Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter and four other company seniors part of Disney layoffs
The former Marvel owner has been released as Marvel Entertainment is moved under the control of Disney
It’s the end of an era, with the news that longtime Marvel Chairman Ike Perlmutter has been laid off by Disney, amongst other senior staffers at the company. The news was first reported the New York Times, which has been confirmed by Disney.
Perlmutter has long been a thorn in the side of the larger Disney management. He famously clashed with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige over the management and direction of Marvel’s movies, to the point where Marvel Studios was officially moved under the corporate umbrella of Walt Disney Studios in 2015; most recently, he was an active supporter of investor Nelson Peltz in the latter’s proxy fight over control of the Walt Disney Company, which ended when Disney CEO Bob Iger announced a plan to cut costs at Disney — a plan that has now led to Perlmutter’s dismissal.
Perlmutter is only one of a number of key Marvel layoffs coming as part of this most recent round of Disney cuts. Popverse has confirmed Variety's reporting that Marvel Entertainment's co-president Rob Steffens and the company's chief counsel John Turitzin were also laid off, and can also confirm that "Independent Security Expert" Rob Grosser and VP of Brand Assurance Marisol Garcia were similarly let go by the company.
This isn't the first time Disney layoffs have reached the highest portions of Marvel; in November 2020, then-Marvel publisher John Nee was cut amidst an earlier round of Disney layoffs.
Perhaps more importantly than Perlmutter’s dismissal is the Times’ reports mention of the official reason given: that Marvel Entertainment has been declared “redundant and would be folded into larger Disney business units.” This is a big deal, as Marvel Entertainment is the part of the company that publishes comic books — as well as the the part of the company that makes games and digital programming. What the dissolution of Marvel Entertainment actually means for Marvel’s comic book output is sure to be a matter of interest across the coming weeks and months.
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