Disney Parks laying off 28,000 cast members

[yulilin3]

First one of my performer friends just got the call, he was Otto Von Bon Bon at CoH and many, many other characters all around property, most recently he was actually talent and actor management, 38 years with the company

 

[dlavender]

You can justify it by dipping into that $23 billion in cash. Those folks helped you make it. Now be there for them. And they should have already been in court in California to get that park over instead of whining about it on twitter.

But instead, as usual with big corporations, they took it out on the people that could least afford it.

Unfortunately we've sold our economy to the "street" and in times like these we pay for it.

 

[dlavender]

First one of my performer friends just got the call, he was Otto Von Bon Bon at CoH and many, many other characters all around property, most recently he was actually talent and actor management, 38 years with the company

Was he the one who more or less headlined the old opening "show" at HS or whatever they referred to it as?

It's OT, but I really miss the rope drop skits or whatever they called them that they would do at all the parks.....

 

[rteetz]

Obviously Cast Member Pantry is probably the most central place to help out at the moment. Social media has tons of CMs that are sharing ways to help. Many have different avenues right now such as selling art or whatever else.

 

[yulilin3]

Was he the one who more or less headlined the old opening "show" at HS or whatever they referred to it as?

It's OT, but I really miss the rope drop skits or whatever they called them that they would do at all the parks.....

he's the one to the right

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

Bonuses are awarded on meeting goals and paid in the future. Yes, they are out of control. I won't dispute that. But the 60MM+ bonus was awarded over years of making past targets and then being paid out. He made 40MM+ in bonuses the year before and 30MM+ in bonuses before that. These numbers are crazy, but he's also been CEO for 15 years of one of the most successful companies in the industry. Bonuses tend to rack up when you have that kind of long term track record because you keep meeting those future targets.

Should he have donated his past bonus, or his future bonus, to keep more employees? I have no idea. Not even sure how that would work. Legally can he personally pay those employees to keep them on Disney's book? I doubt it. But that's not the Disney company's decision to make. He's already earned that money. He would need to take that step. The company could adjust his targets in the future, though with Chapek taking over I'm not sure what targets Iger still has. But the money he's already earned is his. The company simply has to live up to its contractual obligation to pay it.

Most people that make arguments like this don't do the math on what it means. 30 million divided by $50,000 (low number when you consider benefits and other costs above salary) would save 600 jobs for 1 year.

28,000 employees is a huge expense, we're talking probably a billion dollars per year. Management salary cuts are symbolic to "share the pain"... they don't actually make much of an impact on the financial picture.

You can justify it by dipping into that $23 billion in cash. Those folks helped you make it. Now be there for them. And they should have already been in court in California to get that park over instead of whining about it on twitter.

But instead, as usual with big corporations, they took it out on the people that could least afford it.

You can't just look at 1 line of their balance sheet. They need that cash to cover obligations or the entire company is out of work.

According to the Walt Disney’s most recent balance sheet as reported on August 4, 2020, total debt is at $64.42 billion, with $54.20 billion in long-term debt and $10.22 billion in current debt. Adjusting for $23.11 billion in cash-equivalents, the company has a net debt of $41.31 billion.

https://www.benzinga.com/news/20/08/16943039/walt-disneys-debt-overview

 

[Disney Bobby]

Bonuses are awarded on meeting goals and paid in the future. Yes, they are out of control. I won't dispute that. But the 60MM+ bonus was awarded over years of making past targets and then being paid out. He made 40MM+ in bonuses the year before and 30MM+ in bonuses before that. These numbers are crazy, but he's also been CEO for 15 years of one of the most successful companies in the industry. Bonuses tend to rack up when you have that kind of long term track record because you keep meeting those future targets.

Should he have donated his past bonus, or his future bonus, to keep more employees? I have no idea. Not even sure how that would work. Legally can he personally pay those employees to keep them on Disney's book? I doubt it. But that's not the Disney company's decision to make. He's already earned that money. He would need to take that step. The company could adjust his targets in the future, though with Chapek taking over I'm not sure what targets Iger still has. But the money he's already earned is his. The company simply has to live up to its contractual obligation to pay it.

I'm not saying he should give back money. Just not take a dime this year, in any form. All of them, if they have been getting multimillion dollar bonuses in the past.

And I don't see how any bonus target set pre-pandemic could be met now. What will likely happen, like I've seen before, is that they will "revise" their bonus goals due to "market conditions beyond their control" and still get a big payout. I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

 

[TwoMisfits]

What gets me is they spent this month hyping their 5th key in their keys program...and then did totally take the rug out from their baseline staff.

Again, it's one thing if the business is all business...but if you're gonna hype these keys and "inclusion" as a 5th key and then you're gonna purposely "exclude the pain" from the topline staff while destroying everyone underneath...someone in topline PR should probably get fired.

 

[RivShore]

There are no easy answers to the mess for any company but trying to add a little perspective to this...

I posted this article at the beginning of the pandemic, it doesn't link anymore but the headline is relevant information:


The payroll numbers for this company are staggering - This means that paying the CEO zero dollars in wages and bonuses for the last 10+ years would have not even covered a month's worth of payroll for those furloughed back in April.

The exec pay reductions are a drop in the bucket against the full picture but I fully agree that the optics are bad. As someone said above, maybe they could have reduced the truly high paid execs to show some shared sacrifice but when your dealing with payroll costs this high and business this bad, it just doesn't make a whole lot of difference and would literally just save a handful of jobs.

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1311721013193867271

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1311753397704495104

 

[anthony2k7]

Most people that make arguments like this don't do the math on what it means. 30 million divided by $50,000 (low number when you consider benefits and other costs above salary) would save 600 jobs for 1 year.

28,000 employees is a huge expense, we're talking probably a billion dollars per year. Management salary cuts are symbolic to "share the pain"... they don't actually make much of an impact on the financial picture.


You can't just look at 1 line of their balance sheet. They need that cash to cover obligations or the entire company is out of work.

https://www.benzinga.com/news/20/08/16943039/walt-disneys-debt-overview

That debt number is scary when you consider that their revenue has just had the biggest reset possible with it being almost impossible to know what their new "normal" annual revenue will be.

Their next financial update is going to quite a ride.

 

[anthony2k7]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1311721013193867271

Did Joe Rohde survive?

 

[rteetz]

Did Joe Rohde survive?

I’d be shocked if he didn’t. Joe was considered an untouchable. They trot him out for so many events and he did an at home series during closures.

 

[Disney Bobby]

There are no easy answers to the mess for any company but trying to add a little perspective to this...

I posted this article at the beginning of the pandemic, it doesn't link anymore but the headline is relevant information:
View attachment 529288

The payroll numbers for this company are staggering - This means that paying the CEO zero dollars in wages and bonuses for the last 10+ years would have not even covered a month's worth of payroll for those furloughed back in April.

The exec pay reductions are a drop in the bucket against the full picture but I fully agree that the optics are bad. As someone said above, maybe they could have reduced the truly high paid execs to show some shared sacrifice but when your dealing with payroll costs this high and business this bad, it just doesn't make a whole lot of difference and would literally just save a handful of jobs.

Yeah, notice they say "up to $500m a month". That comes up to about $60k per employee per year. Mr Google says that the average cast member makes $22k a year. And 2/3rds of these folks were part time. No way they were even close to $22k a year.

So the math doesn't add up for me. I get what you are saying and I agree it's a huge amount of money. But they have the cash. They just don't want to use it on these folks.

 

[HashberryOTG]

As a business, it's hard to justify $ spent on employees that aren't working. They are sending the message they have what they need to function now and in the near future. I hope these laid off employees have some sort of first right for when Disney starts hiring again. It would be great if some of them can come back someday.

 

[RamblingMad]

So much of the Disney experience is the cast members. Returning to Disneyland won't be the same post COVID. This is super sad.

 

[Farro]

What exactly is the Imagineering thats being let go in large numbers? For parks? Animation? All of it?

Im not sure what it entails

 

[Brianstl]

Yeah, notice they say "up to $500m a month". They are just taking 100,000 multiplying it by $50k. That comes up to about $60k per employee per year. Mr Google says that the average cast member makes $22k a year. And 2/3rds of these folks were part time. No way they were even close to $22k a year.

So the math doesn't add up for me. I get what you are saying and I agree it's a huge amount of money. But they have the cash. They just don't want to use it on these folks.

The numbers you are using are out of date. It assumes that all the employees furloughed were regular park cast members 2/3rds of those furloughed were par time. which was not the case. The lowest paid regular park full time cast members were making a starting salary of $27,040 when the furlough started. That increased to $29,120 today.

 

[Disney Bobby]

The numbers you are using are out of date. It assumes that all the employees furloughed were regular park cast members 2/3rds of those furloughed were par time. which was not the case. The lowest paid regular park full time cast members were making a starting salary of $27,040 when the furlough started. That increased to $29,120 today.

Pretty sure I read that 2/3rds of the laid off were part time. And thanks for the correction on the salaries. Still a long way off from $60k a year.