Film Production
21st Century Fox denies talks for tie-up with Discovery Communications
NEW DELHI: 21st Century Fox has denied as “categorically untrue” that senior executives from 21st Century Fox and Discovery Communications had met to discuss a tie-up that could create a $100 billion movie, entertainment and sports giant.
The story had appeared in the Australian Financial Review.
Rupert Murdoch of Fox and John Malone, a major shareholder in Discovery (and a director) and chairman and CEO of Discovery Holdings, have a long history in media, sometimes fighting one another and other times co-operating.
Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald on 23 February reminded readers that News Corp-backed Foxtel is already working on a 50/50 deal with Discovery to buy Australia’s Ten Network.
A few months ago billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a shareholder in News Corp/21st Century Fox, following the ending of 21st Century’s bid for Time-Warner had said, “Combining both companies would have been a dream proposal because the amount of content the combined company would have had would have been tremendous.”
“Knowing Mr Murdoch, I think the idea is still in his mind. But I think the time is not right now because the management of Time Warner are against it, and the shareholders of Fox were also not for it,” he had told CNN in September.
Film Production
Disney to cut 1,000 jobs under new chief executive
The entertainment giant’s freshly installed boss inherits a restructuring already in motion, with marketing and corporate roles bearing the brunt
CALIFORNIA: Walt Disney is preparing to slash up to 1,000 jobs in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported, as the entertainment giant’s freshly installed chief executive moves swiftly to trim fat and tighten the ship.
The cuts, less than 1 per cent of Disney’s global workforce of 231,000, will fall hardest on marketing and corporate roles. The planning, notably, began before D’Amaro formally took the top job in March, suggesting the new boss inherited a restructuring already in motion rather than one of his own making.
Driving the push is Asad Ayaz, Disney’s newly appointed chief marketing officer, who in January assumed command of a unified, company-wide marketing operation spanning film, television and streaming. His consolidation drive has been given a suitably cinematic internal name: Project Imagine.
The move is modest by Disney’s recent standards. Between 2023 and 2025, under former chief executive Bob Iger, the company eliminated roughly 8,000 positions across several brutal rounds of cuts, saving $7.5 billion, comfortably exceeding its own targets. As recently as June 2025, several hundred more jobs were axed across Disney Entertainment, hitting film and television marketing, publicity, casting, development and corporate finance.
Disney’s structural headaches are well-documented: shrinking streaming margins, a weakened box office, and fierce competition from Amazon and YouTube gnawing at its flanks. The company is merging its Disney+ and Hulu teams into a single app, has brought in consultants from Bain & Co to guide its broader cost strategy, and is betting heavily on digital growth.
The wider entertainment industry offers little comfort. Sony Pictures, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have all taken the knife to their workforces in recent years, and further cuts loom if Paramount’s acquisition of Warner goes through.
For D’Amaro, the message is clear: there will be no honeymoon period. The magic kingdom still has some cost-cutting spells left to cast.
