Disney's black crisis continues in the theme park sector, sunk by the pandemic as well as that of cruise ships and cinema halls, and only partially offset by the growth of the Disney + streaming platform. The Mickey Mouse company, already forced to close the parks and to announce a first round of layoffs already last September, has made it known that it will increase 32.000 jobs in the first half of 2021, mainly in its theme parks. This is another 4 redundancies compared to the 28.000 announced in September. And it will not end here: if on the one hand Disney has not ruled out measures to overcome the moment of difficulty, such as a possible capital increase or the non-distribution of dividends to shareholders, it has also made it known in a statement that it is not said that they are not further staff cuts are needed in the future.
Disney has been forced to close its parks (there are 6 in the world, including one in Europe, near Paris) or to open them with capacity limitations for most of the year, while its cruises and guided tours are been suspended since the end of the second quarter. Its retail stores have also been forced to close their shutters. Now, its "strength" is represented by direct-to-consumer activities: Disney+ hit 73,7 million subscriptions on October 3, against the 60 million registered in the month of August. For 2021, the company plans to also launch a Star-branded general entertainment DTC video streaming offering outside the United States. “Given the unpredictable duration of the pandemic and the persistent uncertainties regarding the gradual reopening of some businesses, we are unable to provide precise estimates of the impact of the pandemic on our operations in the coming quarters,” reads a statement.
