Pixar fires 175 employees, one in seven: it focuses on films, goodbye to Disney+ content

Pixar Animation Studios’ cuts stem from the downsizing of plans for the Disney+ streaming platform. The cost-cutting policy was inaugurated last year with the return of Bob Igier to the helm of the company

Pixar decided to lay off 14% of its employees to focus on the production of animated films. This is a decisive refocusing of the business for the group’s subsidiary Disney which from Tuesday 21 May officially started the exit procedures for one employee in seven, announcing that it wanted to abandon the production of content for the Disney+ streaming platform to stake all its cards on the production of animated films.

The failures of diversification

A total of 175 employees are affected by the dismissal procedure, a lower number than that initially announced at the beginning of the year, when the American group announced at a press conference its intention to reduce Pixar’s cost structure. As reported by the New York Times, the president of Pixar, Jim Morris, explained to employees that the studio had decided to “return to focus on film production” after the phase of diversification of activities undertaken in previous years. Pixar has long been an “untouchable” company within the Disney galaxy but has entered a difficult phase after the setback suffered with the production of “Buzz”, a film released in 2022 which had as its protagonist one of the main characters of film “Toy Story”. The production had grossed just $226 million at the box office, against a cost of over $200 million.

The new blockbusters on the launch pad

A setback that occurred again the following year with “Elementare” whose box office earnings stopped a little below 500 million dollars despite a similar production cost. The hopes of redemption are pinned on the launch of “Vice-versa 2” which will follow the events of the heroine Riley, who has now become a teenager and then on the release of “Elio”, the story of a child with school integration problems who becomes an ambassador of the Earth among extraterrestrial civilizations. The release is scheduled for 2025.

Disappointing accounts

Disney’s cost-cutting strategy began last year, with Bob Igier’s return to the top of the company, who launched a program to shed over 8,000 employees, concentrated mainly in the media division, of which it is part. Disney+. In the second half of the fiscal year, which for Disney begins in September, the group announced its streaming service became profitable for the first time, after losses suffered without interruption since its launch in 2019. Net profit Disney’s, however, collapsed to 216 million dollars, compared to a result of 1.5 billion in the same period of the previous year. The cause can be identified above all in the devaluation of assets, in the face of a growth in group revenues.

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