Several senior leaders at ABC News are reportedly heading for the door after taking buyouts this summer, and staffers have expressed concern about the amount of generational knowledge leaving the newsroom, calling it a “brain drain” at the network.
The voluntary early retirement packages were offered to executives in August as part of parent company Disney’s cost-saving efforts, the Status newsletter reported.
Earlier this month, Disney moved toward thousands of layoffs, telling managers to find 20% in yearly cost savings under new CEO Josh D’Amaro.
The company had about 231,000 people at the end of last year.
The group who took buyouts included recently promoted vice president of talent strategy and development, Audrey Taylor, an Emmy award-winning producer who has been with the company for more than 35 years.
The director of news practices, Nicole Gallagher, who according to her LinkedIn has been in the newsroom since 1990 — parts of her job included advising senior leadership during crisis situations and mentoring young journalists — is also leaving.
The executive director of weather operations and graphics, Tamar Gargle, also decided to pack up her things.
Gargle started her career in journalism as the executive assistant for Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein, and has worked at ABC News for more than three decades, according to her LinkedIn.
The TV station’s director of broadcast engineering Lachlan Murdoch MacNeil will also be leaving after three decades with Disney.
The employees who took the buyouts did not immediately answer requests for comment.
Fewer than 20 people total at ABC News took the buyouts, most of them in the operations division, according to Status.
Some current staffers anonymously told the outlet they were worried about a potential “brain drain” at the network as news vets continue to leave.
To be eligible for the buyouts, employees had to be at least 50 and have at least a decade of experience under their belts, according to Deadline.
The packages included up to a year of pay based on tenure and level.
“By offering a voluntary retirement program, we hope to give eligible employees an opportunity to make a personal decision on their own terms before broader organizational decisions are finalized,” Sonia Coleman, Disney’s chief people officer, said in an August memo to employees
Disney is moving towards a TV restructuring with expected reductions at ABC News, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.
D’Amaro recently said he wanted to reinvest in streaming and TV, but it’s unclear if that would apply to the news division.
ABC News saw layoffs last year when the outlet merged its flagship productions, “20/20” and “Nightline,” along with consolidating “Good Morning America.” The company also axed its data news site, FiveThirtyEight.
In spite of the tumult, “ABC World News Tonight” is the top-rated evening network news show.
The news department had a banner year at the Emmys this past season, with 47 nominations – its best showing since 1969 and the most for any broadcast network. The news division won eight.
Earlier this year, ABC News won a Peabody for 2025 coverage of the Southern California wildfires.
ABC News and Disney did immediately not respond to requests for comment.
