Much has been made of the potential film and television consequence of last week’s announcement that The Walt Disney Co. is acquiring 21st Century Fox assets in a $52.4 billion deal. Suddenly, the X-Men can join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Disney will have access to TV properties including The Simpsons, This Is Us and Modern Family. But there will also be dramas unfolding off-screen. Over the next 12 to 18 months, an expert analyst told The Hollywood Reporter that “we believe Disney will need to cut well over 5,000 jobs, and the number could easily swell toward 10,000 given the high degree of overlap between the two companies around the world.”
The predictions for 21st Century Fox are even more bleak. High-level execs, like 20th Century Fox CEO Stacey Snider and Fox TV Group co-chiefs Gary Newman and Dana Walden may be folded into the company. But many in the rank and file know there will be no Disney happy ending for them. “No one believes assurances from management that our jobs are safe, and the assurances we were given were halfhearted at best,” one Fox employee told THR.
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