Entertainment Industry Layoffs: Disney, Sony, and SnapChat Downsize

Relentless downsizing in the arts, entertainment and creative industries continues with layoffs at Disney, Sony Pictures, SnapChat, Bad Robot and Artnet, driven by the application of artificial intelligence tools and investor pressure for quick returns.

Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California announced what Forbes magazine described as “massive layoffs” under newly appointed CEO Josh D’Amaro, with plans to lay off over 1,000 workers to streamline operations across studios, television networks and sports.

Unlike artists hired for a single film, these long-term illustrators, character designers and environment specialists were a part of a single, unified endeavor of “world-building” years before film production commenced. They translated, for example, comic book costumes into cinematic form. By shifting this in-house team to a project-based freelance model, the studio loses over a decade of knowledge from the creative workers who ensured that hundreds of disparate characters and places felt like part of a single cohesive unit.

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Disney is keeping a skeleton crew in place at Marvel to coordinate hiring on a project-by-project basis while making cuts at Hulu and FX, where support staff in administrative and “content-adjacent” roles are being trimmed as these brands are folded into other departments.

Various administrative, finance and legal roles across Disney’s Burbank and New York locations are being reduced to cut overhead.

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Snap CEO Evan Spiegel revealed that the company will cut 16% of its full-time staff, or around 1,000 employees, citing AI as offering “a new way of working.”

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The BBC’s interim director general Rhodri Talfan Davies announced redundancy proposals that would lead to up to 2,000 jobs cut from the broadcasting channel.

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Marvel is impacted by the Disney layoffs, with a staff reduction of 8% in most departments across film and television production, comics, franchise, finance, legal, as well as visual development.

Disney is planning to cut nearly 1,000 employees over the next few months in its first round of cuts under newly appointed CEO Josh D’Amaro, with most cuts hitting the marketing and brand organization departments.

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Sony Pictures Entertainment laid off a few hundred from a global staff of around 12,000 in early April, with positions impacted largely in the junior and middle management realm.

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The entertainment and media industry suffered through another difficult year in 2025, with over 17,000 jobs cut across television, film, broadcast, news and streaming in the first 11 months — an 18% increase from the previous year.

The most cited reason for layoffs was restructuring and industry consolidation, according to Challenger.

TheWrap

The FCC’s official approval of the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media led to layoffs across the Paramount entertainment business, while Disney implemented cost-cutting measures as part of CEO Bob Iger’s 2023 initiative to address audience migration from cable TV to streaming platforms.

A World Economic Forum survey found that 41% of companies worldwide expect to reduce their workforces over the next five years due to the rise of artificial intelligence.

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Generative AI’s ability to handle more complicated tasks has led companies to cut jobs, although the actual return on investment of AI tools has been disappointing, while tech jobs in big data, fintech, and AI are expected to double by 2030 according to the WEF.

Digital media companies that relied heavily on SEO and search are adapting strategy as some shutter, like Teen Vogue, following layoffs across Condé Nast and Penske-owned properties that removed work-from-home employment and instituted in-office mandates.