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Leadership Independently confirmed2 publishers 2 min read Published

Disney's third round of cuts under D'Amaro reaches its HR and tech staff

Disney is cutting about 300 jobs, mostly in HR and tech, according to CNBC's source, in the third round of layoffs since Josh D'Amaro became CEO in March. The cost programme has now reached the HR staff who administer it. The wider jobs data does not yet show other employers doing the same.

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What happened

  • In April, Disney cut about 1,000 roles, most of them in its newly consolidated marketing organisation.
  • Disney's August 2026 earnings report said it was evaluating cost levers including reductions in labour and SG&A.
  • Deadline reported a voluntary retirement offer to Disney directors and above who are 50 or older and have at least ten years at the company.
  • Laid-off non-managers with under five years' service get four weeks' pay, and longer-serving ones get a week per year up to 52 weeks, Business Insider reported.

Why it matters

  • What doesn't add up contradiction The HR-heavy reading depends on CNBC's single anonymous source; Business Insider's source says only that tech and HR are among the teams hit, so how concentrated the round is in HR is unconfirmed.
  • What it limits constraint Thinning HR while a director-level retirement offer is open and more reductions are signalled leaves fewer people to process the exits still to come.
  • What it costs cost Because non-manager severance rises with tenure to as much as 52 weeks' pay, cutting long-serving HR and tech staff saves less in year one than the salary line suggests.
  • Who has to decide decision HR leaders elsewhere have no basis in this record for budgeting a wave of support-function cuts, since overall announced US layoffs are running well below last year.

Measured against headcount, the September round is small. Disney had 231,000 employees at the end of fiscal 2025, according to Deadline [10], so 300 roles is about 0.13% of the workforce [15]. This round and April's together come to roughly 1,300 jobs [16]. That total leaves out July, when Disney cut several hundred people in corporate functions across Pixar, ESPN, Disney Entertainment Television and its studios [6].

The 0.13% figure does not show the order in which the cuts have moved. Support staff inside the divisions were already exposed in July [6]. What September adds, according to CNBC's anonymous source, is a round in which most of the roles are in HR and tech [1]. In my view, these are the SG&A reductions Disney's August report said it was weighing [7]. D'Amaro said in an April memo that the cuts were "not a reflection of their contributions, or of the overall strength of the company." [13]

On size alone, 0.13% is housekeeping. But the company has said it is not finished. "We are mid-stream in this work and will provide future updates on our progress," Disney said in the August report [8]. I think the trade-off it has accepted is lower overhead this quarter against a smaller HR team next quarter, when the take-up of the retirement offer [9] and any further round still have to be processed.

For HR leaders at other companies, the national figures give little reason to treat Disney as the start of a trend. Challenger, Gray & Christmas counted 529,914 announced US job cuts through August 2026, down 41% from 892,362 in the first eight months of 2025 [12]. US media companies have announced 4,908 cuts so far this year [11]. Neither source breaks those figures down by function, so the evidence does not show HR and tech staff being singled out anywhere beyond Disney.

What to watch

  • Disney's next update to investors on its cost programme, and whether it confirms the September count and the HR and tech share.
  • Take-up of the voluntary retirement offer among directors aged 50 and over with a decade of service.
  • Whether other large employers announce cuts concentrated in HR and technology, which would give the wider-pattern claim the evidence it currently lacks.

Clarity's read

What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.

Reality

Evidence55
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap0
Incentives60
Confidence60
Why these scores

Claim ledger

Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.

  1. [1]

    CNBC, citing an anonymous source, reported that Disney will lay off around 300 employees, the majority of whom are in HR and tech roles.

    Reported Supported Source: CNBC via hcamag.com, anonymous sourceView cited source
  2. [2]

    Josh D'Amaro took over as Disney CEO in March 2026, succeeding long-time executive Bob Iger; the latest cuts are the latest round under him.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  3. [3]

    Disney is laying off employees for the third time since CEO Josh D'Amaro took the top job in mid-March.

    Reported Supported Source: Business InsiderView cited source
  4. [4]

    A person familiar with the move confirmed to Business Insider that Disney is cutting several hundred employees across teams, including tech and HR; Deadline first reported the cuts.

    Reported Supported Source: Business Insider, person familiar with the moveView cited source
  5. [5]

    In April 2026 Disney was reported to be cutting about 1,000 roles, with most of the reductions hitting its freshly consolidated marketing organisation.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  6. [6]

    Reports in July 2026 indicated Disney cut several hundred people in corporate functions across Pixar, ESPN, Disney Entertainment Television and Disney's studios.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  7. [7]

    Disney's August 2026 earnings report said: "We remain highly focused on reducing costs across the enterprise to create incremental capacity to invest for growth and are evaluating a variety of levers, including reductions in labour and SG&A."

    Reported Supported Source: Disney August 2026 earnings report, as quoted by hcamag.comView cited source
  8. [8]

    "We are mid-stream in this work and will provide future updates on our progress."

    Reported Supported Source: Disney August 2026 earnings reportView cited source
  9. [9]

    According to Deadline, Disney made a voluntary retirement offer to long-time employees at or above director level who are aged 50 or over and have been at the company for at least a decade.

    Reported Supported Source: Deadline, via hcamag.comView cited source
  10. [10]

    Disney had 231,000 employees as of the end of fiscal 2025, including 172,000 in the US and 59,000 elsewhere, according to Deadline.

    Reported Supported Source: Deadline, via hcamag.comView cited source
  11. [11]

    The US media industry has announced 4,908 job cuts so far in 2026, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

    Reported Supported Source: Challenger, Gray & ChristmasView cited source
  12. [12]

    There were 529,914 announced US job cuts to the end of August 2026, down 41% from 892,362 in the first eight months of 2025, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

    Reported Supported Source: Challenger, Gray & ChristmasView cited source
  13. [13]

    D'Amaro said in an April memo that the cuts were "not a reflection of their contributions, or of the overall strength of the company."

    Reported Supported Source: Josh D'Amaro, April memo, via Business InsiderView cited source
  14. [14]

    Laid-off Disney employees get severance based on rank and tenure: non-managers with less than five years get four weeks of pay; those with more than five years get one week of pay per year, up to 52 weeks.

    Reported Supported Source: Business InsiderView cited source
  15. [15]

    The roughly 300 September cuts equal about 0.13% of Disney's 231,000 employees.

    Derived Supported
  16. [16]

    The April and September rounds together total roughly 1,300 jobs, excluding July's several hundred.

    Derived Supported

Sources

2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.

  1. businessinsider.com

    1 article · September 29, 2026

    Disney is starting its 3rd round of layoffs under CEO Josh D'Amaro
  2. hcamag.com

    1 article · September 29, 2026

    HR roles hit in latest round of Disney cuts

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