The Walt Disney Company is reshaping its workforce as hundreds of employees face job losses while the entertainment giant expands its push into artificial intelligence.
Under CEO Josh D'Amaro, Disney has appointed its first company-wide chief technology officer, Karandeep Anand, the former CEO of AI company Character.AI, and is hiring for a senior role focused on AI-enabled legal workflows and automation.
Disney Cuts Hundreds of Jobs in Latest Shake-Up
The entertainment giant is cutting several hundred jobs in its latest corporate shake-up, primarily across its human resources and technology departments, according to a source familiar with the matter. The latest round is the third reported wave of layoffs since D'Amaro became CEO in March, and is smaller than the approximately 1,000 positions Disney eliminated in April.
A source familiar with the latest changes told CNBC that human resources and technology teams bore the brunt of the downsising, while Deadline reported that the film studio and television division were largely spared.
MORE DISNEY LAYOFFS?
— LayoffHedge (@LayoffAI) September 29, 2026
Would be third round under the new CEO.
Read his full memo to staff after a strong quarter.
The last time Disney said "groundwork for growth," it cut jobs in April.
Much deeper cuts expected. pic.twitter.com/usmmjrkH0V
Over the summer, Disney also carried out another round of job cuts, affecting hundreds of employees across parts of the company, including ESPN and other corporate operations. The latest cuts come after Disney offered early retirement packages to some veteran employees in August as part of its cost-cutting efforts.
As of the end of fiscal 2025, Disney employed about 231,000 people, including approximately 172,000 in the US and 59,000 outside the country.
Disney's Cost-Cutting Drive Continues
Disney's latest cuts follow the elimination of about 1,000 positions in April across the marketing group and other parts of the business, including its studio and television operations, ESPN, products and technology, and certain corporate functions.
During its August earnings call, Disney said it remained focused on reducing costs across the company while creating capacity to invest in future growth. The company also introduced early-retirement incentives for some senior executives.
'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 labor and SG&A,' Disney stated in that report. 'We are mid-stream in this work and will provide future updates on progress.'
D'Amaro Pushes 'One Disney' Strategy
D'Amaro took over as CEO in March from longtime chief Bob Iger. Since then, he has pushed a strategy focused on operating as 'One Disney' and strengthening coordination across the company's businesses.
On Disney's August earnings call, D'Amaro said the company was focused on executing as one company around a unified strategy, with technology helping to connect its franchises, data and fan experiences. Disney has identified operating as One Disney as one of its three strategic priorities.
Disney Steps Up AI and Technology Push
The workforce reductions are taking place alongside a broader expansion of Disney's technology and artificial intelligence operations.
On 18 September, Disney announced that Karandeep Anand, who most recently served as CEO of Character.AI, will become the company's first company-wide chief technology officer. The newly created role takes effect on 2 October, with Anand reporting directly to D'Amaro.
As chief technology officer, Anand will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering, working across Disney's technology teams to modernise how the company builds and delivers technology. Disney also said that a number of Character.AI's technical team members are expected to join the company.
Disney's AI push extends beyond the new CTO appointment. The company is also hiring a Director of AI Enablement & Legal Engineering, a senior role focused on using AI, automation and technology to redesign legal workflows.
The role involves developing AI-enabled solutions and modernising processes across areas including legal research, contract review, regulatory analysis and compliance.
D'Amaro has also made clear that AI is part of Disney's wider technology strategy. During the August earnings call, he said Disney was using AI strategically across its studios and the wider company to improve efficiency, accelerate work and support creativity. He also said the technology was being used across areas including content production, streaming personalisation, advertising and theme-park experiences.
The developments point to two parallel changes at Disney under D'Amaro: continued efforts to reduce costs and reorganise its workforce, alongside increased investment in AI and technology capabilities.
