Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer Alicia Schwarz has been laid off from The Walt Disney Company amid the first of three rounds of company-wide layoffs.
Schwarz’s role will be absorbed by the office of Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez. According to Deadline, she joined the company in 2014 as principal counsel, later serving as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, as well as Global Deputy Chief Compliance Counsel.
The work she was responsible for included ensuring compliance with Disney’s global ethics and standards of business conduct. She was also in charge of managing regulatory compliance with anti-corruption and trade law. These duties will reportedly be taken over by the office of Gutierrez.
Executives at The Walt Disney Company were asked by CEO Bob Iger to identify thousands of potential layoff candidates in an effort to cut nearly $5.5 billion in costs. Iger is reportedly on “a push for profitability.”
Disney is in the midst of an estimated 7,000 job cuts. These are expected to occur across Disney Entertainment; Parks, Experiences, and Products; and ESPN. CEO Bob Iger is under pressure from investors to increase financial stability due to Disney’s stocks currently standing at roughly half the value they were at during summer 2021. Reducing staff is believed to be a way to possibly help their finances in the short term.
News of the layoffs and significant restructuring of The Walt Disney Company was announced in February. At the time, investors seemed sated; however, Disney’s stock has fallen again in recent weeks. Shares have only seen about a 2% increase in 2023 to date.
The Chief Compliance Officer is not the only high-level corporate role terminated in the current round of layoffs.
