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Bob Iger: »Global Economic Challenges«
Photo:
KENA BETANCUR / AFP
Bob Iger had previously led Disney for 15 years when he took over the post from his successor Bob Chapek in late 2022.
And so the 71-year-old, whom the group brought back from retirement, is not wasting any time either: Despite good business in the past quarter, he has announced significant cuts in personnel and a comprehensive restructuring of the group.
Around 7,000 jobs - three to four percent of the global workforce - are to be eliminated at the entertainment giant as part of a program designed to reduce annual costs by $5.5 billion.
This was announced by Iger on Wednesday evening when the quarterly figures were presented.
Among other things, Iger had shaped the giant Disney group by buying the companies behind the “Star Wars” series and the “Marvel” films.
In view of "global economic challenges", Iger has now announced a restructuring into three segments: an entertainment division, which includes film, television and streaming, a sports-focused unit and the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products division.
The restructuring will streamline processes, make the business more efficient and reduce costs, it said.
Most recently, Disney laid off 32,000 employees during the corona pandemic, mainly in theme parks.
Major investor Peltz is pushing for higher returns
The Disney+ streaming service in particular was mixed after price increases.
At the end of the quarter, the video service had 161.8 million users worldwide - a good one percent fewer than three months earlier.
Disney's other streaming services, Hulu and ESPN+, posted modest gains.
In addition, the division's loss of $1.1 billion was lower than feared.
In the previous quarter, the minus was $ 1.5 billion.
Disney's austerity and job cuts follow other media companies that have also announced job cuts in response to slowing subscriber growth and increasing competition from rivals like Netflix and Amazon for streaming viewers.
Disney has now reported a decline in the number of subscribers for its Disney+ streaming division for the first time in a quarter.
It lost more than a billion dollars.
The company is now expected to save $2.5 billion in selling, operating and general administrative expenses, with an additional $3 billion in savings from layoffs and cuts in non-sports content.
Disney has recently earned well: In the three months to the end of December, profits increased by eleven percent year-on-year to $1.3 billion - still slightly below analyst estimates of $1.429 billion.
Revenues grew by eight percent to 23.5 billion.
With this, Disney exceeded the forecasts.
Big investor Nelson Peltz, known for aggressively meddling in management, is demanding higher returns and board influence from Disney.
Disney has so far rebuffed him and his hedge fund Trian, but must avoid a shareholder uprising.
After all, the austerity course that has now been announced was well received by investors.
Disney shares are up more than 9 percent in after-hours trading.
Apr/dpa/Reuters