Disney Interactive Lays Off 700 People

It’s been known since last month that Disney Interactive was planning to lay off several hundred employees, but the job slashing is far more extreme than had previously been anticipated. Today Disney Interactive announced that they would lay off 700 employees, or a quarter its Interactive workforce. “These are large-scale changes as we focus not just on getting to profitability but sustained profitability and scalability,” comfortably employed Disney Interactive president James A. Pitaro told the NY Times.

The division is “doubling down on mobile” while cutting its game output by more than 50%, relying more heavily on outside licensing, and shuttering sites like BabyZone.com and Spoonful.com. Disney Interactive, which has lost more than $1 billion in recent years, has been profitable during its last two quarters in large part because of its Infinity franchise.

More details about the layoffs can be found on the NY Times website.