Disney streaming tech chief leaves ahead of larger staff cuts

Jeremy Doig, chief technology officer of Walt Disney Co.’s streaming services, has left the company, according to an internal note seen by Bloomberg, the latest high-profile departure as Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger restructures the world’s largest entertainment company.

Doig joined Disney last March after a long run at Google and was in charge of technology for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+. Aaron LaBerge, who has worked at Disney for the past decade, will now oversee technology and product for Disney’s media businesses.

“I have been informed that effective immediately Jeremy Doig is no longer with the company,” Mike Hanley, the senior vice president for engineering in Disney’s streaming division, wrote in a note to colleagues. Hanley will report to LaBerge. Representatives for Disney didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Doig didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Doig’s departure comes just days after Iger announced Disney would fire 7,000 employees and implement a new corporate structure, one that returns oversight of the streaming services to the company’s top creative executives. The moves elevated lieutenants Alan Bergman and Dana Walden, who run entertainment, and ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro, but strips power from employees such as Rebecca Campbell, head of international content and operations, and Michael Paull, previously the president of Disney streaming.

Disney has announced Campbell will leave at the end of June, while Paull’s fate is the subject of much debate inside the company. When Bergman and Walden initially sent out a memo outlining their new structure, they made no mention of Paull. They then sent a follow-up note clarifying that he would report to them. Paull no longer oversees technology and product, which will report to Bergman, Walden and Pitaro. Paull joined Disney when the company acquired BAMTech, a leader in video streaming technology.

Iger has effectively dissolved Disney Media Entertainment & Distribution, a division created by his predecessor Bob Chapek to oversee the streaming services. DMED chief Kareem Daniel, a top Chapek lieutenant, left the company last November alongside the former CEO.

The latest announcements have left thousands of Disney employees unsure about their future at the company and how their divisions will operate. Most don’t know how the job cuts will be distributed, though many assume that employees of DMED and general entertainment will be hit the hardest. And while the programming and marketing for the three primary streaming services have been divvied up between two separate divisions, the technology employees must continue to work on all three.

In his own memo to colleagues also seen by Bloomberg, LaBerge said “the past 36 hours have been a whirlwind of events” after Disney reported first-quarter results that beat estimates. BQ Prime