"We've exited colleagues who I've worked with for most of my career... It is in many ways a harsh reality," Walden said during the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles.

"It is extremely painful," she added.

More than 300 people were laid off from Disney on Tuesday, most of whom work in human resources and information technology, according to US media reports.

"Technology set their sights on our business, and we must survive and thrive and grow. And that's what we're going to do," she said.