Disney Pixar job cuts come as CEO Bob Iger works toward his overarching mandate to focus on the quality of its content, not the quantity. 

Pixar layoffs

Pixar president Jim Morris told staff that affected employees will be notified Tuesday, as per a report, citing an internal memo.

Layoffs hit other Disney businesses last year, but Pixar’s cuts were delayed because of production schedules. Initially, it was reported that 20% of the animation studio’s employees would be laid off.

Pixel layoffs on Tuesday are less than originally anticipated, as some outlets reported the studio was planning on cutting 20% of its workforce, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The layoffs by Disney Pixel will affect or approximately 175 people, of the animation studio’s 1,300 employees, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the news.

Disney cuts spending

Disney has aggressively cut spending recently—as it aims to reduce $7.5 billion in annual costs—and CEO Bob Iger has also outlined plans to churn out less original content for Disney+ to maximize quality over quantity. Iger’s plans to reduce spending have resulted in more than 8,000 job cuts, according to Bloomberg. Pixar’s most recent theatrical release, “Elemental,” had one of the lowest-performing opening weekends in the studio’s history when it premiered last June. Reports have been circulating of potential layoffs at the animation studio since January, and the last round of job cuts occurred last June, when 75 roles were eliminated.

Disney’s content decision

Iger, who returned to the mantle of CEO in late 2022, has been working to reverse the company’s box office woes. This was spurred both by the company’s content decisions and pandemic shutdowns. While Disney has seen mixed box office success with several franchises, this included the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The company has found it challenging to get its animated features to resonate with audiences.

When theaters closed during the pandemic, Disney sought to pad the company’s fledgling streaming service Disney+ with content, stretching its creative teams thin and sending theatrical movies straight to digital.

Disney’s low profit

No Disney animated feature from Pixar or Walt Disney Animation has generated more than $480 million at the global box office since 2019. For comparison, just before the pandemic, “Coco” generated $796 million globally, while “Incredibles 2″ tallied $1.24 billion globally, and “Toy Story 4” snared $1.07 billion globally.

With Iger back at the helm, Pixar will refocus on theatrical releases and move away from short-form series for Disney+.

Disney’s stock

Earlier this month, Disney’s stock plummeted 10% in its worst day since November 2022, despite a strong earnings report. Disney share price fell to $105 on May 7. Disney’s stock has continued lagging since, trading around the price of $103 a share in intraday trading on Tuesday.

The post Pixar Faces Largest Layoffs in Its History Cutting 175 Jobs appeared first on Industry Leaders Magazine.

Iger said he looked expansively at traditional media when he came out of retirement to return to Disney as CEO in November 2022. He added, to prioritize streaming services, Walt Disney Co has significantly reduced its investment in traditional TV networks.

Disney cuts TV spending

Bob Iger added on the TV budget that traditional channels such as ABC still serve as an important marketing tool and help reach older viewers who are not watching series such as “Abbott Elementary” on Disney’s streaming platforms.

Still, the company has reduced “pretty dramatically our investment in content specifically aimed at those traditional networks,” Iger said at the MoffettNathanson’s 2024 Media, Internet and Communications Conference in New York.

“We feel comfortable with our hand right now, because we’re using those networks efficiently and effectively,” he said.

Disney’s focus on streaming service

Shows such as “Abbott” or “Grey’s Anatomy” move quickly to Disney’s Hulu streaming service, where they attract a younger audience, Iger said.

The strategy to focus on streaming service allows Disney to amortize costs across platforms, the CEO added. One executive, Dana Walden, oversees the traditional entertainment networks and streaming.

“We’re basically aggregating greater audience, and we’re amortizing costs and we’re using the marketing of the traditional network, really, to help in some cases,” Iger said.

“We’re doing that across the board, Disney Channel, ABC, National Geographic, and it’s working,” he added.

Disney’s theme parks

Iger said he expected continued growth from Disney’s theme parks business, but perhaps not at the same rate as in recent years.

“We’ve had double-digit revenue growth in that business for quite some time, and that’s extraordinary,” he said. “But I think we’re being realistic, too, in that delivering double-digit revenue growth … well into the future is not necessarily that achievable.”

Why Disney TV spending cut matters?

Disney’s Q2 earnings showed a 1% year-on-year revenue growth to $22.08 billion, slightly missing the consensus of $22.11 billion. The company’s entertainment revenue declined by 5% year-over-year to $9.8 billion, while sports revenue grew 2% year-over-year to $4.3 billion.

During the earnings call, Iger announced a global crackdown on password-sharing, citing Netflix Inc. as the “gold standard” in streaming.

Disney stock

Disney shares fell 2.5% to close at $102.77 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

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