EMERYVILLE — Pixar Animation Studios has announced plans to slash well over 100 jobs at the “Toy Story” creator’s headquarters complex in the East Bay.
In a fresh blow to the tech and entertainment industries, Pixar, a unit of Walt Disney Co., told the state’s labor agency that it would cut 181 jobs in Emeryville.
“After careful evaluation of many factors, Pixar has made the decision to permanently reduce the size of its workforce” at the company’s headquarters at 1200 Park Avenue in Emeryville, Reema Batnagar, a Pixar vice president, told the state Employment Development Department.
The job cuts will take effect on July 26, the company stated in the WARN notice on file with the state. Pixar described the job cuts as “permanent,” according to a post on the EDD web site. The affected employees are not represented by a union and “do not have bumping rights,” Reema Batnagar, a Pixar vice president, told the EDD.
For more than a year, Burbank-based Disney has been signaling Wall Street of its plans for massive cost cuts. In November 2023, Disney disclosed it planned a total of $7.5 billion in reductions of all types.
Starting in 2022, tech companies have been cutting jobs as they attempt to shift resources to promising new ventures such as artificial intelligence as well as reverse the over-hiring during the coronavirus outbreak, when remote work came into widespread use.
The Pixar layoffs also might be tied to separate problems, such as an uneven Hollywood box office that has produced less-than-stellar attendance for full-length movies.
