Reappointed Disney CEO Bob Iger laid out a plan to restructure the company, and that includes laying off four percent of its workforce, which is equivalent to around 7,000 employees. The recent company to take a hit was Pixar Animation Studios as it let go of 75 employees.
Pixar Layoffs
Among those 75 positions, the director and producer of the movie "Lightyear" were included. Angus McLane, who served as the director of the film, has been working for Pixar Animation Studios for 26 years. He was also part of the creative team behind "Coco" and "Toy Story 4."
The producer who was also laid off was Galyn Susman, who has been with Pixar since the first "Toy Story" movie back in 1995. The two had contributed to the studio's success for decades before "Lightyear" was even an idea.
Sadly, the movie was a box office flop. "Lightyear" had a production budget of $200 million, according to The Guardian, and only had a $226.7 million earning in ticket sales, which is a far cry from the success of previous Pixar films.
The film was not shown in 14 Asian and Middle Eastern countries, which greatly contributed to its loss in ticket sales. Compared to "Incredibles 2," which had a similar budget, the 2018 movie managed to get worldwide box office sales of $1.2 billion.
"Lightyear" producer Susman has been regarded as someone who saved the "Toy Story 2" movie after an incident that led to the deletion of the entire movie from the studio's server. She happened to have a copy of the movie, which saved the team from losing their progress.
That save led to the movie grossing $512 million at the worldwide box office. On top of that, Susman had produced 13 other films along with contributing to seven other titles, according to Fandomwire, which is why it was hard for some to hear that Disney had let the producer go.
Overall, Pixar Animation Studios had around 1,200 employees, so even though 75 is a small number for an entertainment and media giant, it may have a huge impact on the studio, which is behind franchises that had brought in revenue for Disney.
Disney's Restructuring Under Bob Iger
Current CEO Bog Iger has played a huge role in making the giant that Disney is today. In an effort to bring back glory to the company, Iger plans to cut $5.5 billion in costs, which will impact several departments in Disney.
Disney has also been facing troubles with its streaming services. Disney Plus, for instance, has lost $10 billion since it was launched back in 2019. The Disney CEO's solution would be to focus on franchises that bring in the most revenue such as the Star Wars and Marvel franchises.
Iger expressed in an earnings call that the company must return creativity to the center of Disney, increase accountability, improve results, and ensure the quality of its content and experiences, as mentioned in The New York Times.
