DIS Stock Falls Premarket: Media Giant Reportedly Plans To Lay Off 1,000 Staff As New CEO Takes Over

• Disney shares declined 0.2% in Thursday’s premarket session, after climbing from a 52-week low late last month.
• The forthcoming layoffs would mostly impact Disney’s market department, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• Stocktwits sentiment for DIS has been dipping since the start of the month and was ‘bearish’ early Thursday.

Walt Disney shares inched 0.2% lower, and retail sentiment remained bearish after the Wall Street Journal reported that the media conglomerate planned to eliminate as many as 1,000 positions in the coming weeks.

The potential development would mark the first major move under CEO Josh D’Amaro, who took over last month. 

Plans for upcoming layoffs began before D’Amaro took over and will mostly affect the company’s recently consolidated marketing department, the Journal reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Disney employed 231,000 people at the end of its 2025 fiscal year, some 80% working in the experiences division, including theme parks and consumer products.

Media Layoffs

Like other Hollywood studios, Disney has had to contend with slower growth due to the competition and disruption from streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. 

The entire industry is implementing cuts. Sony Pictures, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery have reduced their workforce in recent months, with further layoffs likely when Paramount Skydance completes its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Disney has laid off more than 8,000 people under the previous CEO Bob Iger, who returned as CEO in 2022 and began a major restructuring. 

The company combined marketing for entertainment, experiences and sports under a single chief marketing officer, Asad Ayaz, for the first time, in January. Disney is also combining the staff of its Disney+ and Hulu streaming services as it prepares to merge both brands into one app.

Retail’s View On DIS Remains Glum

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for DIS has been dipping since the start of the month and was ‘bearish’ early Thursday, amid low message volume. “$DIS even superhero jobs are not safe anymore,” a user said in a lighter vein. 

To be sure, an early momentum is building in the stock. Disney shares have climbed nearly 8% since hitting a 52-week low on March 27. Still, they are down 13% year to date.

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