Robert A. Iger gave Disney’s corporate critics the equivalent of a punch in the mouth on Wednesday.In his first earnings report since he came out of retirement to retake the reins of a troubled Disney, Mr. Iger unveiled a new operating structure for the company — one designed to galvanize its film and television studios while drastically cutting costs. As part of the restructuring, Disney expects to cut costs by $5.5 billion and eliminate roughly 7,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of its global total.“We must return creativity to the center of the company, increase accountability, improve results and ensure the quality of our content and experiences,” Mr. Iger said on an earnings-related conference call with analysts.Content production and distribution, including streaming, will be housed in a single division (instead of two, which were sometimes at odds), with the exception of sports. T …
