News Layoffs, permanent closures, and more at WDW third-party establishments

[DCBaker]

I mean it makes sense, but yeah, I guess with Sephora it was a mass online conference call where they were shown online slides, but it is a shame if it was a company the size of sephora if no subtle warning could come of it. Even the central florida theme parks have given a date to when they are going to shoot for.

I could just be all talk, but they did say this to USA TODAY -

"It is our sincerest hope that we are able to bring these employees back on staff in the near future"

Also - terminated employees were provided severance packages and support resources including "coordination with companies that provide essential services and may be hiring at this time."

"Sephora continues to employ over 9,000 employees throughout its U.S. locations. The beauty store chain says all of its U.S. workers including full-time store employees and licensed beauty advisers will continue to be paid "100 percent based on average hours worked and existing health benefits" through late May or until stores re-open."

Sephora lays off more than 3K part-time, seasonal staffers

Personal care and beauty store chain, Sephora announced mass layoffs of its part-time and seasonal employees amid coronavirus pandemic.

www.usatoday.com

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

When it generates profit it will.

Well. In fairness. It is doing a bit better than ESPN right now.

 

[Mindy55]

Tishman Realty & Construction Corporation and MetLife own the hotels but are managed by Marriott International.

I thought they were managed by the Sheraton ownership group? I know they used to be but that was years ago

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I thought they were managed by the Sheraton ownership group? I know they used to be but that was years ago

Marriott bought Starwood which owned Sheraton. Starwood also owned the W, Westin, aloft.

 

[Boo Birds]

True, but ESPN will quickly turn around once leagues start up - even if not for several months still. There may be no fans in stadiums and arenas and people will be starving for distractions and “normalcy”. Ratings will be huge because it’s the only new stuff to watch.

 

[WeWantsTheRedHead]

Marriott kept the branding, the Dolphin is part of the Sheraton brand and the Swan is a Westin branded hotel.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Marriott kept the branding, the Dolphin is part of the Sheraton brand and the Swan is a Westin branded hotel.

Oh I didn’t realize that. I knew they were both under Starwood and come to think of it I remember seeing the different logos when doing a search for hotel prices but it never really clicked they were under 2 different brands.

 

[flutas]

I do not think it will come to either of of those, but Comcast has a much larger financial stability position on this because it has diversity. Not quite as dependent on China theme park wise.

FWIW, as an outsider to comcast but on the receiving end of some of their contracts.

They are currently slashing and pulling back in all areas. Granted I'm on the "in home services" side of comcast.

 

[WEDway Inc & Company LLC]

Oh I didn’t realize that. I knew they were both under Starwood and come to think of it I remember seeing the different logos when doing a search for hotel prices but it never really clicked they were under 2 different brands.

Yea. It’s a dual-brand hotel. There’s a couple of them around- like the TownePlace Suites/SpringHill Suites on Palm Parkway, or the Residence Inn/springhill Suites in Mall at Millenia.

 

[celluloid]

Comcast being so much more diverse than Disney, it can weather almost any storm. Disney only having divisions of entertainment – theme parks, tv, movies, etc. – this will be a real hit to them. The hospitality, cruise and airline industry will look very different at the end of this.

Orange County and Orlando were attempting to get more tech, medical and defense companies in Central Florida to diversify the economy. Unfortunately, the pandemic will curtail the creation of new jobs and there are not a lot of good jobs for hotel/theme park employees to look for. Lockheed Martin, UCF, medical field, law enforcement officer, firefighter, government employee...that's all there really is and that isn't enough for 2.5 million Central Floridians. Other than a small number of salaried management positions, theme park/hotel jobs are low-paying hourly positions. The huge number of people that find themselves stuck in them is mind-blowing.

I love Florida, but there is obviously too much reliance on the tourism sector – be it cruises, theme parks or hotels – to carry the economy. The elected officials are a mixed bag like anywhere. But with all the tourist dollars the state is flush with, they really need to focus on diversity or the state is dead in the water during the next crisis.

Great points!
Florida still has one of the largest agricultural industries. Besides tourism and areospace, it is huge in providing food and necessities for the rest of the country. Of course, Tourusm is what makes the cow fatter, so I see your point. Diversity is always good for when certain industries go south, but outside money is best. When there is a crisis big enough to hurt tourism and leisure this much, the entire country or world tends to hurt as you notice and that is where the other factors come in. Tourism is the reason we are fatter and have no state income tax.
What I wish Florida would do is enforce the idea that you can work here for years at a place such as a theme park, drive a car here and not be a citizen of the state. Technically, it is illegal.

 

[Frank the Tank]

Well. In fairness. It is doing a bit better than ESPN right now.

Actually, ESPN (even without sports programming and resulting reduced ad revenues due to the pandemic) is probably one of the few sources of revenue that is keeping Disney afloat. Every household with cable, satellite or their streaming equivalents like Hulu Live or YouTube TV with ESPN is paying at least $8+ per month for ESPN carriage fees whether they watch it or not and regardless of whether there's any sports programming at all. There are around 85 million ESPN subscribers (give or take a few), which means that Disney is collecting a back-of-the-napkin amount of $680 million per month *every* month from ESPN *without* even selling an ad. To put that into perspective, that is the equivalent of getting the domestic box office gross of Avengers: Infinity War every single month *automatically*.

So, a big mistake that a lot of observers make regarding cord cutting is thinking that ESPN is *losing* money, which couldn't be farther from the truth. It's just that ESPN was so *insanely* profitable up until a few years ago that it was effectively making as much profits alone as nearly the entire rest of The Walt Disney Company combined. ESPN's profits have taken a hit over the past few years due to cord cutting, but it's still such an unbelievably profitable business even in its current state that Disney would be crazy to offer it a la carte unless/until cable subscriber numbers are a fraction of what they are now (e.g. we're talking going down to 30 million or fewer cable subscribers, and even then it could still make more sense for Disney to ride out the basic cable model). Stock observers over the past few years were concerned about the impact on Disney due to cord cutting because they were so reliant on ESPN's insane profits compared to every other aspect of their business and that has totally slowed down. It was never because they thought that ESPN was *losing* money outright. ESPN has been one of (if not the single biggest) cash cows of all of Disney.

 

[CastAStone]

Actually, ESPN (even without sports programming and resulting reduced ad revenues due to the pandemic) is probably one of the few sources of revenue that is keeping Disney afloat. Every household with cable, satellite or their streaming equivalents like Hulu Live or YouTube TV with ESPN is paying at least $8+ per month for ESPN carriage fees whether they watch it or not and regardless of whether there's any sports programming at all. There are around 85 million ESPN subscribers (give or take a few), which means that Disney is collecting a back-of-the-napkin amount of $680 million per month *every* month from ESPN *without* even selling an ad. To put that into perspective, that is the equivalent of getting the domestic box office gross of Avengers: Infinity War every single month *automatically*.

So, a big mistake that a lot of observers make regarding cord cutting is thinking that ESPN is *losing* money, which couldn't be farther from the truth. It's just that ESPN was so *insanely* profitable up until a few years ago that it was effectively making as much profits alone as nearly the entire rest of The Walt Disney Company combined. ESPN's profits have taken a hit over the past few years due to cord cutting, but it's still such an unbelievably profitable business even in its current state that Disney would be crazy to offer it a la carte unless/until cable subscriber numbers are a fraction of what they are now (e.g. we're talking going down to 30 million or fewer cable subscribers, and even then it could still make more sense for Disney to ride out the basic cable model). Stock observers over the past few years were concerned about the impact on Disney due to cord cutting because they were so reliant on ESPN's insane profits compared to every other aspect of their business and that has totally slowed down. It was never because they thought that ESPN was *losing* money outright. ESPN has been one of (if not the single biggest) cash cows of all of Disney.

All correct except remember that Disney co-owns ESPN with Hearst so Disney keeps 80% of revenue/profits, not 100%.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Actually, ESPN (even without sports programming and resulting reduced ad revenues due to the pandemic) is probably one of the few sources of revenue that is keeping Disney afloat. Every household with cable, satellite or their streaming equivalents like Hulu Live or YouTube TV with ESPN is paying at least $8+ per month for ESPN carriage fees whether they watch it or not and regardless of whether there's any sports programming at all. There are around 85 million ESPN subscribers (give or take a few), which means that Disney is collecting a back-of-the-napkin amount of $680 million per month *every* month from ESPN *without* even selling an ad. To put that into perspective, that is the equivalent of getting the domestic box office gross of Avengers: Infinity War every single month *automatically*.

So, a big mistake that a lot of observers make regarding cord cutting is thinking that ESPN is *losing* money, which couldn't be farther from the truth. It's just that ESPN was so *insanely* profitable up until a few years ago that it was effectively making as much profits alone as nearly the entire rest of The Walt Disney Company combined. ESPN's profits have taken a hit over the past few years due to cord cutting, but it's still such an unbelievably profitable business even in its current state that Disney would be crazy to offer it a la carte unless/until cable subscriber numbers are a fraction of what they are now (e.g. we're talking going down to 30 million or fewer cable subscribers, and even then it could still make more sense for Disney to ride out the basic cable model). Stock observers over the past few years were concerned about the impact on Disney due to cord cutting because they were so reliant on ESPN's insane profits compared to every other aspect of their business and that has totally slowed down. It was never because they thought that ESPN was *losing* money outright. ESPN has been one of (if not the single biggest) cash cows of all of Disney.

I wasn't insinuating that ESPN was losing money. Rather:

On one hand you have a streaming platform that has acquired 28 Million subscribers in about 6 months. One who provides movies and entertainment and is contemplating releasing "blockbusters" straight to streaming on their platform during a time where millions of people are isolated at home.

On the other - you have an entity that revolves around sports. Sure, 30 for 30, and some of the other shows have merit and an audience - but live sports/sports highlights, talking heads (about recent and future sporting events) are the mainstay. The ad and licensing revenue has to be taking a hit.

As for the carriage fees - I think they (ESPN) average right now about $7/subscriber. They just lost another 2 Million subscribers. As the streaming/bundles (and alternatives) continue to evolve - They're gonna have to rethink that a bit. It's one thing to ask for $8/$9 when cable bills well exceeded $130 back in the day for "premium" type alternatives - but - to be asking for approx 12% of subscription cost (based on DIRECTV's current bundle offering ESPN) - isn't going to be a viable strategy.

Point being - Disney+ is an emerging platform in an area that is growing and being heavily invested in. ESPN (while viable and very profitable) has shown declines in viewership and is in the situation of trying to determine how to best position itself to participate in this new landscape.