Disney has laid off a select number of staffers in its product and technology division. The cuts represent a little less than 2% of Disney Entertainment and ESPN’s product and technology workforce, an individual familiar with the matter told TheWrap.
The source said the move is a rebalancing of resources and that Disney continues to invest and hire in P&T, noting that it’s a critical area for the company’s growth going forward.
A Disney spokesperson declined to comment.
Earlier this month, Disney laid off several hundred employees globally, impacting a limited number of positions in marketing for both film and television, publicity, casting, development and corporate financial operations.
Those cuts, which were part of the company-wide effort to reduce costs, were the fourth and largest impacting Disney’s TV operations, following nearly 200 jobs in March, or roughly 6% of ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks’ staff, 75 staffers across ABC News and its owned stations in October and 140 Disney Entertainment Television staffers last July.
In October, Disney also combined ABC Entertainment and Hulu’s scripted drama and comedy teams under Simran Sethi and folded ABC Signature into 20th Television under president Karey Burke.
The latest layoffs, which are unrelated to other recent cuts at the company, come after Disney Entertainment and ESPN appointed former Google and YouTube executive Adam Smith as its new chief product and technology officer in September.
Disney has been focused on its streaming password-sharing crackdown, which began rolling out broadly that same month. Other new tech features have included the launch of ESPN+ and Hulu tiles in Disney+, as well as Disney+ Streams, a group of themed, live 24/7 channels.
The company is also launching its new ESPN streaming service this fall, which will package the sports network’s programming with fantasy sports integrations, enhanced statistics, betting features and e-commerce.
