Disney to cut 7,000 jobs to cut costs by $5.5 billion

In the first quarter financial report, Disney CEO Bob Iger not only announced new projects such as "Toy Story 5", "Frozen 3" and "Zootopia 2", but also bad news, that is, he announced a layoff of 7,000 people, which can reduce costs by US$5.5 billion.

The main reason for the layoffs was the losses caused by the streaming business. The financial report showed that 2.4 million subscribers canceled their Disney+ subscriptions in the first fiscal quarter.

At the earnings conference, Bob Iger said that he would return the power of marketing and distribution to the creative department.

"Our new structure is designed to return greater power to our creative leaders and hold them accountable for the financial performance of their content. Our previous structure severed that connection, and it must be restored."

Iger explained that the company is based on storytelling, and it is crucial to empower creative storytellers to decide how to design and market their films. The previous CEO, Chadwick Bo, took the power of marketing and distribution away from the creative department and handed it over to the newly established media and entertainment distribution department, thus putting the power of spending the relevant budget in the hands of his cronies.

Iger has privately said he believes Bao Zhengbo's decisions are "killing the soul of the company."