During an interview with Variety, 20th Century Fox Film chairman and CEO Stacey Snider discussed the job losses that will occur after the pending deal between Fox and Disney is complete.
While Disney’s pending acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets primarily has fans excited about the prospect of seeing X-Men and Fantastic Four characters join Marvel Studios’ film universe, the deal will result in thousands of job losses at both companies once completed. Among those who will not move into a new position at Disney is 20th Century Fox Film chairman and CEO Stacey Snider, who explained what it has been like running the company and comforting employees with the knowledge of the looming job cuts:
“It’s been really challenging to manage a company for almost a whole year knowing that these cuts are coming. Most of the employees at Fox have been there for decades. They’ve given most of their careers to Fox. Many of them are hanging on to see if there will be an opportunity at Disney. My job for the last year has also been chairman of human emotions and resident shoulder to cry on. There’s going to be a lot of job loss. However, and this is not to diminish the pain people will go through, but time waits for no one. This will not be the first or last consolidation the industry sees.”
Snider also discussed what the atmosphere at the company has been like with some employees set to move to Disney after the deal is complete while others are concerned about losing their job:
“There’s definitely been some jockeying for positions, and I think everyone at the company has had a combination of good days and bad days. There are days when they are being consoled, and then they’re the ones consoling someone else. When you have a bad day, I’ve said to people, either throw yourself into your work or if that’s not working, leave, go work out. This is an extraordinary situation, and no one is going to be docked for missing an hour or two. Do the best you can, and be kind to each other. That advice is followed by some people some days and other people other days, and sometimes it just gets completely flushed down the f–king toilet.”
Twentieth Century Fox president Peter Rice recently told his employees that he pending Disney deal is set to close on January 1st of next year.
Source: Variety
