Disney is laying off employees once again, with 140 employees in Disney’s television division affected this time, including National Geographic workers. 60 of the 140 workers affected are from National Geographic, or roughly 13 percent of the division’s staff that remains after earlier layoffs (thanks, Variety ).
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The remaining 80 employees are from Freeform, locally owned TV stations, and Disney’s marketing and publicity teams.
The latest round of layoffs follows Disney CEO Bob Iger’s statement that he planned to cut spending on pay-TV after “over-investing” in streaming. Iger previously said he intended aggressive cutbacks in TV spending, though so far, there’s no indication that additional layoffs are planned.
Disney previously cut National Geographic’s staff and shuttered the publication’s physical magazine for everyone except subscribers, refocusing on digital distribution instead. Then, in May 2024, Disney-owned Pixar laid off 175 people.
The company’s restructuring efforts come after years of declining sales and revenue, and it extends beyond National Geographic and Pixar. Disney also had to rethink its strategy for Marvel and Star Wars , after returns for both mega franchises gradually began dropping, and started exploring ways to reach new audiences by investing in Epic Games and Fortnite.
That particular initiative hasn't seen any fruit yet, though with so many multimedia crossovers in Epic's multiplayer game , we're bound to see something sooner or later.
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