125,000 Disney employees to receive $1,000 cash bonus due to tax reform
Disney announced Tuesday it will pay over 125,000 employees a one-time cash bonus of $1,000, as well as make a new $50 million investment into education program for employees.
“We are directing approximately $125 million to our cast members and employees across the country and making higher education more accessible with the launch of this new program,” CEO Bob Iger said in a statement.
Disney says both initiatives are due to recent tax reform. Some of the biggest companies in the United States have been giving out bonuses to employees, often citing the recently-passed tax bill as the motive. Boeing, AT&T, Wells Fargo, Comcast, Bank of America and Walmart are just a few of those distributing new tax benefits to workers.
The bonus applies any full-time and part-time employees who have been working for Disney since before January 1. Those eligible will receive the bonus in two parts, with one in March and the other in September. Executive level employees are exempt.
Disney’s education initiative will be available to nearly 88,000 hourly employees in the U.S.
“Participants can pursue qualifying higher education or vocational training, including courses unrelated to their current responsibilities at Disney,” the company said in a statement.
It will not affect Disney’s ongoing education reimbursement program, the company noted, which will continue to be open to all full-time employees.
Disney says the two initiatives will cost $175 million in the current fiscal year.
Disney is alsoset to buy many parts of Twenty-First Century Fox for $52.4 billion in stock. The company will get Fox’s movie studios, networks Nat Geo and FX, Asian pay-TV operator Star TV, and stakes in Sky, Endemol Shine Group and Hulu, as well as regional sports networks.