# Disney to hire most of Character.AI's staff, about 60 people on $60 million a year in pay

Source: Searchable (https://searchable.pk/news/ai/disney-to-hire-most-of-characterais-staff-about-60-people-on-dollar60-million-a)
Type: News article
Author: Searchable Editorial
Published: 18 Oct 2026
Updated: 18 Oct 2026
Retrieved: 19 Oct 2026

> A bankruptcy court filing shows Disney is taking the chatbot startup's team as well as $20 million of its assets, and most of the staff have already said yes.

**Disney has agreed to offer jobs to at least 60 Character.AI employees, the majority of the bankrupt chatbot startup's staff, with an estimated $60 million (about Rs 16.6 billion) a year in pay**, according to a court filing first spotted by Bloomberg and [reported by TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/18/disney-agrees-to-hire-the-majority-of-character-ais-workforce/) on Sunday, 18 October 2026. The filing says the "vast majority" of staff who received offers have already accepted.

## Disney and Character.AI: the numbers

- **60 or more** Character.AI employees to get Disney job offers, most of the workforce.
- **$60 million a year** in estimated total pay for them, about Rs 16.6 billion at today's rate.
- **$20 million** (about Rs 5.5 billion) for some of Character.AI's assets, agreed earlier in the bankruptcy.
- **Late November or early December**: when the asset sale was expected to close.

The jobs deal comes days after Character.AI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, as we [reported on 13 October](/news/ai/characterai-files-for-bankruptcy-sells-assets-to-disney-for-dollar20-million). Disney's offer is a "stalking horse" bid: it sets a floor price in the court-run sale, and another company can still come in with a higher offer and take the assets.

## Why Character.AI failed

The filing says that despite a "large and engaged user base", Character.AI was weighed down by high costs and by "potential litigation-related liabilities and regulatory engagement". The company, which lets users chat with custom AI characters, faces lawsuits from families and government investigations over child safety.

The link with Disney was already close. Character.AI's former chief executive, Karandeep Anand, became Disney's first chief technology officer last month, and some Character.AI staff moved with him.

## What it means

For Disney, this is a way to buy a ready-made team that knows how to build and run conversational AI at scale, without buying a company carrying lawsuits. Taking a startup's people rather than the whole company is often called an "acqui-hire", and big tech firms have used it repeatedly to pick up AI talent.

For the app's users, nothing changes yet. The company has said the service runs while the court sale goes on, but it will be wound down if no buyer takes on the whole business.

## For readers in Pakistan

Character.AI is a global app, and its case is a reminder that a chatbot app can disappear with your chats in it. If you use AI tools for work or freelancing and get paid in dollars, our [freelancer tax calculator](/tools/tax/freelancer-tax-calculator) shows what you owe on foreign earnings, and the [currency converter](/tools/finance/currency-converter) has today's dollar rate.

## Frequently asked questions

**How many Character.AI employees is Disney hiring?**

Disney agreed to make job offers to at least 60 Character.AI employees, the majority of its workforce, with about $60 million a year in total pay, according to a court filing reported on 18 October 2026.

**Will the Character.AI app shut down?**

Not yet. The app keeps running during the court-supervised sale, but the company has said it will be wound down if no buyer takes on the whole business.

## Sources

- Disney agrees to hire the majority of Character.AI's workforce (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/18/disney-agrees-to-hire-the-majority-of-character-ais-workforce/

How to cite: "Disney to hire most of Character.AI's staff, about 60 people on $60 million a year in pay", Searchable, 18 Oct 2026, https://searchable.pk/news/ai/disney-to-hire-most-of-characterais-staff-about-60-people-on-dollar60-million-a