Entertainment giant Disney said it was laying off 7,000 employees as CEO Bob Iger announced a reorganisation of the company he returned to lead last year.
The job cuts follow similar moves by US tech giants dialing back from a hiring spurt that began during the height of the pandemic. I do not make this decision lightly,” Iger said on a call to analysts after Disney posted its latest quarterly earnings. In its 2021 annual report, the group said it employed 190,000 people worldwide, 80 percent of whom were full-time.
“We are going to take a really hard look at the costs for everything that we make, both across television and film,” Iger said. Because things in a very competitive world have just simply gotten more expensive.”
The storied company founded by Walt Disney said its streaming service saw its first ever fall in subscribers last quarter as consumers cut back on spending.
Subscribers to Disney+, the streaming archrival to Netflix, fell one percent to 161.8 million customers on December 31, compared to three months earlier. Analysts had broadly expected the decline, and the Disney share price climbed more than five percent in post-session trading.
“There are still big challenges ahead for Disney,” Insider Intelligence principal analyst Paul Verna said in a note to investors.
“Its traditional TV business is eroding, its streaming operation is not yet profitable, and it’s facing pressure from an activist investor to rein in costs and plan for a post-Iger succession. Disney is also going to look at the volume of content it makes and the pricing of its streaming services, Iger told analysts.
We were in a global arms race for subscribers,” Iger said of Disney+ early days as a challenger to Netflix and Amazon Prime. I think we might have gotten a bit too aggressive in terms of our promotion; and we are going to take a look at that.
Source: eNCA
In other news – Amapiano artist Coolkiid confesses to having s.e.x with an underage girl
Afropop musician Coolkiid confessing to having s.e.xual intercourse with an underaged girl, has been shared on social media. The Inhliziyo hitmaker — whose real name is Avuyile Nkompolo — was arrested last December after the victim’s father opened a rape case against him.
In the video shared by Zimoja on Twitter, Coolkiid, 24, is questioned by the 13-year-old girl’s father about the incident. Learn more
