Trapeze artists and acrobats as land registry employees. From the spending reviews, apparently, no one is saved: not even in Canada, not even in the circus. The most famous and admired company in the world, the Cirque du Soleil, announced the layoff of 400 employees. The goal is to reduce production costs and, at the same time, stem the negative effects associated with the recent appreciation of the Canadian dollar.
In all, Cirque du Soleil now employs around 5.000 people: the cut will therefore cut 8% of the workforce. "We are trying to review our expenses to reduce them significantly," said Renée-Claude Ménard, company spokeswoman.
But why so much diligence? Are the circus accounts that bad? Actually, no. Far from it: in 2012 Cirque du Soleil recorded 14 million profits, for a record turnover of one billion Canadian dollars. The problem is that half of the total staff are based in Montreal and are paid in Canadian dollars.
At the same time, however, 90% of the company's revenues are produced abroad. Anyhow, Guy Laliberté, founder and owner of Cirque du Soleil, has made it known that he has no intention of selling his company, which is evidently still very profitable.
Attachments: The Vancouver Sun
