Disney-owned Pixar to undergo layoffs this year: Report

Disney-owned animation studio Pixar is set to cut jobs this year, the media reported.

According to TechCrunch, citing sources, the job cuts could be significant and as high as 20 per cent — reducing Pixar’s team from 1,300 to less than 1,000 over the coming months.

However, the company said that those numbers are too high.

As per the studio, the number of employees who will be laid off is still being determined due to factors such as production schedules and staffing for future greenlit films.

The studio clarified that the layoffs are not imminent, but will occur later this year as Pixar focuses on creating less content, the report mentioned.

In the fourth quarter (Q4), Disney+ added seven million new subscribers, bringing its total to 150.2 million, including Hotstar, which was above analysts’ projections of 148.15 million subscribers.

Disney+’s ad-supported consumers increased by two million to 5.2 million, with more than half of new US customers selecting an ad-supported package.

In June last year, Pixar laid off 75 employees, including the director and producer of ‘Lightyear’.

Lightyear failed to impress at the box office, although it was well-received on the streaming platform Disney+. It made $226.7 million worldwide on a reported $ 200 million budget.

Pixar is well-known for its film franchises, such as Toy Story, The Incredibles, and Finding Nemo.