Disney Completes Companywide Layoffs, Marketing Division Most Affected

Disney completed its latest round of layoffs this week, impacting employees across various divisions, including Hulu and the marketing group. The marketing division was particularly affected, reflecting a companywide effort to streamline operations.

The CEO informed staff on Tuesday that the company decided to streamline its enterprise marketing and brand groups to better serve consumers in a more connected way.

Following this, Asad Ayaz, Disney's chief brand officer, provided additional context in a memo to marketing employees on Wednesday night. Ayaz, who was promoted in January to the newly created role of chief marketing and brand officer consolidating marketing across entertainment, sports, and experiences divisions, stated that the leadership team had worked over several months to design a "thoughtful go-forward structure" for a unified marketing organization.

He said the goal was to unlock innovation, reduce complexity, and build critical capabilities while adapting to disruption across industries.

In the memo, Ayaz acknowledged that the review identified overlap in some roles and functions, leading to reductions in certain positions. He also noted that some remaining staffers have been offered new roles or responsibilities to ensure the organization is nimble and modern. Ayaz confirmed that all impacted employees have been informed of the changes.

The layoffs also affected some Hulu employees as Disney continues integrating Hulu into Disney+ to create a one-stop streaming platform. This integration is part of broader organizational changes taking place across several areas of the company, including marketing.

“Over the past few months, the marketing leadership team and I have been working together to design a thoughtful go-forward structure for our unified marketing organization that will unlock innovation, reduce complexity, and build critical capabilities." — Asad Ayaz > "As part of this work, we found overlap in some roles and functions and identified new skills we need going forward." — Asad Ayaz > "The company decided to streamline its enterprise marketing and brand groups to serve consumers in an even more connected way.”