Film Production
Amazon veteran Minari Shah moves on
MUMBAI: Amazon director – international (EU, Apac and Latam), owned content and channels Minari Shah has decided to move on from the multinational firm. She announced her departure today on Linkedin.
Her post read as follows: “After eight years at Amazon, my longest stint anywhere in my work life, I called it a day here today. It’s been one hell of a ride – lots of learning, lots of adventure, working with some very smart people – both in my team(s) and other partner teams and business colleagues. It’s been a journey full of innovating and doing new things, with always the multiplier of complexity and scale and in the process, I carry so many memories of some most amazing campaigns. I leave Amazon as a sharper, better professional, more measurement and data-driven, with a deeper conviction for how communications can have a business impact and a stronger curiosity for new learning. I also leave with memories of fun and camaraderie, with loads of laughter along the way. I will miss Amazon and hopefully will stay in touch with all the people that I would like to stay in touch with. This has been an important chapter of my life but I am now ready to move on to new things. As many people know, there are key family issues that need my time and there are old dreams to follow regarding writing but I will continue to remain within the communications ambit one way or other!”
Shah has had a long career in industry having worked with Hindu Business Line and Business India in the nineties. She then decided to shift to communications and had a stint with Sampark Public Relations as vice-president. Following that she worked with Mahindra & Mahindra, L&T Infotech, Dell, HSB,Tata Motors, and then finally Amazon.
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.
