Cirque du Soleil on Monday announced that it is filing for bankruptcy protection and cutting thousands of jobs as the world’s most famous circus troupe seeks to survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
Struggling with a debt of more than US$1 billion, the Canadian group said its application would be heard by the Superior Court of Quebec yesterday. If granted, the Canadian company would then seek bankruptcy protection in the US.
Cirque du Soleil said in a statement that it has entered into a purchase agreement with its shareholders, including a mix of investors from the US, Canada and China.
Photo: EPA-EFE
It would immediately lay off 3,480 workers who had previously been furloughed.
“For the past 36 years, Cirque du Soleil has been a highly successful and profitable organization. However, with zero revenues since the forced closure of all of our shows due to COVID-19, management had to act decisively to protect the company’s future,” Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group chief executive Daniel Lamarre said.
“I look forward to rebuilding our operations and coming together to once again create the magical spectacle that is Cirque du Soleil for our millions of fans worldwide,” he said.
Founded in 1984, the Cirque set up big tops in more than 300 cities around the world, delighting audiences with enchanting contemporary circus acts set to music, but without the usual trappings of lions, elephants and bears.
However, the pandemic left it fighting for survival, forcing it to cancel shows worldwide, from Las Vegas to Tel Aviv, Moscow to Melbourne, and furlough more than 4,500 acrobats and technicians — or 95 percent of its workforce.
Founder Guy Laliberte had announced in May that he was interested in trying to buy back the troupe, adding that he wanted to keep the headquarters in Montreal and keep a Quebecois management team.
The Quebec government a few days later offered a conditional loan of US$200 million.
Quebec Minister of Economic Development Pierre Fitzgibbon also said that an agreement had been reached with Cirque’s shareholders to buy out their participating shares.
“Our current shareholders, with the help of Investissement Quebec,” the Quebec government’s arm, have filed a “proposal” to purchase the company, Lamarre said, adding that they would have first right of refusal.
A group of shareholders — which includes private equity firm TPG Capital, Chinese conglomerate Fosun Group (復星集團) and Investissement Quebec Inc — would initially acquire company assets in exchange for providing US$300 million in liquidity as the restructuring venture seeks other investors.
The expectation is that the company will emerge from the US bankruptcy process with less debt and able to “meaningfully advance toward an eventual restart by launching the in-court process immediately,” Cirque du Soleil said.
The plan establishes two employee assistance programs totaling US$20 million under the restructuring.
Cirque announced it intends to rehire most of the laid-off employees as soon as conditions allow.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS