Disney Cuts Stock Awards for Tech Staff by 10%

Disney has reduced stock-based compensation for some technology employees, according to sources seen by Business Insider.

According to these sources, who work as software engineers at the company, the ceiling for their long-term incentive awards has been cut from 35% of their base salary to 25%.

In a recording of the conversation, an unnamed director says there was "no way to sugarcoat" that this was a "reduction in your total compensation."

The compensation reduction follows news of layoffs at Disney, announced around a month after Josh D'Amaro took the helm as Chief Executive Officer.

Market alignment strategy

According to reports from Business Insider, the decision to reduce stock-based compensation is "totally unrelated" to performance and came after Disney leadership completed "a review of the US and Canada technology compensation market," the director shares.

Disney has used Restricted Stock Units to help retain talent, with awards often vesting in two equal instalments subject to continued employment.

By reducing this offering, Disney could be looking to ensure its hiring and compensation remains competitive with the broader technology marketplace.

In February, the Financial Times reported that Meta had reduced its annual distribution of stock options by around 5% for most of its staff after cutting its stock award by 10% in 2025.

The decision was made following Meta's investments in AI, with the company forecasting in its 2025 earnings report that its capex costs could double in 2026.

Workforce reduction programme

Disney's reported reduction of stock options follows the announcements of layoffs across the company, particularly impacting marketing, publicity and home entertainment teams.

In a company memo, Josh says the decision was made to help the company streamline operations to "ensure we deliver the world-class creativity and innovation our fans value and expect from Disney."

"Given the fast-moving pace of our industries, this requires us to constantly assess how to foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce to meet tomorrow's needs," he continues.

These are the first layoffs led by Josh, who took over as Chief Executive Officer on 18 March 2026.

Previous restructuring efforts 

Prior to this, former Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger led a restructuring in which the company said it planned to cut around 7,000 jobs to save around US$5.5bn in costs and improve financial performance following struggling stock prices.

The company saw its stock price struggle once again earlier in 2026 following a decline in international visitors to its US theme parks and a 35% drop in operating profit for its entertainment unit due to increased marketing spend.

Discussing Bob's impact at Disney, Josh says: "When Bob returned to the company a few years ago, his goal was to fortify our business and lay the groundwork for long-term growth, by reigniting creativity and improving performance at our studios, building a robust and profitable streaming business, transforming ESPN for a digital future and turbocharging our parks and experiences."

"We've accomplished all of those things, and we're operating from a place of strength, with ample opportunity for growth."