come after similar moves by US tech giants that have lay off thousands of workers as the economy falters and companies return to the hiring boom that began at the height of the pandemic.

“I’m not making this decision lightly. I have great respect and appreciation for the talent and dedication of employees around the world,” Iger said on a call to analysts after Disney. announced its latest quarterly earnings.

According to its 2021 annual report, the group employed 190,000 people worldwide as of October 2 of that year, 80% of whom were full-time employees.

The popular company founded by Walt Disney also said its streaming service saw a drop in subscribers for the first time last quarter as consumers cut back on spending.

Subscribers to Disney+, Netflix’s online rival, fell 1% to 168.1 million customers on December 31, compared with three months earlier.

Analysts had widely predicted a decline, and Disney stock price remained 8% higher in post-session trading.

Investors were reassured by Disney’s lower-than-expected operating loss for their streaming platforms at $1 billion between October and December.

Across its vast entertainment empire, Disney Corporation posted $23.5 billion in revenue over a three-month period, better than analysts expected.

Iger, who stepped down as CEO in 2020 after nearly two decades running the long-running company, was brought back after the board ousted his replacement, Bob Chapek. It disappoints his ability to contain costs.

Chapek was also chosen to centralize power around a small group of executives who make key decisions about content despite having little experience in Hollywood.

Iger’s new term as CEO is facing major headwinds, including a campaign by activist investor Nelson Petz, who is demanding massive cost cuts after he spoke that Disney overpaid for the 20th Century Fox studio.

Disney is also embroiled in a dispute with Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who is seeking to regain control of the area around Walt Disney World that until now has been controlled by the entertainment giant.

The politically conservative DeSantis, who is thought to be a potential US presidential candidate, is furious with Disney for criticizing a state law that prohibits sexual orientation lessons in school.

Disney+’s struggles come as its arch-rival Netflix has emerged from its own tough patch and announced a massive increase in new subscribers late last year.

In an effort to cut costs on its own, Netflix has begun a campaign to stop sharing passwords among hundreds of millions of global subscribers.

On Wednesday, Netflix revealed it has begun preventing password sharing in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain as it continues to roll out the new policy worldwide.

(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)

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