Politics 28000 Layoffs coming to Disney's domestic theme parks - statement from Josh D'Amaro

This thread contains political discussion related to the original thread topic

Unbanshee

Well-Known Member
Does it really matter at this point. 4000 more layoffs are bad either way.

I completely agree, but accuracy should matter when dealing with facts and journalism. If you're happy to throw away accuracy, I'll gladly join you and we can discuss the merits of purchasing a Minnie Van from a local chevy dealership
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
Maybe had they focused on sports instead of politics and their TMZ type reporting they wouldn't be in this situation.

Espn sucks. It has for multiple reasons for along time.

Sports as a whole are undergoing a transition. Lack of appeal to youth is driving declining incentive for companies to invest in sports in media.

And the slow death of broadcast cable/advertising...doesn’t help. Leagues and media companies (cough) lived high on that hot for decades...it’s declining fast.

There is one “major” North American League that simply wont be able to play this year...they don’t have the corporate revenue to overcome the loss of gate. It’s not gonna happen...they’d have to borrow/ mortgage their assets to operate.
 

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
Correct. If I had to guess, there are probably about 4,000 layoffs from divisions outside of DPEP.

You can't have 28k theme park layoffs + 4k additional theme park layoffs = "32,000 across the company" to quote the sentinel

I think that saying that there are 4k more layoffs in the parks advances profits via clicks, but it doesn't advance facts or logic

This is the quote from the filing, which could certainly indicate there are no additional park workers beyond the 28k impacted, but it isn't clear.

"Due to the current climate, including COVID-19 impacts, and changing environment in which we are operating, the Company has generated efficiencies in its staffing, including limiting hiring to critical business roles, furloughs and reductions-in-force. As part of these actions, the employment of approximately 32,000 employees primarily at Parks, Experiences and Products will terminate in the first half of fiscal 2021. Additionally, as of October 3, 2020, approximately 37,000 employees who are not scheduled for employment termination were on furlough as a result of COVID-19’s impact on our businesses."

I'm surprised Disney has not clarified to any of the major outlets.

I've updated my original post on the main site.
 

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
I completely agree, but accuracy should matter when dealing with facts and journalism. If you're happy to throw away accuracy, I'll gladly join you and we can discuss the merits of purchasing a Minnie Van from a local chevy dealership
Pawn shops should be doing well with unemployed looking to sell items for cash to survive.
 

el_super

Well-Known Member
Let us wait and see. The Orlando Sentinel is reporting 4K additional parks resorts and experiences cast are impacted.

Let's put it this way... what bad news do you think is coming that will require layoffs coming in the next 4 months?

Disneyland is still closed, and they've already furloughed people again over here, but I honestly don't see how the situation at Disneyland can get much worse and there's still optimism the park will reopen next summer.

WDW is still open and while it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows, capacity is increasing.

Cruise ships are still docked and most of their cast have been re-patriated.

Disneyland Paris did just find out that they won't be open for the holidays, but they were already expecting to close again until February, so I don't know how this would really impact labor. Additionally, I am not even sure if employees for EuroDisney would be counted against TWDC.

So I don't see how there is some second group of people that Disney knew they didn't necessarily need if business didn't improve, but they haven't already informed them of the decision. Since business seems like it will only improve from here, why would they need to lay off additional people at a later date?
 

Unbanshee

Well-Known Member
"Due to the current climate, including COVID-19 impacts, and changing environment in which we are operating, the Company has generated efficiencies in its staffing, including limiting hiring to critical business roles, furloughs and reductions-in-force. As part of these actions, the employment of approximately 32,000 employees primarily at Parks, Experiences and Products will terminate in the first half of fiscal 2021. Additionally, as of October 3, 2020, approximately 37,000 employees who are not scheduled for employment termination were on furlough as a result of COVID-19’s impact on our businesses."

I'm surprised Disney has not clarified to any of the major outlets.

I've updated my original post on the main site.

Good for you for updating your article! Again, accuracy should matter and I'm happy to see that it does to you.

I'm not sure if Disney wants to split hairs over exactly how many employees are laid off from what divisions
 

JustinSt

Active Member
Did Disney say that, because their statement was that 32,000, primarily from parks, would be let go. If they've already let go of 28,000 from the parks, that would already satisfy the criteria for "primarily." Additionally the parks have already sent additional furlough notices (primarily at Disneyland) for Nov, Jan and Feb. If they already knew they would be laying off more people, why tell them they are furloughed now, just to tell them they are fired in two weeks?



Not to say there aren't more coming, but I don't think the extra 4,000 are coming from DPEP. At least not this time around.




Didn't you already imply they would be broken up by now? Disney's strength is in those IPs that it owns. Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars were all purchased to make Disney a stronger company. Wall Street does not care if the parks are running or not. The parks have almost no resale value without the IPs.
Honesty, They already laid off 32000 people. I think this is just a updated number. They laid off 18,000 from wdw, 10,000 from Disneyland, 400 from WDI, and around 3500 from cruise line and Disney store. That’s around 32,000. Also, disney 2021 fiscal year start October 1st. Layoffs aren’t completed until dec. 31st. That’s still the first half of 2021. I think the report is just an updated figure of who was actually laid off.
 

el_super

Well-Known Member
I'm surprised Disney has not clarified to any of the major outlets.

It could just be that they don't want to mention the other areas for fear of a panic (they already took the hit saying parks was being impacted so no real shock there), or that the breakout is too small to be of any real value. It could be less than 100 people across 40+ divisions.

I mentioned DLRP as an unlikely source in the post above, but it might also be worth noting that as WDI projects start wrapping up, they may technically be counting these as "additional" layoffs. They had a few months to wrap up what needed to be done for Marvel land at DCA and Ratatouille at EPCOT. Once TRON is secured, a lot of WDI project folks may just be at the end of their assignments.

But my money would still be on outside DPEP.
 

el_super

Well-Known Member
A serious winter spike in COVID-19 cases that requires Disney to "do the right thing" and close WDW, even if the FL Governor won't force their hand

Yeah I don't think the governor in Florida will do anything... but that doesn't discount the idea that their advanced bookings after January are scary enough that they know more are coming.. 🤔
 

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
I think at the moment the only news we have here is a confirmed layoff number of 32k. Prior to this had we seen any confirmation of any numbers beyond the 28k for DPEP?
 

Unbanshee

Well-Known Member
Yeah we know the the FL governor will never do anything. Orange County is a more likely scenario of any imposed shutdown, but I still think very unlikely at this point.

The question then becomes: does Disney do the right thing? Remember how they were happy to say that no government orders forced them to close WDW back in March? How they closed on their own terms?

They may have the opportunity this winter to take the lead on smart, safe closures again, but will they?
 

Slpy3270

Well-Known Member
Disney's strength is in those IPs that it owns. Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars were all purchased to make Disney a stronger company. Wall Street does not care if the parks are running or not. The parks have almost no resale value without the IPs.
The merchandise sales should have helped Disney avoid a loss this year. What happens if profitability doesn't return back to 2019 levels in 2021 or 2022? And think about what Disney will have to do to get back there.

And don't expect them to offload ABC/ESPN or any of their cable networks anytime soon. DTC wouldn't survive without them.
 

el_super

Well-Known Member
ESPN announced they were laying off 300 (and leaving 200 unfilled) at the beginning of the month.



Also about 50 from the Studio Marketing and ... "other"
Disney has enacted more layoffs, impacting more than 50 employees in the studio’s marketing group, the NY-based theatrical division and Searchlight Pictures. Several hundred open positions have been eliminated as well.

I'm not really sure if eliminating positions that are unfilled would count against a 10K filing.
 

el_super

Well-Known Member
The merchandise sales should have helped Disney avoid a loss this year. What happens if profitability doesn't return back to 2019 levels in 2021 or 2022? And think about what Disney will have to do to get back there.

And don't expect them to offload ABC/ESPN or any of their cable networks anytime soon. DTC wouldn't survive without them.

Most investors aren't expecting Disney to fully recover until 2022 and possibly beyond, and that's understood right now. If they really felt that was an issue, they would be selling off and calling for change *right now*.
 

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
The question then becomes: does Disney do the right thing? Remember how they were happy to say that no government orders forced them to close WDW back in March? How they closed on their own terms?

They may have the opportunity this winter to take the lead on smart, safe closures again, but will they?
I think any closure now would reflect badly on the decision to reopen in the summer. Only a government decision would force a close now in my opinion. They have been keen to mention how the overseas second closures came as a result of government direction.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
The merchandise sales should have helped Disney avoid a loss this year. What happens if profitability doesn't return back to 2019 levels in 2021 or 2022? And think about what Disney will have to do to get back there.

And don't expect them to offload ABC/ESPN or any of their cable networks anytime soon. DTC wouldn't survive without them.

Disney had a $13,500,000,000 swing in profit this past years. From 10.5 up to about 3 down.

They sell a lot of Merch...but...

Especially since traffic at most retail outlets and parks are a fraction of what it was.
 

tirian

Well-Known Member
Orlando was built on prosperous middle-class Americans taking their kids down to see Grandma and Pop Pop every summer.

Middle-class families now have less money and grandparents who are more likely to have retired somewhere other than Florida. That and tastes have changed--the kind of people who have the money to splash out on a Disney trip expect certain amenities and if they don't get them, they won't come back and they'll warn off their friends. Anecdotal but a friend went with her family recently and they're the kind of customers I would think Disney wants to attract--very affluent, willing to spend, kids young enough for multiple future visits if the trip works out. The hotel was blah, the food was bad, the early mornings stressed out the kids, etc. Will they come back? Maybe, but why not just rent a nice AirBnb and take the kids to a national park? Or once the travel restrictions are off, fly to actual Europe instead of Epcot Center? (Yes, I'm seeing people do this now with their kids where it's possible.)

Disney wants these well-off customers, but they're not delivering the kind of service that that kind of person is accustomed to--and cuts aren't going to help.
That’s the part I don’t understand about Disney’s imaginary new demographic. The average salary in my office is well into six figures, and I’m the only person interested in vacationing at WDW. Everyone else complains their last trip was overpriced and too crowded, the food was lousy, the rides obviously needed repairs, etc.

One of my co-workers comes from a mega-wealthy family who used to rent out the entire set of suites at the Grand Floridian once a year. I can only imagine how much they spent! But they’ve stopped going because they couldn’t justify the prices anymore. That’s really saying something!

I know this isn’t an empirical study, but in my experience among the newly desired target demo, the anecdotal word-of-mouth is flat-out negative.

These continued layoffs and cut entertainment, staffing, etc. aren’t going to help the company’s reputation.
 

tirian

Well-Known Member
Disney had a $13,500,000,000 swing in profit this past years. From 10.5 up to about 3 down.

They sell a lot of Merch...but...

Especially since traffic at most retail outlets and parks are a fraction of what it was.
The company’s spin doctors pushed money around to make the annual Wall Street earnings report appear less hopeless than expected, but the continued layoffs and price hikes reveal the pandemic has forced deep cuts.

My heart goes out to all the Disney CMs and their families who were affected just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. :(
 

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