The Wall Street Journalreports that Walt Disney Co. plans to restructure its U.S. theme park operations. They will also be laying off employees but have not specified how many jobs will be cut.
The announcement came less than two weeks after a deadline to accept voluntary buyouts that the company offered to about 600 executives in the Parks and Resorts division. Disney officials declined to say how many executives took a voluntary buyout, but said the number was "satisfactory."
In a memo to employees Wednesday, Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo said the cuts would help build "an organization and cost structure that meet today's economic realities."
In effect, Disney is consolidating many of its behind-the-scenes operations into one unit. For example, separate units in charge of maintenance at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., will be combined into one unit, according to a company official.
The WSJ says attendance to Disney's parks fell 5% in the fourth quarter of 2008 when compared to 2007. That doesn't really seem that bad considering there is a major recession going on but it's bad enough that Disney feels the need to cut costs. Disney's internal outlook for future attendance may not be very optimistic. The company does say that its offer for guests to get in free on their birthdays has helped boost attendance.
