Chain-Wide SEAS Layoffs Announced

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SeaWorld Lays Off Employees at Busch Gardens
From WYDaily
December 16, 2014 By Gregory Connolly

WYDaily.com is your source for free news and information in Williamsburg, James City & York Counties.

Busch Gardens logoSeaWorld Entertainment, the company that owns Busch Gardens and Water Country USA, laid off some local employees Friday as part of what it characterized as a broader strategy to reorganize its operations for the future.

The laid off employees were offered severance packages. A spokesman for SeaWorld declined to identify the number of laid off employees at the two local parks or the types of positions eliminated.

A total of 311 employees were laid off across SeaWorld’s corporate headquarters in Orlando and the 11 theme parks it operates.

The layoffs are part of a plan to save about $50 million per year by the end of 2015, according to a SeaWorld news release. The plan also seeks to restructure operations at the 11 parks by centralizing operations and eliminating redundancies at the parks.

“In order to achieve the goals of our business realignment, we regret that some positions will necessarily be eliminated,” SeaWorld CEO and President Jim Atchison said in the release. “However, our cost savings effort is part of a broader program to position us for long term growth.”

The news comes after the release of SeaWorld’s third quarter results, which saw revenue and attendance from the same time period in 2013: Revenue went from $538 million to $493 million, while attendance went from 8.9 million to 8.4 million.

In a news release announcing the third quarter results, Atchison characterized 2014 as a “challenging year.” The company’s stock went down $10 — a decline of about one-third of its total value — in August, and it has since declined another $3 to $15.55 a share, as of Monday. During that time, the company has had to continue to contend with the release of the 2013 documentary “Blackfish,” which criticized the handling of a killer whale by SeaWorld.

In the third quarter earnings report, the company cites “negative media attention” and competition in Florida as two reasons for the decline in attendance and a 28 percent decline in revenue between the third quarter 2013 and third quarter 2014.

Source: http://wydaily.com/2014/12/16/seaworld-lays-off-employees-at-busch-gardens?cat=localnews/
 
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rvadude85 said:
In fact, BGW probably had the best year from a profitability standpoint in the chain tied to improvement in attendance.
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I've seen numbers and can assure you that this is not the case.

Attendance may be up, but profitability is not. Not even close.
 
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I'd just like to point out, despite layoffs, the CEO being fired, etc. Stockholders still aren't impressed. Stocks continue to fall just about every business day now. I don't think SEAS realized Stockholders wanted to see real and immediate results. They're not liking about how they're going to have to wait for a new, real CEO for who knows how long. And the fact that the cost-cutting initiative won't deliver results until the first quarter of next year at the earliest, especially with the restructuring fee they're going to have to pay. Meanwhile, stock prices have fallen below the $15.50 price today, and don't seem to be stopping.
 
Matthew said:
I'd just like to point out, despite layoffs, the CEO being fired, etc. Stockholders still aren't impressed. Stocks continue to fall just about every business day now. I don't think SEAS realized Stockholders wanted to see real and immediate results. They're not liking about how they're going to have to wait for a new, real CEO for who knows how long. And the fact that the cost-cutting initiative won't deliver results until the first quarter of next year at the earliest, especially with the restructuring fee they're going to have to pay. Meanwhile, stock prices have fallen below the $15.50 price today, and don't seem to be stopping.
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What point are you trying to make exactly? You just repeated everything that's been stated multiple times already....
 
And finally everyone’s favorite newspaper…VA Gazette. Looks like they tried to interview Carl. (I saw him today by the way and said hi…he said hi back and the hurried away before I could talk to him...not that he would have said anything. )

Busch Gardens lays off employees as parent company Sea World Entertainment struggles
By Austin Bogues, abogues@vagazette.com
The Virginia Gazette
6:53 p.m. EST, December 16, 2014

JAMES CITY — With Christmas just two weeks away, Busch Gardens and Water Country USA quietly did a round of layoffs last week as part of companywide cuts initiated by parent company SeaWorld Entertainment Inc.

Local park officials were mum to discuss any of the details of the layoffs or who was let go, deferring all comment to SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. An interview request with Busch Gardens President Carl Lum was denied.

A documentary about killer whales may be partly to blame.

Attendance has dropped at SeaWorld's parks after the release of "Blackfish," which focused on killer whales in captivity. Among the storylines was the death of SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau, who died after a killer whale attacked her during a performance.

In its third-quarter earnings report, SeaWorld attributed a 5.6 percent drop in attendance, and a 28 percent drop in profit, to "negative media attention" and increased competition, particularly in Florida.

"Really, Busch Gardens itself is not directly caught up in all of this controversy over the killer whale situation, but because it is a part of SeaWorld it's at least indirectly a part of it. It's affected by it," said John Gerner, managing director of Leisure Business Advisors LLC, a Richmond firm that does planning studies for new attractions at theme parks.

Fred Jacobs, a spokesman for SeaWorld Entertainment Inc., said he "was not at liberty to say" how many Busch Gardens employees were let go, but said that more than 300 employees across the company's 11 theme parks were being let go. Spread evenly, that would suggest Busch Gardens and Water Country slashed about 30 jobs combined. SeaWorld said it was initiating the cuts in an effort to save more than $50 million by the end of 2015.

There are other factors at play. Busch Gardens has transitioned to more seasonal and part time employees in recent years. In its restructuring, SeaWorld is centralizing some operations with the intent to reduce duplication. The company says it's offering severance benefits to laid off employees. Those employees had to sign confidentiality agreements in order to collect severence.

"In order to achieve the goals of our business realignment, we regret that some positions will necessarily be eliminated," SeaWorld's Jim Atchison said in the company news release. "However, our cost savings effort is part of a broader program to position us for long-term growth."

The day before the layoffs Atchison announced he would step down as SeaWorld president and CEO effective Jan. 15. Board Chairman David F. D'Alessandro would serve as interim chief executive and Atchison would become vice chairman of the board, according to a news release.

"When they made the announcement that caused the big drop in the stock price, many of their parks were actually doing well," noted Gerner, himself once a Busch Gardens Williamsburg employee. "It's quite likely Busch Gardens Williamsburg was one of them. In the past our industry used to be a lot more open about those things. But now it's gotten more private."

Gerner said Busch Gardens has done well, especially as it has expanded operations later into the year with the additions of Howl-O-Scream and Christmas Town.

"Even though there are ups and downs a on a year by year basis, the park is much stronger than originally anticipated decades ago."

Staff writer Tara Bozick contributed to this report. Bogues can be reached by phone at 757-345-2346.

Source:
http://www.vagazette.com/news/va-vg-jcc-busch-gardens-layoffs-20141215,0,313916.story
 
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I think opaqueness is a habit they would want to avoid given that their facing an issue such as Blackfish.
 
palmermj said:
It's been 20 years, but I wonder if Disney has shaken off its interest in Virginia...
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Doubt it. I read up on the Disney America project (it is kind of fascinating) and basically the whole deal ended in quagmire on multiple fronts (Congress didn't like it; locals were somewhat opposed; Disney doesn't know what to do in Winter). On weather alone, I have a hard time believing Disney could crack the code of making a theme park viable during the cold months.
 
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Maybe on the US front Disney doesn't know what to do with winter, but that doesn't stop Disneyland Paris or Tokyo.

Either way, Disney isn't even an option for BGW I'm sure. They have their own version of BG already.
 
From: Carl Lum interview 01/16/2015
Lum sat down with the Gazette to give an update on progress and setbacks, during what some have said is a challenging time for theme parks. Busch Gardens itself has been no exception. It recently laid off about 30 administrative staff as part of cuts made throughout its parent company, SeaWorld Entertainment.

"It impacts people. Some of these people I've known for 20 years — that's always hard," Lum said, a wistful tone sinking into his voice.

"In any business you have to focus on what's important, and what's important is the product you put out in front of the guests. We had to streamline and centralize some administrative functions. If you don't take care of that someone else will."

SeaWorld Entertainment leadership said the company was trying to save $50 million by the end of 2014. The parks took a hit, industry analysts said, because of the controversial documentary "Blackfish," which spotlights the treatment of orcas at SeaWorld parks.
 
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It says "industry analysts" blame performance on Blackfish; Carl didn't say that. That's the whole deal with the stockholders suing SEAS, remember? Seaworld management is still formally denying that Blackfish has played a role in decreased attendance/profits. I imagine Carl knows that, and like most executives everywhere won't make a definitive "It was THIS THING" statement regarding decreased attendance. The journalist added information from other sources. Reading comprehension.
 
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This is like watching RIM slowly melt down. You know what they have to do to save themselves. The industry experts know what they have to do to right the ship. Hell there are probably people within the organization that know what they have to do to save themselves, but for some reason they just can not manage to see the golden path.

It frustrates me.
 
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