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Corona crisis: Disney cuts 28,000 jobs after billions in losses

2020-09-30T12:29:46.178Z


The corona crisis hit Disney hard with its theme parks and cruise ships. Now the Mickey Mouse company is cutting tens of thousands of jobs in the USA - and criticizing California's "reluctance".


Disney's cruise ship "Disney Dream" in Papenburg at its launch in 2010

Photo: 

Disney / Getty Images

After billions in losses in the corona crisis, the US entertainment company Disney is now cutting 28,000 jobs in the US.

Division boss Josh D'Amaro expressed his great regret in a letter to the employees.

But the job cuts are inevitable.

Cost reductions, the suspension of projects and rationalizations would not have been enough.

The duration of the pandemic and the unwillingness of the government in California to lift restrictions would have exacerbated the situation.

According to the company, employees in amusement parks and on cruise ships are affected by the job cuts.

They had to close worldwide due to the pandemic or had to be canceled.

The decision was made necessary by "the ongoing effects of Covid-19 on our business," the company said.

There is also the "uncertainty about the duration of the pandemic".

According to Disney, around two thirds of the employees affected by the job cuts work part-time.

As of the end of 2019, the company had a total of 223,000 employees.

After the lockdown, the successful entertainment company Mickey Mouse is only allowed to operate its parks with a limited number of visitors.

In California, the parks are still closed due to the rapid increase in the number of corona infections.

"We just can't responsibly stay full with such a limited workload," said Disney manager D'Amaro.

Disneyland in Anaheim, California near Los Angeles, which opened in 1955 as the mother of all modern amusement parks and attracts millions of visitors every year, is therefore particularly important for the company.

Behind Disney World in Orlando in the southeastern state of Florida, Disneyland ranks second among the most visited amusement parks in the world.

Unlike the Disney theme parks in Florida, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai or Paris, Anaheim has not yet been able to reopen to visitors.

This is due to the state's restrictions on containing the pandemic.

California doesn't want to open amusement parks

Originally, Disneyland should have reopened in July.

But the California authorities thwarted this plan because of the rampant coronavirus - 805,000 infections have been recorded there, more than in any other US state.

Even though the number of infections has recently declined again and a number of shops have been allowed to reopen to customers, amusement parks in the most populous US state will remain closed for the time being.

California has introduced a four-tier system for the individual counties.

Orange County - the county in which Anaheim and thus Disneyland is located - is in the second highest category.

Disney manager D'Amaro, who is responsible for the amusement parks in the group, complained that the uncertainty for Disney in California had been exacerbated by "the reluctance of the state to relax the restrictions".

Last week, D'Amaro appealed to California's Governor Gavin Newsom to help the company reopen the park - or otherwise risk losing thousands of jobs.

"The longer we wait, the more devastating the impact will be on Orange County and the Anaheim community," he warned.

Even in the counties that are classified in the lowest category with a view to the pandemic, amusement parks are currently not allowed to open.

Disneyland, together with Universal Studios and other operators of similar parks, recently insisted on the establishment of uniform health requirements that are necessary for a reopening.

Some mayors also joined this demand.

Governor Newsom recently announced that he would "soon" deal with recommendations for the theme parks.

The corona crisis has plunged Disney deep into the red.

The company suffered a loss of $ 4.7 billion in the past quarter.

At the same time, the group recorded an increase in the number of users of its streaming platforms such as Disney + and Hulu.

Icon: The mirror

kig / AFP / Reuters

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2020-09-30

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