Pixar, the animation powerhouse known for pulling at heartstrings and striking box office gold alike, is set to undergo layoffs this year. Known for blockbuster hits like Finding Nemo and Toy Story, the studio will trim its workforce all in the name of streaming profitability for its parent company, Disney Studios.
As per a report by TechCrunch, sources within the American studio are buzzing about cuts as steep as 20%, potentially shrinking Pixar's workforce from 1,300 down to a figure under 1,000. Pixar, however, stated that those numbers might be a bit overblown. The final tally is still up in the air, tangled in factors like production schedules and what new wonders Disney will be greenlighting next.
Going deeper, it appears that the animators who were hired to jazz up Disney+'s content roster are the ones getting the chop. Despite Disney+ increasing its subscriptions (estimates put it at around 7 million new users in Q4), soaring past expectations, and bringing its total to an incredible 150 million, the House of Mouse's streaming division still isn't safe The service's ad-supported tier is growing, sure, but turning a profit is a whole different story.
Now that it seems to have felt the pinch in ad revenue and streaming losses, Disney wants to tighten the belt and get somewhere around $7.5 billion in savings. Bob Iger claims recent company-wide restructuring brought in "tremendous efficiencies." Having slashed its losses from nearly $1.5 billion to a more palatable $387 million in the last quarter of 2023, it's hard to argue with Iger on this.