The economic crisis has certain consequences, even in the entertainment industry. Cirque du Soleil announced on Wednesday that it would eliminate up to 400 jobs – mostly at its headquarters in Montreal – because of the Canadian dollar exchange rate, the economic crisis and rising production costs for its performances, informs lefigaro.fr. The Canadian dollar has been soaring in the past years against the U.S. dollar, cutting the profits of the company.
Founded in 1980 by Guy Laliberté, Cirque du Soleil has seen an incredible rise to become one of the largest entertainment companies in the world. With nearly 5,000 employees of which 1,300 are artists, Canadian company had a turnover of over $1 billion in 2011.
Since then, three shows – the titles of which were not disclosed by Renée-Claude Ménard, director of public relations of the multinational company in the entertainment industry – were not doing as well as it was expected, for “different reasons.”
Renée-Claude Ménard denied in a press conference the information that Cirque du Soleil is “in crisis”, but acknowledged that 2012 was the first in its history that the Canadian company was not profitable. In the previous year, the company’s profit was $250 million.
The 400 jobs will be eliminated from all segments of the company and will be announced by the end of March. They add to the 50 jobs cut before Christmas.
The spokesperson said that the company’s business model has evolved greatly in the past five years, adding that some partners in Las Vegas no longer are willing to participate in sharing the costs of production and that the Canadian company is already looking for other partners.
After a period of “frantic growing” the Canadian company reached maturity and intends to remain at the 20-shows level that currently produces. Cirque du Soleil has plans to greatly reduce costs of about $50 million per show, to reach a threshold of production costs of $25 million to $30 million.
Starting with a group of 20 street performers at its beginnings in 1984, Cirque du Soleil is now a major Quebec-based organization that provides high-quality entertainment. The company has 5,000 employees, including more than 1,300 artists from close to 50 different countries. More than 100 million spectators in nearly 300 cities on six continents were amazed and delighted by the Cirque du Soleil.
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