Major Disney Executives Leave As Part of Company's Job Cuts

Since Bob Iger returned as Disney CEO in November 2022, we’ve heard about plans for a restructuring of the company.

When Chapek took over in 2020, he created the Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED) division — which Iger says “was a mistake.” Disney has since made some major executive shakeups, but those aren’t the only employees being affected.

In November 2022, Chapek announced a hiring freeze. When Iger took over just a couple of weeks later as CEO, he announced that the hiring freeze would still happen. Then in February 2023, Iger revealed that the company would be cutting 7,000 jobs from current jobs and open positions.

Disney recently announced that the job cuts would begin this week, and now we’ve got more details on who exactly this will impact. We already learned that Disney has made cuts with people working on the metaverse and Amazon Prime-like service.

According to Deadline, the first wave of layoffs “involves a consolidation of production operations across Disney TV Studios, Hulu, Freeform and FX under Carol Turner and the shutdown of the studio operation’s Creative Acquisitions department.”

Turner is set to take on an expanded role with Mark Levenstein (SVP Production for Hulu) and Jayne Bieber (SVP Production Management & Operations for Freeform). Network and Platform production for scripted television across Disney Entertainment will all be under Turner.

©Disney

Also, Elizabeth Newman (VP of Development who was overseeing Creative Acquisitions for Disney Television Studios) is leaving and that department will be dissolved. The department was originally created to identify and secure rights of books, podcasts, news stories, and other IP that can be used by ABC Signature and 20th Television’s roster for ABC, Hulu, Freeform, FX, Disney+, NatGeo and other platforms.