More than thirty years ago when Guy Lalibertè, then a fire-eater in his early twenties, together with some friends founded Cirque du Soleil in Montreal and then took the reins, he would not have thought that he would become a giant with almost 5 thousand employees. But even with a debt of nearly a billion dollars.
His 'creature', now in the hands of large international funds, is close to bankruptcy, more than 4 thousand people have already fired them and the blockade from Coronavirus could soon decree its end.
The financial situation of the group was very difficult for some time and now, in addition to facing the 'stop' of all the shows in the world, the remaining management team must also support the possible reimbursement of tickets and the risk of other penalties.
For this reason, according to Bloomberg, he has started contacts with a particularly close shareholder, the Canadian Caisse de Depot and Placement du Quebec, which holds 20%. The fund, which mainly manages public pension plans, has broad shoulders with over 240 billion investments and has not denied the contacts to try to save the entertainment group.
Another shareholder is the Chinese Fosun, but the majority is of the private equity giant Tpg, with around 60%. The feat is not easy: Standard & Poor's has now lowered Cirque's rating from CCC to D, indicating a clear 'default' risk. Some of the artists who have come out in recent years say that perhaps it is not a bad thing that everything starts again and think that the circus has become a giant very far from the original spirit, with a dozen performances on tour and another dozen stable productions, each with different inspirations. Especially in Las Vegas, where he reached eight contemporary shows. It is possible that the Canadian shareholder will go to the aid of Cirque, also because the last 10% bought it recently, right from Lalibertè.
And he watches from afar. A decade ago he was one of the few space tourists, obviously billionaires, who reached the Russian orbital station Soyuz, then played a lot of online poker under various pseudonyms, earning himself the reputation of 'whale', that is, those who often lose it's a lot. The latest news gives him in his Polynesian atoll of Nukutepipi, where he had some problems with the local police for a marijuana cultivation, which he confirmed to have held for "medical and strictly personal" purposes.
