Disney cut 1,000 people this week. Among them, nearly the entire visual development team at Marvel Studios. Artists who designed the look of The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Daredevil. Many had been there over a decade. Gone in one morning.
Two weeks ago, Oracle cut 12,000 people in India. Revenue was up 20%. The company was growing. The people were still cut.
Today, Snap cut 1,000. The CEO said AI helps smaller teams do more.
Over 71,000 tech jobs have disappeared in the first three months of 2026.
Here is the pattern nobody is talking about.
Not one of these companies kept people based on visible daily output and cut people whose contribution was unmeasurable. They did not do it because they do not have that data. They cut by role, department, and salary band. They opened a spreadsheet, looked at cost lines, and deleted names. Not effort. Not output. Names.
A person who designed Iron Man’s face for ten years had no file that said: this is what I produced this week. This is what I delivered this month. If that file existed, cutting that person would mean cutting visible output. That is a harder decision. That requires a conversation. That cannot be done in a 6 AM email.
Now. You.
You run a company with 15 or 50 people. You are not Disney. When the hard decision comes for your company – and it always comes – you will either cut with data or with instinct.
Instinct says: who looks busy, who sends emails at midnight, who speaks well in meetings, who has been here the longest.
Data says: who hit their effort line 22 out of 25 days last month, who dropped to zero on day three, who has a green row on the scoreboard and who has gaps they are hiding with a good Monday morning story.
The founder who has a daily effort scoreboard does not fire the wrong person. The founder who runs on instinct fires the Marvel artist and keeps the person who was updating their CV for six months.
Disney could not see who was producing. Oracle could not see who was producing. You can. If you build the scoreboard before you need it.
BJay
See you next week!
