The Walt Disney Co. appears to be the latest corporation to cut back on hiring and spending as the economy cools.
The entertainment giant reportedly announced changes to senior staff this week after a disappointing quarterly report released on November 8 sent stocks plunging to a 21-year low.
An internal memo obtained by CNBC Nov. 11 detailed plans by Disney CEO Bob Chapek to institute a hiring freeze, cut jobs, and reduce executive costs.
“We are limiting headcount additions through a targeted hiring freeze,” Chapek wrote to division leaders, according to CNBC. “Hiring for a small subset of the most critical, business-driving positions will continue, but all other roles are on hold.”
The Epoch Times could not immediately verify the memo because Disney representatives did not return a request for comment by press deadline.
In the reported memo, Chapek also said the company “will look at every avenue of operations and work to find savings, and we expect some staff reductions as part of the review.”
He also apparently told his executive staff that business travel should be limited to essential trips and meetings should be held as close as possible.
“I am fully aware that this has been a difficult process for many of you and your teams,” the chief executive wrote, according to the report. “We have to make difficult and uncomfortable decisions.”
The cuts are expected to help the company realize revenue for its streaming service Disney+ by 2024 and make the company “more efficient and agile,” the memo said.
The family entertainment giant released a disappointing earnings report on November 8 that showed a decline in advertising sales and increased costs for streaming programming. Losses from video streaming services Disney+ and Hulu added to the decline.
Disney’s losses more than doubled to $1.47 million from July through September in the company’s direct-to-consumer division, Disney reported.
The company’s shares fell 13 percent after the quarterly results report, representing the biggest one-day decline since September 2001, Bloomberg reported.
Declining advertising sales also contributed to the decline, the company reported.
Netflix, Twitter, and Facebook’s parent company Meta are among the many companies that have also announced job cuts this year.
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