Cirque du Soleil to eliminate 400 jobs

MONTREAL ? The Cirque du Soleil is not in a state of crisis.

But it did not turn a profit in 2012 due to multiple factors and has embarked on a restructuring process that will include eliminating about 400 jobs, most of them at the company?s Montreal headquarters, according to the company?s director of public relations, Ren?e-Claude M?nard.

The Cirque has 5,000 employees worldwide, about 2,000 of them in Montreal. The announced job cuts represent nine per cent of the company?s workforce, Menard said. And the precise number of jobs eliminated won?t be known until the end of March.

M?nard spoke to reporters in a small crowded room upstairs at Cirque headquarters yesterday afternoon, following two successive information meetings for employees.

Cirque owner Guy Lalibert? and CEO Daniel Lamarre attended both employee gatherings in order to speak personally with the staff, but they did not make themselves available to the press.

Employees, too, were reluctant to talk as they filed in and out of the building, having been asked to refrain from comment. One exception was an acrobat associated with the upcoming Las Vegas Michael Jackson show who was in a buoyant mood. ?I think my company is in a good place,? he said.

M?nard stressed that Cirque remains the largest live entertainment company in the world with 19 active shows that sold 14 million tickets last year, raking in $1 billion in revenue.

Among the uncontrollable factors faced by the Cirque, Menard said, was the rise in value of the Canadian dollar (which rose about 3 cents against the U.S. dollar last year). Most of the company?s revenues come from outside the country as they have eight permanent shows in the U.S. alone (7 in Las Vegas, 1 in Orlando, Fla.), but they pay most of their expenses in Canadian dollars. To Cirque, the dollar differential alone meant multi-million dollar losses.

M?nard acknowledged, among other things, that Lalibert? and Lamarre had actually apologized to employees for not keeping a tighter rein on the company?s finances.

The Cirque has gone through a period of unprecedented expansion over the past two years, opening several shows in rapid succession. Production costs have been increasing everywhere, M?nard said. And now expenses will be trimmed in all sectors, at all locations.

While it been previously reported that the Cirque had already laid off 30 employees before Christmas, the overall number for 2012 was 50 she said, not including those let go from the four shows that closed (Zaia in Macau, Zed in Tokyo, Viva Elvis in Las Vegas, the touring show Saltimbanco). And the 400 announced job cuts don?t include employees who will become redundant once a fifth show, Iris, closes in Los Angeles this weekend, she clarified.

Lalibert?, however, has no intention whatsoever of selling the Cirque du Soleil, she replied to the inevitable question. He?s committed to the company, and to its management team. Lamarre and other top executives at Cirque will be staying in place, she confirmed.

?We?ve had 29 beautiful years,? she said, adding that now its time for the company to be ?mature? in order to ensure that it can continue to develop for the next 30 years.

Source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Cirque+Soleil+eliminate+jobs/7829738/story.html

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