Disney agrees to hire the majority of Character.AI’s workforce
In Brief Posted: 9:30 AM PDT · October 18, 2026 Image Credits:Character.AI Anthony Ha Disney agrees to hire the majority of Character.AI’s workforce After chatbot startup Character.AI filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, many of its employees will have the opportunity to take jobs at Disney.…
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In Brief Posted: 9:30 AM PDT · October 18, 2026 Image Credits:Character.AI Anthony Ha Disney agrees to hire the majority of Character.AI’s workforce After chatbot startup Character.AI filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, many of its employees will have the opportunity to take jobs at Disney. Character.AI’s former CEO Karandeep Anand recently became the entertainment giant’s first CTO, and the startup previously said that Disney had agreed to acquire some of its assets for $20 million. A legal filing spotted by Bloomberg revealed more details about the agreement between Character.AI and Disney, with Disney agreeing to make employment offers to at least 60 Character.AI employees — the majority of the workforce — paying them an estimated $60 million in annual compensation. The filing also says that the “vast majority” of Character.AI employees who were offered jobs at Disney accepted them. However, this is a stalking horse bid, so another company could come forward with a higher offer. The filing says that despite its “large and engaged user base,” Character.AI has been hobbled by high costs and “potential litigation-related liabilities and regulatory engagement.” (The company was sued by the mother of a 14-year-old boy who said her son became obsessed with one of Character.AI’s chatbots before committing suicide; it also faces government investigations over child safety concerns.) Topics AI, character.ai, Disney, Media & Entertainment, Startups November 4 Boston Get 50% off a second passCover more ground at TechCrunch’s ultimate founder bootcamp of the year by bringing your co-founder or partner. Save 50% off a second pass. Meet scaling and investment leaders, ask questions, find solutions, and more.Last day to save Oct. 16 Register Now Newsletters See More Subscribe for the industry’s biggest tech news Related Transportation TechCrunch Mobility: Rivian’s next act Kirsten Korosec 13 hours ago AI Anthropic says its workforce has become less junior and is spending more time in meetings Anthony Ha 1 day ago AI Replit makes OpenAI its default over Anthropic, CEO says Kirsten Korosec Lucas Ropek Rebecca Bellan 1 day ago Latest in AI In Brief Anthropic says it’s committing 5% of its shares to a ‘public benefit fund’ Anthony Ha 9 hours ago In Brief Disney agrees to hire the majority of Character.AI’s workforce Anthony Ha 13 hours ago In Brief Meta removes language that raised scraping and AI training concerns Anthony Ha 1 day ago