Walt Disney Co. layoffs hit ABC News on Thursday when roughly 50 staffers, including high-profile senior executives, were let go.
"Throughout the company, teams are being impacted by the downsizing that was announced several weeks ago, including our own ABC News family. While these actions are never easy, they are a necessary step to ensure we’re on solid footing for the years ahead as we chart a sustainable, growth-oriented path forward for the entire organization," ABC News president Kim Godwin wrote to staffers in an internal memo obtained by Fox News Digital.
"While this is a difficult time for all of us — particularly those directly affected by these tough decisions — it’s important to remember that together, we are resilient, and will emerge from this period of transition stronger than before," she added before announcing major changes to the company’s leadership structure.
Disney began to eliminate 7,000 jobs on Monday in an effort to save $5.5 billion in costs and make its streaming business profitable. TVNewser, a popular blog for cable news employees, reported the names of "several of ABC News’ highest-ranking and most experienced executives" who were laid off.
Newsgathering senior vice president Wendy Fisher, talent and strategy development senior vice president Galen Gordon, talent and strategy development vice president Mary Noonan, corporate communications vice president Alison Rudnick, senior executive producer Chris Vlasto, executive editorial producer Heather Riley and Los Angeles bureau chief David Herndon were among the impact executives, according to TVNewser.
Katie den Daas, who had been leading ABC’s London bureau, is now vice president of newsgathering and will oversee all the domestic and international bureaus. Executive vice president Derek Medina will now oversee talent strategy, production operations, business operations and business affairs, in addition to business and operations units. ABC News executive editor Stacia Deshishku will now oversee investigative and enterprise reporting units, which include medical, business, and climate teams. She is also in charge of all booking resources, linear shows and special events, according to Godwin’s memo.
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Godwin told staffers she will share additional information in the coming weeks.
Godwin's leadership has come under fire in the past few months, particularly over how she handled the Amy Robach-TJ Holmes romance that dominated tabloid headlines late last year. The two "GMA3" co-hosts had an affair while married to other people.
"It’s embarrassing that ABC News, with its history of greatness, is being run by someone this incompetent," an insider told Fox News Digital in January.
"All you hear now about this once-mighty institution is sordid sex scandal after scandal," they continued. "Bob Iger needs to make a change immediately and pull ABC News out of the gutter."
Holmes and Robach wound up exiting the company after reaching a deal with Disney.
ABC News did not respond to a request for comment.
Fox Business’ Ken Martin contributed to this report.
