The tech segment is suffering one of its worst phases in recent years. After a surge in demand boosted by the pandemic, the ongoing financial crisis is driving some companies into stagnation. To reduce the impacts, most of the big techs are laying off employees and announcing a series of measures to reduce operating costs. In the past months, we saw firms like Twitter, Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft announcing measures in this regard. Now, Disney and Yahoo are also announcing layoffs to cut down costs.
When you hear Disney, you probably imagine a company with infinite money, right? The same goes for Microsoft, Google, and other big techs. Well, it seems that their money is not really infinite. Disney’s CEO Robert Iger revealed today that around 7,000 jobs will be cut. The move is part of a “significant transformation”. Meanwhile, Yahoo will cut 20% of its workforce, which is about 1,700 people. In the next week, the company will already lay off 1,000 of these jobs.
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Disney+ has been delivering a tepid performance
Disney currently employs 220.000 people across the world. As a result, the layoff of 7,000 jobs is almost 3.2% of the total workforce. That may not be too significant for the company but certainly is for those losing their jobs. The company employs 166,000 in the US and 54,0000 internationally. Iger says he looked into “every facet of the streaming business” and will work on “aggressively curate the general entertainment content”.
Curiously, Disney has been seeing a tepid performance of its video streaming business. Despite the amount of content, Disney+ is not really the most lucrative arm for the company. The service counts with a series of movies, shows, etc. Among them, we have some Marvel shows that are part of the MCU’s canon. The company has been seeing a small growth, and the situation would be worse if it wasn’t for the good performance of Disney thematic parks.
Yahoo’s ad division keeps bleeding
When it comes to Yahoo, it’s cutting jobs from its business ad tech unit. It brings almost no revenue and failed to deliver expectations. The move is to simplify and strengthen the advertising business in the long run. The goal is also to improve the experience for customers and partners”. If 1,700 jobs represent 20% of the company, it has about 8500 employees. The company may end up with just 6,800 employees. That’s a small number for a company that once fought among the big ones.
