Walt Disney Co. is moving towards thousands of job cuts as it pursues another round of cost reductions, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. Some managers have been asked to target annual cost savings of 20%, with both staffing cuts and other expense reductions under consideration. The plans would extend a period of retrenchment across the entertainment company while providing money for investment in businesses that its leadership wants to develop.

Disney employed 231,000 people globally at the close of its last fiscal year and has eliminated thousands of roles and billions of dollars in costs in recent years. The latest savings target applies to some managers, rather than being described as a company-wide requirement. Nor is the 20% figure a target for reducing headcount: the people familiar with the matter said savings could come from eliminating jobs or lowering other expenses. They requested anonymity because the deliberations are private.

The effects are expected to vary across Disney’s operations, which encompass television networks, filmmaking and theme parks. Some businesses will bear a disproportionate share of the reductions, the people said, without specifying how the cuts would be distributed. That distinction matters for understanding the scale of the exercise: a large global workforce provides context, but it does not establish which units or employees will be most exposed. A Disney representative declined to comment on the plans.

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Chief executive Josh D’Amaro intends to direct part of the money saved towards film and television programming, technology, theme parks and the cruise business, according to the people. The proposed reductions therefore sit alongside plans for further spending, rather than representing only a retreat from activity. The account of the discussions does not specify how much would be reinvested or how that money would be allocated among the intended recipients, leaving the balance between retrenchment and expansion undefined.

The financial backdrop includes Disney’s commitment to double-digit growth in adjusted earnings per share during the current fiscal year. The savings effort and the reinvestment plans show the parallel demands facing management: controlling expenditure while supporting businesses it intends to invest in. The figures describe different measures, however. The earnings commitment concerns growth in adjusted profit per share, while the 20% request concerns annual cost savings for some managers; neither establishes the eventual number of jobs to be eliminated.

Previous reductions have reached every Disney division, including Pixar, the film studio and the experiences unit. The breadth of that earlier programme places the latest discussions within an established effort to lower spending, rather than an isolated adjustment in one business. Plans to reorganise the television division, together with reductions in legal and global affairs, were also reported on Oct. 1. Those developments provide further context for a savings push whose effects are expected to differ across the organisation.

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Disney is not alone in reducing employment. Netflix, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Skydance’s Paramount and Warner Bros. divisions have also shed jobs. The industry faces declining revenue from traditional television alongside slower growth in streaming subscribers, putting pressure on businesses with different distribution models. That combination is important to the context of Disney’s plans: the challenge is not confined to its established television operations, even as the company considers changes to the structure of that division.

Competition for audiences adds another pressure. Viewers are increasingly turning to social media, online video and streaming offerings supported by technology companies such as Amazon and Apple. These shifts place Disney’s proposed investment in programming and technology alongside its efforts to reduce costs. They also illustrate the tension within the plan: management is seeking savings across an entertainment group while intending to reinvest some of that money in content, technology and experiences.

Disney president Dana Walden addressed the organisational challenge at a conference in Los Angeles last month. She said the company needed to keep reviewing its structure and size, linking that work to competition from technology businesses and Disney’s ambition to endure and grow. Her comments framed organisational review in terms of competition and growth. The available remarks did not, however, provide a breakdown of the layoffs now being contemplated or establish that staffing reductions would account for all of the requested savings.

The next questions concern the distribution of job cuts, the mix of staffing and other expense reductions, and the portion of savings that D’Amaro will reinvest. For now, the discussions point towards thousands of redundancies but do not provide a precise total. Disney’s earnings-growth commitment remains the financial backdrop, while the intended spending on programming, technology and experiences makes clear that the cost exercise is also about redirecting resources within the company.