The Walt Disney Company has decided to lay off more 4000 workers (primarily at its theme parks), owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, making the total 32,000 from 28,000 as earlier announced.
The layoffs will be in the first half of FY 2021, the House of Mouse stated in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A Disney spokesman confirmed the latest figures as well as informed that additional workers from its Southern California theme park will also be sacked due to the uncertainty over the reopening of parks as allowed by the Government.
Disney’s theme parks in Florida and outside the US reopened earlier this year without seeing new major Coronavirus outbreaks but following protocols – strict social-distancing, testing and mandatory mask use.
Disneyland Paris was forced to shut again late last month when France imposed lockdown again to fight a second wave of the coronavirus cases. The company’s theme parks in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo are still open as of now.