On the heels of other company layoffs, Walt Disney Co. announced Monday, Aug. 24, that it’s offering early retirement buyout packages to certain executives.
The “Voluntary Early Retirement Opportunity” offer was outlined in an internal memo sent to Disney employees from Sonia Coleman, a senior executive vice president in charge of human resources, and provided to the Southern California News Group.
The offer is a “time-limited,” company-sponsored program that gives eligible executives the opportunity to retire now with a sweetened retirement package of pay and other benefits that recognizes service and contributions.
The reduction in staff comes as the entertainment giant continues to look for cost-cutting measures.
“Over the past few years, we’ve made real changes to how we operate, and we’re still in that process,” wrote Coleman, who cited the entertainment giant’s improved financial progress made in its third fiscal quarter that ended June 27.
On Aug. 5, the company reported $2.64 billion in net income in the quarter, down 49.8% from a year-ago, on revenue of $25.25 billion, a 7% jump over the same year-earlier period. Net income hit $5.26 billion in the 2025 period due to one-time tax benefits included in the results.
The early retirement offer comes amid ongoing layoffs, with the elimination of 1,000 roles announced in April, followed by a round of hundreds of job cuts in July. Disney Chief Executive Officer Josh D’Amaro and Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston told investors earlier this month that more may be coming.
“We remain highly focused on reducing costs across the enterprise to create incremental capacity to invest for growth and are evaluating a variety of levers, including reductions in labor and SG&A (selling, general and administrative expenses),” wrote D’Amaro and Johnston in an Aug. 5, 2026, letter to shareholders. “We are mid-stream in this work and will provide future updates on our progress.”
D’Amaro, who succeeded long-time CEO Bob Iger, took over as chief executive on March 18.
Coleman did not state how many employees were offered early retirement. However, after the “time-limited” offer expires — which she didn’t say when that would happen — remaining “organizational needs” would be addressed through the company’s standard reduction-in-force process on a separate timeline.
Last October, Disneyland in Anaheim laid off 100 salaried employees as Orange County’s largest employer recalibrated its business ahead of the busy Christmas holiday season.
The company filed multiple layoff notices over the past year with the state’s Employment Development Department. In April, Disney filed one notice regarding 53 layoffs at its Disney Entertainment Operations in Burbank.
The layoffs were made as part of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act — commonly referred to as WARN. Such notices are required when an employer lays off more than 50 employees. All affected employees are notified at least 60 days before their terminations are scheduled to occur.
The Disneyland resort is Orange County’s largest employer with 36,000 workers.