Shares of Walt Disney Co.
DIS,
fell 0.4% in premarket trading Wednesday, after Bloomberg reported that the media and entertainment giant was planning to lay off thousands of employees next week. Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said the jobs being cut will come from across the company, and include about 15% of the entertainment division’s workforce. Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The report comes after Disney said in February that it would lay off 7,000 employees as part of a plan to cut costs by $5.5 billion. The company had about 220,000 employees as of Oct. 1, 2022, according to the company’s latest annual report. The stock has run up 16.2% year to date through Tuesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
has gained 2.5%.