Re: Bracing For The Bloodbath: Woke Disney Layoffs To Resume Monday

[Woke and Broke]

Bob Duncan <bob7d...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:ss467m$d3f8$1...@news.freedyn.de:

> davej wrote
>
>>
>> Good. It's time they fired some of those gay pedophile child
>> stalking creeps.

It was originally described as the “big one,” or even more pointedly, a
straight-up “bloodbath.”

Either way, the lion’s share of layoffs at Disney are expected to begin
Monday. From April 24-27, there will be Mouse House employees in film and
TV losing their jobs every single day (except Friday), we hear. A rep for
Disney declined comment.

To say that anxiety is high is an understatement. Just about everyone who
works on Buena Vista Street in Burbank is on high alert, wondering whether
their number is up.

“There is a sense of foreboding that the cuts are going to be wide, large-
scale and very meaningful,” an industry source said, noting how low
company morale is right now amid persistent rumors that at least one
person from each department would have to go.

The sweeping layoffs are among the first major moves for Bob Iger since
his surprise return as Disney CEO in late November.

“It sucks, to be honest,” a longtime film exec at the company said. “Iger
coming back got everyone’s hopes up for investment in people as well as
creativity. Truth is if you’re not operating a ride at the parks, you
could be on the chopping block. Maybe the worst part is still not knowing
who is being let go, no matter how much time you put in.”

One employee even begged a Deadline reporter to find out if their job was
safe.

“Pray 4 me,” another texted.

Iger confirmed in March that three rounds of layoffs would occur as the
company looks to reduce its workforce by about 7,000 employees in an
effort to to reach $5.5 billion in overall cost savings. The initial round
came a few days before the company’s annual shareholder meeting April 3
and involved a consolidation of production operations across Disney TV
Studios, Hulu, Freeform and FX and the shutdown of the studio operations’
Creative Acquisitions department. (A small business unit that was focused
on exploring the metaverse was also axed.)

The second, much bigger wave of layoffs next week will get Disney close to
the 7,000 goal, we hear. Virtually every Disney Entertainment entity — TV
networks and studios and film studios — is expected to be affected in a
significant way. According to sources, the various division heads were
given cost targets. They translate to different percentages of the
workforce for each unit, which could amount to 5%, to 10%, 15% and even
more in some cases, we hear.

Network programming and studio marketing are believed to be among the
areas that will take a hit this time, and there will be a new round of
cuts at ABC News (which already underwent layoffs last month), sources
said. The remnants of the dismantled Disney Media and Entertainment
Distribution are an obvious target, too.

And then there is Hulu.

The parts of the company focused on streaming are particularly on edge
given the mounting intrigue about Disney’s plans for Hulu, particularly
since it contributed to overall losses in streaming of $1.5 billion in the
most recent quarter. The company took full operational control of Hulu in
2019, but Comcast still has a 33% financial stake. In a “put/call”
arrangement slated to take effect in early 2024, Disney can buy out
Comcast, but Iger has recently said that “everything is on the table.” The
agreement states that the minimum value of Hulu will be $27.5 billion at
the time of a transaction. That means Disney would have to commit to
shelling out at least $9 billion at the same time it is cutting staff and
planning to restore its stock dividend after suspending it during Covid.

“Hulu will definitely be one place to watch with these cutbacks,” observes
one high-level exec at another media company. “Since they took control,
they have kept it U.S. only and managed it pretty conservatively, meaning
it’s either going to get beamed up into Disney+ or they could just let it
go entirely. My money’s on the former, but that means they could operate
it a lot more efficiently.”

In one precursor of what could lie ahead, Joe Earley was upped this month
from his role as president of Hulu to broader oversight of direct-to-
consumer streaming at Disney Entertainment. Departing in that shuffle was
Michael Paull, a onetime Amazon veteran whose six-year Disney run followed
the company’s acquisition of BamTech, which Paull ran as CEO when it was
owned by Major League Baseball. “There was zero room for Michael in the
new structure,” one former Disney exec said.

ESPN, now one of three business units at the company — a new structure
implemented under Iger after he re-took the controls from Bob Chapek —
will also be under the microscope in terms of cutbacks. A major wrinkle:
Disney and ESPN face a looming renewal of multibillion-dollar NBA rights.
While there is consistent chatter of other top professional sports
following the model of Major League Soccer’s venture with Apple, one exec
who negotiates sports-rights deals says leagues would prefer maintaining
the kind of cash flow they do with more traditional licensing deals.

“Why do you think MLB sold BamTech off in the first place? They didn’t
want to be in the direct-to-consumer business,” the exec says. “For
Disney, they put their chips into the middle of the table by bringing
BamTech in. In this environment, though, they have to take another hard
look at their costs in running all of that infrastructure as they look to
keep cash available for rights.”

That “hard look” will likely cost veteran employees their jobs next week,
with former longtime ESPN anchor Bonnie Bernstein lamenting the pending
layoffs on Twitter.

“I love our industry. It’s brought so many amazing things to my life. But
my heart aches for my friends at ESPN/Disney awaiting the next round of
cuts,” she wrote. “Many have been there 20, 30 yrs. It’s all they know.
The anxiety of ‘what’s next’ for lifers in any line of work… so tough.”

<https://deadline.com/2023/04/disney-layoffs-coming-tv-film-departments-
1235329916/>

Time to get rid of the woke queers. Go woke, go broke.