Disney is laying off roughly 75 employees across ABC News and its eight ABC Owned Television Stations as part of ongoing cost-cutting efforts.
The impacted employees are about evenly split between both groups, an individual familiar with the matter told TheWrap. No specific teams have been eliminated and there will be no impact to the network’s national or local programming.
“As we look to the future and refining a team that is not only capable of excellence in reporting and delivering the highest quality content but is also streamlined and sustainable, we must occasionally make some tough decisions. Unfortunately, today is one of those days,” ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic said in a memo to staff. “Across the various ranks of ABC News, a limited number of our colleagues are being impacted by staff reductions. As you know, this has been happening across the broader company and the industry at large in recent weeks and months.”
“For us, it means shaping a team that embraces the new media landscape and evolves along with it, which we must do to continue serving our viewers. Of course, this news is the most difficult for those who are directly affected,” he continued. “To those individuals, I want to say your contributions have not gone unnoticed. Thank you for serving the team and our profession on behalf of the entire ABC News family.”
Wednesday’s cuts come a day after Disney combined ABC Entertainment and Hulu’s scripted drama and comedy teams under Simran Sethi. Additionally, ABC Signature will cease to operate as a standalone studio and fold into 20th Television under president Karey Burke. The changes are expected to impact roughly 30 Disney Entertainment Television employees.
Additionally, Disney laid off 300 corporate employees last month, 140 DET staffers in July and 175 people from Pixar in May.
Disney isn’t the only media giant laying people off, shutting down studios and slashing costs. Paramount has been cutting 15% of its U.S. workforce as part of an effort to generate $500 million in annual run rate cost savings. Impacted areas thus far have included Paramount+’s communication and content strategy teams, Paramount Advertising, the shuttering of Paramount Television Studios and marketing, finance, legal, technology and other support functions across the company.
