Disney Confirms More Layoffs in Memo: Legal Department Will Be “Much Smaller”
Disney has confirmed another round of layoffs, and this time it did not come from anonymous sources.
Horacio Gutierrez, Disney’s Chief Legal and Global Affairs Officer, sent an internal memo to his department on September 18, 2026.
“LGA will be a much smaller organization than it is today, and some of you will personally be affected by decisions we make in this process,” he wrote.
What the Memo Said
Gutierrez told the department, which employs fewer than 1,000 people worldwide, that Disney is in a transformation process with “hard choices” ahead.
Two specifics stood out.
The memo described automating workflows by “leveraging the latest technologies.”
It also named outsourcing and alternative legal providers as part of the strategy.
Artificial intelligence is never mentioned by name. Readers inside and outside the company drew their own conclusions anyway.
Why That Phrase Matters
“Alternative legal providers” is not filler language.
Alternative legal service providers are an established industry category. They handle high volume work at lower cost than in-house lawyers or outside firms, covering contract review, document review, due diligence, e-discovery, and compliance.
So the memo is naming a real operating model, and it tells you which work is being moved.
Now add automation through “the latest technologies.” Contract and document review happen to be the tasks current language models handle best. The overlap was obvious to anyone in the industry.
Legal Is an Unusual Target
Here is what makes this notable.
Legal is normally protected. Companies staff lawyers because missing something costs far more than paying them. In a cost-cutting cycle, legal is usually near the end of the list.
Choosing to shrink it is a confidence statement. Disney believes a real share of that work can move to software and vendors at acceptable risk.
Whether that holds up tends to get answered years later.
The department is also small. Fewer than 1,000 people at a company of roughly 233,000 means the raw number will not be big. The share within the department could be.
The CTO Hired the Same Day
On the same day the memo circulated, Disney announced Karandeep Anand as its first ever Chief Technology Officer.
Anand previously ran Character.AI.
Disney has not linked the two announcements, and nothing reported suggests they were coordinated. But announcing an AI-credentialed technology chief the same day your legal department learns it will shrink through automation reads as one message regardless of intent.
Five Actions This Year
April. About 1,000 employees, including marketing, branding, and roughly 8 percent of Marvel Entertainment.
July. Hundreds across Pixar, ESPN, and other divisions.
August. Voluntary early retirement offered to director level and above.
Late September. Cuts reported by Matthew Belloni hitting HR, product and tech, and operations.
Now. Legal and Global Affairs, confirmed in writing.
Disney has been open about the underlying goal, which is doing more with fewer people by leaning on technology. CEO Josh D’Amaro has led that shift.
Still Unknown
No number attached to the legal cuts. No timeline beyond a process already underway.
Disney has not commented publicly on the memo and has not tied the restructuring to AI.
Worth repeating: parks and experiences, where most Disney employees work, has not been named in any reduction this year.
What Happens Next
Disney’s fiscal year ends in late September, which explains why so much is landing now. Changes made before the close land in this year’s numbers.
The full picture arrives at the November earnings call.
For people in Legal and Global Affairs, the memo already did its job. They know the department is shrinking and that some of them are how. They just do not know who yet.
Source: Internal memo from Horacio Gutierrez dated September 18, 2026, and previously reported coverage of Disney’s 2026 workforce reductions.
