Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter laid off from Disney

News
By published

The comics and merch division has been folded into the larger Disney business

Doctor Strange played by Benedict Cumberbatch
(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

One of comics' most senior figures, Marvel Entertainment CEO Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter, has been laid off by Disney.

According to the New York Times, this is part of a larger cost-cutting measure at the company. Disney will apparently be folding the Marvel Entertainment division - which focuses on comics and merchandise - into different parts of the company. Marvel Entertainment co-president Rob Steffens has also been let go.

Perlmutter has a long, storied and sometimes infamous history with Marvel and with Disney as a whole. The famously frugal billionaire was a member of the board of directors at Marvel Comics in April 1993 and helped steer the company through the 1990s. He became CEO in 2005 and was the executive responsible for selling Marvel Comics to Disney for $4 billion in 2009. He remained CEO of Marvel Entertainment following the acquisition, but did not take a seat on Disney's board of directors.

Perlmutter's ousting comes hot on the heels of the news that Disney is laying off approximately 7,000 employees, as part of a $5.5 billion cut intended to improve financial results. What this means for Marvel as a comics publisher remains to be seen.

Will Salmon
Will Salmon
Streaming Editor

Will Salmon is the Streaming Editor for GamesRadar+. He has been writing about film, TV, comics, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he launched the scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for well over a decade. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places too.