Disney to lay off 28,000 employees as theme parks take hit from coronavirus

Watch: Disney to lay off about 28,000 parks employees

Disney is expected to lay off 28,000 of its employees across its parks, experiences and consumer products divisions, citing difficulties operating the company’s theme parks with prolonged coronavirus-related closures and limited openings.

The company’s head of parks Josh D’Amaro issued a letter to Disney’s employees on Tuesday to announce “difficult decisions” to reduce the size of its staff across executive, salaried and hourly roles.

“We initially hoped that this situation would be short-lived, and that we would recover quickly and return to normal,” he wrote “Seven months later, we find that has not been the case.”