Pixar chops more than 100 Bay Area jobs as tech cuts jolt showbiz

EMERYVILLE — Pixar Animation Studios has decided to slash well over 100 jobs at the “Toy Story” creator’s headquarters complex in the East Bay, a grim reminder of the wobbly status of the entertainment industry.

The animation studio, in a fresh blow to the tech industry, has revealed its plans to chop 181 jobs in Emeryville, according to an official filing that Pixar sent to the state’s labor agency.

Pixar, a unit of Walt Disney Co., said the job cuts were slated to take effect on July 26 of this year, the company stated in the WARN notice on file with the state Employment Development Department.

For more than a year, Burbank-based Disney has been alerting Wall Street of its plans for massive cost cuts. In November 2023, Disney disclosed its latest plans, a total of $7.5 billion in reductions of all types.

Emeryville-based Pixar described the job cuts as “permanent,” according to a post on the EDD web site.

Starting in 2022, tech companies have been cutting jobs as they attempt to shift resources to promising new ventures such as artificial intelligence as well as reverse the over-hiring by the tech industry during the coronavirus outbreak, when remote work came into widespread use.

The Pixar layoffs might be tied to separate problems, such as an uneven Hollywood box office that has produced less-than-stellar attendance for movies.