Disney Executive Who Feuded With Bob Iger Has Been Laid Off

If you’ve been keeping up with Disney news recently, you probably know that CEO Bob Iger announced a plan to cut 7000 jobs across the company.

About 4000 of those jobs will be layoffs for current employees, while the other cuts will come from open positions. The first round of layoffs is happening this week, and we’re learning more about some of the positions that have been cut…including a major Marvel executive.

According to the New York Times, Disney has laid off Marvel Entertainment Chairman Isaac Perlmutter. Perlmutter was told over the phone that Marvel Entertainment (a small division centered on consumer products and run separately from Marvel Studios) was redundant and would be absorbed into other parts of the company.

If you recognize the name Perlmutter, it’s likely because the executive was recently pushing to get activist investor Nelson Peltz hired to the board of directors for The Walt Disney Company. Perlmutter contacted Disney board members and executives six times over the past year trying to get Peltz hired. When that was rebuffed, Peltz began his own campaign that officially ended back in February when Bob Iger revealed new cost-cutting objectives for the company.

Isaac Perlmutter (known as Ike) has been involved with Marvel for decades, but has not been involved with Marvel films since 2015 or series since 2019. “He gained control of the superhero company in the late 1990s and greatly expanded its merchandising business by licensing properties like X-Men and Spider-Man to movie studios.”

Perlmutter had feuded with both Bob Iger and Kevin Feige in the past over costs associated with producing Doctor Strange. Iger was then involved in the decision to take away oversight of Marvel moviemaking from Perlmutter.

©Marvel

The New York Times says that, “By the end, Mr. Perlmutter’s job was limited to businesses like comics publishing, which generates $40 million to $60 million in sales annually, according to analysts. (To contextualize, Disney had about $83 billion in total revenue in 2022.) He was also involved in Marvel game licensing, certain consumer products and superhero arena shows. Marvel Entertainment was based in New York.”

We’ll keep you updated on any more layoff news, as well as any updates on other ways that Disney is cutting costs to get its budget back in balance. Stay tuned to AllEars.