The communications executive is leaving as part of voluntary early retirement offer extended to longtime Disney employees.
Shari Rosenblum Departs Disney
As reported by Deadline, Shari Rosenblum is departing as Senior Vice President and Head of Publicity for Disney Television Studios’ 20th Television and 20th TV Animation.
The entertainment and communications executive is leaving after opting to take the voluntary early retirement offer extended by Disney a few months ago to qualifying longtime employees. She is expected to take a little time off before deciding what to do next.
Rosenblum has spent more than 25 years at the company, first at 20th Century Fox and then Disney following the Fox acquisition, which earned her a 25-year service Tinker Bell statue.
For the past two decades, Rosenblum has been at 20th Television and its predecessor 20th Century Fox Television, rising to Senior Vice President in 2017 and taking over the studio’s publicity team in 2022.
During her tenure, she led hundreds of studio-side publicity campaigns on shows for Disney’s Disney+, Hulu, ABC, FX, and National Geographic, as well as third-party platforms. She has worked on popular series like Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd’s Modern Family; Family Guy and The Simpsons; and Jonathan Steinberg, Dan Shotz and Craig Silverstein’s Percy Jackson and The Olympians, among many others.
Rosenblum has stood out with her professionalism and strong relationships with talent and press. As her current boss Candice Ashton, EVP, Publicity, Disney Entertainment Television, noted:
“Shari has led PR for Disney Television Studios’ 20th Television and 20th Television Animation with equal parts brilliance and grace,” Ashton said. “Few people have shaped the voice and reputation of our studio the way she has. Shari is a consummate pro, and an advocate and champion for so many of our teams and creative partners. She has also been a wonderful partner through every curveball along the way, and we’ve shared many laughs together that I will miss very much.”
Rosenblum started at 20th Century Fox 26 years ago working in consumer products and home entertainment before being recruited by then co-heads of 20th Century Fox Television Dana Walden and Gary Newman. Early into her tenure at the studio, she also worked in talent relations, events and awards strategy.
“I’m moving on from my Disney-Fox career with nothing but extreme gratitude,” Rosenblum said. “I’m grateful to Dana and Gary for taking a chance on an ambitious young publicist over two decades ago, and to the many mentors and champions I’ve had along the way, including Shannon Ryan and Candice Ashton. It’s been a privilege to tell stories for our industry’s top storytellers, especially during this last stretch, with Karey Burke and the incredible executives at 20th TV. I feel beyond fortunate to have worked alongside the most talented and brilliant minds in our industry, and have a deep appreciation for the business of television, the people in it, the shows they make, and the journalists who report on it all.”
Rosenblum additionally mentored many publicists that started their careers as her assistants and was a member of the Local 600 International Cinematographers & Publicists Guild from 2005-2022. She was a recipient of the Maxwell Weinberg Showmanship Award for Television for her work on Homeland.
Walt Disney Company Layoffs
The Walt Disney Company has laid off thousands of employees across different departments and levels this year through several rounds of layoffs. Other former Disney executives, like Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul and Peter Rice, recently found new roles at Netflix.
When Josh D’Amaro succeeded Bob Iger as CEO, over 1,000 employees were laid off in April. Then, hundreds of Pixar, ESPN, and National Geographic employees were laid off in July. For context, Disney had 231,000 employees at the end of fiscal year 2025. 172,000 were based in the U.S. and 59,000 were based elsewhere. Due to the company’s theme parks business, 16% of employees are part-time and another 8% are seasonal.
August brought the previously mentioned voluntary early retirement offer, and then in September, hundreds of layoffs occurred, primarily in the tech and HR departments.
At the end of October, at least a hundred employees from Disney’s theme park division, including Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney Live Entertainment, were laid off. Most recently, a new report from Bloomberg says that the Walt Disney Company is planning thousands of job cuts and asking managers to cut 20% in annual costs.
The theme parks division of the company is the largest and is the foundation of Disney’s bottom line. During the 2025 fiscal year, the theme park division made $36.2 billion in revenue, which accounted for more than 56% of the company’s total income.
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