Disney is planning a restructuring of its television operation that is expected to result in hundreds of layoffs and the consolidation of divisions, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The report landed one day after a judge approved the Paramount-WBD merger, with the combined company, now officially named Skydance, set to close the deal on October 6.
A Paramount insider tells Cosmic Book News the timing is no accident.
“Told you Disney & Netflix were doing everything to stop the merger, or at least delay,” says the insider. “Now that it’s done, expect MAJOR restructuring & firings at both.”
Hundreds Of Layoffs And Consolidated Divisions
Per the WSJ, senior Disney executives are working out a plan to organize the television business around streaming customers instead of divisions built decades ago for linear TV.
The plan could take until the end of the year to finalize, and ABC News is in line for further cuts as part of the shakeup.
Disney has been cutting all year. Layoffs already hit marketing, Pixar, ABC News, and ESPN, and this past Tuesday the company let go a few hundred more employees, mostly in human resources and technology.
None of this should surprise CBN readers. Our insiders said back in June that Disney is rebuilding itself around AI to put out more content with fewer people, and Disney’s own top lawyer confirmed a “much smaller organization” is coming in a September memo.
‘Told You’: Disney And Netflix Tried To Stop The Merger
The “told you” is on the record. Back on September 2, the same source told us Disney and Netflix knew what Paramount was planning and were “doing EVERYTHING to stop it.”
They didn’t stop it. The $111 billion deal closes October 6, and the insider says every streamer is about to feel it.
“Next 3-6 months are gonna be brutal for all streamers as they react to ParaBros & its combined 200M subscribers and huge movie output,” says the insider.
ParaBros is the insider’s nickname for the combined Paramount Warner Bros., which between HBO Max and Paramount+ controls around 200 million subscribers.
Netflix gets called out by name.
“Netflix is in big trouble,” the insider continues. “Competing against YouTube and ParaBros just got a lot harder.”
Netflix is already in a rough stretch.
The streamer lost the Warner Bros. bidding war to Paramount, the stock is down more than 40% over the last 12 months, and David Fincher just became the latest big name to walk away, following Shawn Levy to Disney and the Duffer Brothers to Paramount.
‘Disney+ Will Die Soon. Maybe Become A Tab Under Hulu’
The insider saves the biggest call for Disney’s streaming service.
“Disney+ will die soon. Maybe become a tab under Hulu,” says the insider. “Disney can’t afford to keep spending billions on streaming shows that nobody is watching. That’s my take on it.”
Disney handed that take some evidence this week. Alongside the restructuring news, Disney licensed a huge slate of its own movies and shows to Netflix, including all five Ice Age films, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and Pixar titles like Soul and Elio.
Disney taking Netflix’s checks for its own library is the exact picture the insider is painting: the content makes money where people are actually watching.
Skydance opens for business October 6. The insider says the next three to six months “are gonna be brutal.” Disney started restructuring before the doors even opened.
