The American group stops the costs and has just closed its division devoted to the metaverse.
The fashion for the metaverse therefore only lasted a few months and already many companies are abandoning the virtual universe brought to light by Meta and Mark Zuckerberg.
Disney puts an end to various experiments in a difficult economic context
We learn today that Disney, under the leadership of its new CEO, Bob Iger, has just closed the division devoted to the metaverse. The latter had about fifty employees, who were laid off. Its director, Mike White, remains with the company in a position that is still unknown.
This announcement comes as Meta has just announced a strategic reversal and a pause in investments related to the metaverse, to focus on more profitable activities, including artificial intelligence.
Bob Iger puts an end to the experimentation launched by his predecessor, Bob Chapek, who aimed to use characters and juicy Disney licenses to create experiences in the metaverse.
Disney has also ended the project launched by the former CEO of a loyalty program modeled on what Amazon offers with Amazon Prime. The idea was to offer a subscription to the most loyal fans of the brand to offer them reductions in amusement parks or exclusive merchandising. This idea will ultimately remain in the cards.
The enchanted kingdom must make billions in savings and size in the workforce
Disney is taking advantage of the wave of layoffs that will affect the company in the coming weeks to clean up its activities. The American group plans to cut 7,000 jobs and the first wave of departures begins this week, before the announcement of the majority of layoffs scheduled for the month of April.
Disney has been facing a massive drop in its stock market price for several months. Investors are also worried about the abysmal losses encountered by Disney+, with more than a billion dollars swallowed up in the last quarter alone, and the consequences of the global economic crisis.
Bob Iger announced several weeks ago that he wanted to save more than five billion dollars each year to put his ship back afloat, including three billion dollars on content production alone.
Source : wall street journal
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