SALT LAKE CITY — Walt Disney Studios and 20th Century Fox are currently in the midst of widespread layoffs that will affect multiple jobs across the two companies, Variety reports.
The studios will specifically cut workers on film staffs, a spokesperson for both studios told Variety.
The cuts come after Disney acquired 21st Century Fox’s film and television sides for $71.3 billion earlier this year, according to The Associated Press.
Disney did not say which departments would see layoffs. But it looks as though the distribution division — including workers who see the rollout of films in the U.S. — will see the most amount of layoffs, according to Variety.
Publicity and marketing departments will see some layoffs on Thursday.
There are expected to be close to 4,000 layoffs from the acquisition.
Back in July 2018 when it was announced the Disney-Fox deal would go through, reports suggested that close to 5,000 people — 2,300 from Fox and 1,700 from Disney — would lose their jobs, according to my report for the Deseret News.
The last major layoffs from the deal came on March 21. As I reported at the time, multiple employees expressed frustration and worry about the layoffs in the immediate aftermath of the merger.
“The ax fell at the film division with brutal efficiency, wiping away much of the senior leadership at Fox’s marketing, distribution and consumer products arms. Some staffers, who had been engaging in gallows humor for weeks, burst into tears when they received the word in one-on-one meetings with human resources reps that their positions were being terminated,” according to Variety.