Disney allocates 28,000 US parks

Walt Disney announced it will lay off 28,000 employees, most of them at its theme parks in the United States.

Disney cited the parks’ limited visitor capacity and uncertainty over how long the coronavirus pandemic would last as reasons for layoffs.

The company’s amusement parks have been hit hard by the epidemic.

Disney closed all of its parks earlier this year as the virus spread, but only Disneyland in California remains closed.

“We have made the very difficult decision to start the process of reducing our workforce in the gardening sector, as well as trials and products at all levels,” Josh Damaro, Head of the Parks Unit, said in a statement.

Layoffs apply to “local employees,” of which 67% are employed part-time.

Disney also has parks in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Paris, which were not affected by the ad.

Disney reopened in Hong Kong last week after closing for the second time in July due to the spike in Covid-19 cases.

With the exception of Disneyland in California, all of the company’s parks have now reopened, although visitor numbers are limited to allow for social distancing.

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Disney lost $ 4.7 billion (£ 3.6 billion) in the three months ending June 27, with the Parks, Experiences and Products division down 85% compared to the same quarter in 2019.

Damaro said the company’s problems “were exacerbated in California by the state’s unwillingness to lift restrictions that would allow Disneyland to reopen.”

Disney is working to convince California to allow the company to reopen Disneyland.