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Disney to lay off 28,000 employees as COVID-19 hits hard

ANAHEIM, CA - JULY 17: In this handout photo provided by Disney parks, Mickey Mouse and his friends celebrate the 60th anniversary of Disneyland park during a ceremony at Sleeping Beauty Castle featuring Academy Award-winning composer, Richard Sherman and Broadway actress and singer Ashley Brown July 17, 2015 in Anaheim, California. Celebrating six decades of magic, the Disneyland Resort Diamond Celebration features three new nighttime spectaculars that immerse guests in the worlds of Disney stories like never before with "Paint the Night," the first all-LED parade at the resort; "Disneyland Forever," a reinvention of classic fireworks that adds projections to pyrotechnics to transform the park experience; and a moving new version of "World of Color" that celebrates Walt Disneys dream for Disneyland. (Photo by Paul Hiffmeyer/Disneyland Resort via Getty Images)

Disney is foreseen to sack 28,000 of its employees across its parks, experiences and consumer products divisions, mentioning challenges managing the company’s theme parks with extended coronavirus-related closures and limited openings.

The company’s head of parks Josh D’Amaro issued a letter to Disney’s employees on Tuesday to declare “difficult decisions” to reduce the size of its staff across executive, salaried and hourly roles as it nears the end of its fiscal quarter after billions of dollars in revenue downturns in 2020.

“We initially hoped that this situation would be short-lived and that we would recover quickly and return to normal,” he wrote, “Seven months later, we find that has not been the case.”