Disney Lays Off 28,000 Theme Park Employees Nationwide
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Disney announced Tuesday it had laid off 28,000 employees in its theme park division, citing the continued toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately two-thirds of those let go were part-time, but they represent a little over 25 percent of the 100,000 Disney employees furloughed worldwide in the pandemic’s early days. The company laid blame on California Gov. Gavin Newsom for keeping Disney’s theme parks in California closed. Disney’s most recent quarterly earnings report for its theme parks showed a loss of $2 billion from April to June of this year, with less than a billion dollars in revenue compared to $7 billion generated in the same period in 2019. Although Disney controversially reopened its Florida-based Disney World locations in July, a chief executive confirmed to The Washington Post that they had not seen as many visitors returning as they’d hoped.