Walt Disney Co. Lays off About 80 from Maker Studios, Digital Publishing Unit -- Source
February 23 2017 - 3:56PM
Dow Jones News
By Ben Fritz
Walt Disney Co. is laying off about 80 people as it radically
shrinks the number of YouTube creators supported by its Maker
Studios unit, said a person close to the company.
Disney has been integrating Maker, which it acquired in 2014 for
$675 million, into its consumer products and interactive business
unit since December in an attempt to find a winning strategy for
the business, which had been flailing. Some of those losing their
jobs were Maker employees and others worked for the consumer
products unit's digital-publishing division, in an effort to
eliminate job duplication as the two merge.
Rather than providing more than 60,000 YouTube creators with
support promoting their channels and selling ads, Maker is aiming
to work with roughly 300 who have large followings and are
family-friendly enough to work with other Disney divisions, the
knowledgeable person said. Future content is expected to be in the
vein of "Oh My Disney," a coming show on YouTube hosted by Maker
personality Alexys Gabrielle featuring games, interviews and skits
promoting other franchises from the company.
It will no longer be in the business of supporting fledgling
YouTube video producers looking to grow their visibility as part of
a larger and diverse network. The vast majority of people in
Maker's YouTube network have long made very little money, current
and former employees said.
Since Disney acquired it, Maker has never been profitable and
while it has increased its parent company's digital advertising and
technological capabilities, it hasn't been as financially
successful as the media giant hoped, people with knowledge of the
business said.
The layoffs and culling of the creator network were in the works
before Disney last week severed ties with Maker's highest profile
creator, YouTube megastar PewDiePie, following a Wall Street
Journal investigation into videos in which he made anti-Semitic
remarks.
Write to Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 23, 2017 15:41 ET (20:41 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024