New Delhi (NVI): Walt Disney Co. will layoff 32,000 employees in 2021, primarily from its US theme parks division, as the coronavirus continues to hit the entertainment company’s businesses hard.
The company, which announced 28,000 job cuts in September, expects to terminate its employees’ contracts in the first half of fiscal 2021.
“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,” Disney said in a filing explaining the job losses.
The majority of the terminations would be in “Parks, Experiences and Products” it added.
Disney employs around 2,03,000 people globally, with around 20 per cent part-time workers.
Drawing millions of tourists each year, Disneyland in Anaheim near Los Angeles is the world’s second-most visited theme park, after the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
But unlike the Disney theme parks in Florida, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Paris, the Anaheim resort has so far been unable to reopen due to the state’s coronavirus restrictions.
The move comes on the heels of Disney’s USD 4.7 billion loss in the most recent quarter, which reflected the hit to its theme park business and the derailment or postponement of major movie releases.
-CHK
