There is a version of Disney corporate news that feels distant from the parks, the movies, and the characters that most fans care about. Layoffs tend to fall into that category until they do not, until the cumulative scale of the cuts becomes hard to ignore and the names of long-familiar faces start appearing in the reports. This week’s news from The Walt Disney Company is the kind that merits a pause, because what is being described is not a single restructuring announcement. It is the third round of layoffs in one year, and the people losing their jobs this time include personalities that Disney audiences have watched for years.The Hollywood Reporter reports that Disney is eliminating hundreds of additional positions across several divisions. The cuts are hitting corporate functions, ESPN, Disney Entertainment Television, and the company’s film studios, with Pixar expected to absorb the largest number of studio cuts, and National Geographic said to be the hardest-hit brand within Disney Entertainment Television. Employees began receiving notifications on Tuesday morning. Disney has not publicly confirmed the total number of positions affected.Three Rounds of Layoffs in One YearThe scale of what Disney has been doing to its workforce in 2026 requires some context. This week’s round is the third, not the first.Earlier this year, Disney reduced staff by merging its marketing teams under Chief Brand Officer Asad Ayaz. Then, in April, CEO Josh D’Amaro confirmed roughly 1,000 employees were affected by a wider restructuring throughout the company. In an internal memo sent to cast members at that time, D’Amaro described the eliminations as part of ongoing efforts to streamline operations, keep up with technological change, and build a more agile organization for the future. He acknowledged the difficulty of the moment and committed to treating affected employees with compassion and respect, phrases that have now appeared in Disney’s internal communications multiple times this year.Credit: DisneyThe current round is reportedly smaller than April’s, but it adds to a running total that is now well into the hundreds before this week’s cuts are even counted.ESPN Takes a Visible HitThe ESPN side of this latest round is where some of the most recognizable names appear. The Hollywood Reporter reports that longtime SportsCenter anchor and Baseball Tonight host Karl Ravech, along with NFL analyst Ryan Clark, are among those impacted.Most of the ESPN layoffs are tied to the company’s acquisition of NFL Network assets earlier this year. ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro addressed employees in an internal memo, describing months of work to integrate the NFL acquisition into ESPN’s existing structure and acknowledging that the process required difficult decisions regarding job impacts. He committed to treating affected colleagues with compassion and respect, echoing the same language D’Amaro used during April’s round.Credit: Inside the MagicThe Studio and Television CutsBeyond ESPN, the cuts extend to Disney’s film studios and entertainment television operations. Pixar’s expected reduction is notable given the studio’s cultural standing within Disney’s portfolio and the fact that it has already navigated significant creative and commercial turbulence over the past few years. National Geographic, facing the hardest hit within Disney Entertainment Television, is a separate but related signal about how Disney is prioritizing its brands as the media landscape continues to shift.All of these cuts are described as part of Disney’s ongoing “One Disney” restructuring strategy, an initiative led by D’Amaro, both as the former Disney Experiences Chairman and now as CEO. The strategy is built around creating a more streamlined, efficient organization, and these layoffs are being framed as a continuation of that work rather than a reaction to any specific crisis.What These Layoffs Look Like From the OutsideThree rounds of layoffs in a single year, covering marketing, corporate functions, ESPN, film studios, and television, is not the profile of a company making targeted trims. It is the profile of a company undergoing a genuine structural rethink at scale, even if Disney frames each round individually as part of a coherent strategy.The entertainment industry is shifting fast. Streaming economics have pressured nearly every major studio. ESPN has been navigating a sports rights landscape that looks nothing like it did five years ago. The NFL Network acquisition created redundancies that now require resolution. These are real forces, and the layoffs are real responses to them.What is also real is that hundreds of people are receiving notifications this week that their positions at one of the world’s most recognized entertainment companies have been eliminated. Some of them are behind-the-scenes employees whose names will never appear in a trade report. Some of them, like Ravech and Clark, have been fixtures in living rooms for years.Disney has not yet publicly commented on the latest round of layoffs. The company has not confirmed the total number of positions affected or released any official statement as of Tuesday’s notifications.The post Disney Confirms Third Round of Layoffs in 2026, Hundreds More Positions Eliminated appeared first on Inside the Magic.