Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Disney was hit with layoffs on Wednesday as approximately 140 employees, or 2% of its workforce, were let go in the television division.
No teams are being eliminated, but National Geographic, locally owned television stations, Freeform, as well as the network’s marketing and publicity teams will primarily be affected by cuts.
National Geographic will have the largest reduction in staff with 60 employees, or about 13% of the team, being let go. Disney acquired the brand, best known for all things nature and history, as part of its $71 billion acqusition of 21st Century Fox in 2019.
Disney’s CEO Bob Iger earlier this year shared plans to “pretty dramatically” reduce spending on pay-TV content, particularly content “aimed at those traditional network,” after investing “too much” in streaming.
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