Disney Employees Get Financially Violated as Bob Iger Channels Inner “DOGE” Energy–Layoffs Continue…

Well it appears Disney just channeled it’s inner “DOGE” energy as the company just eliminated 6% of its news and entertainment division, showing once again that Mickey Mouse plays hardball when the spreadsheets demand blood. The Mouse House is axing nearly 200 jobs from ABC News and shuttering… checks notes… Nate Silver's once-celebrated data journalism site 538.

(Source: Yahoo Finance) 

In short, the cuts primarily hit ABC News, where management is consolidating production teams for "20/20" and "Nightline" while also trimming staff from "Good Morning America." Apparently, ABC's three-hour morning programming block is two hours too many in this economy. Meanwhile, ABC News President Almin Karamehmedovic delivered the grim news saying, "Rethinking the way we work to future-proof our team regrettably includes reductions to our extraordinary staff." Translation: Your extraordinariness doesn't generate sufficient EBITDA. As you can imagine, the announcement went over about as well as when Bob Chapek tried to charge extra for FastPass. 

Live look at Disney employees this morning… 

(Source: Giphy) 

Additionally, Disney is putting 538 out of its misery, the political and data journalism outlet founded by Nate Silver that ESPN acquired in 2013 before shuffling it to the network side in 2018. Silver's statistical models correctly predicted 49 of 50 states in the 2008 election but failed to predict Trump reclaiming the “Iron Throne” in 2024. Of course, Silver left the company in 2023, proving once again that the rats know to abandon the ship first.

Meanwhile, when it comes to investors, shares barely moved on the news of 200 people losing their livelihoods. Shares are down about 2% year-to-date while the broader market continues to get taken behind the barn and shot. However, this is just the tip of Disney's cost-cutting iceberg—the company has eliminated over 8,000 roles since 2023, targeting $7.5 billion in annual savings. 

(Source: Entrepreneur) 

Which makes sense considering Disney reported a 7% year-over-year drop in linear network revenue last quarter, with operating income plunging 11%. Those cable affiliate fees that once printed money? Yeah, gone with the wind. Of course, the cord-cutting phenomenon hit traditional networks like a freight train, obliterating the ad revenue and affiliate fees that once fueled executive bonuses and lavish upfront parties. But Disney's response? Shuffles through documents Ah yes, fire the content creators while maintaining the C-suite. Sounds legit.

On the other hand, despite the obvious decline, Disney CFO Hugh Johnston continues peddling the fantasy that linear TV remains viable: "Linear networks and streaming are in many ways two sides of the same coin," he told Yahoo Finance last month. "In many ways, we've kind of perfectly hedged the business." Yeah, well someone should tell Johnston that linear TV viewership is dropping faster than Netflix drops new stand-up specials. But Disney executives insist on "holding onto traditional TV assets" with the determination of a my boomer father clinging on to his AOL email. 

Meanwhile, Disney+ subscribers dropped again last quarter, with the company projecting "modest declines" ahead. Netflix, however, continues to dominate while raising prices. The contrast couldn't be clearer if it were written in 72-point font and highlighted in yellow.

In the end, Bob Iger returned to "save" Disney in 2022, and his magic solution has been layoffs, price increases, and more layoffs. Meaning, the man famous for acquisitions is now equally famous for reductions. Yet, Wall Street analysts remain bullish. Shockingly. So will this have a major impact on Disney going forward (in a good way)? Only time will tell. 

But one thing I do know is that Disney’s financials are becoming eerily similar to me watching my Dallas Cowboys play—you know it’s going to be painful, but you can’t look away. And like my other Cowboy fans, Disney shareholders keep coming back, hoping this time will be different. Maybe it will, but as of right now—it’s unlikely (fyi shares are down -5.91% over the past FIVE years—bigly).

For now, keep your eyes on Disney and place your bets accordingly, friends. As always, stay safe and stay frosty! Until next time… 

P.S. $1.4 million, $1.02 million, and $6.715 million—these aren’t lottery winnings or Miami real estate prices… they’re all insider transactions that have gone down in the last week while retail investors were busy panic-selling everything. Want to track these corporate fat cats in real-time so you can pretend you're also an executive with material nonpublic information? (Legally, of course.) Click here to join Stocks.News premium while you still can…

Stocks.News holds positions in Disney and Netflix as mentioned in the article.