Edmund Heaphy Finance and news reporter,Yahoo Finance UK•April 20, 2020
Disney (DIS) will this week stop paying 100,000 employees, almost half of its global workforce, as it seeks to weather the economic storm created by the coronavirus pandemic.
The move by the world’s largest entertainment company will save as much as $500m (£400m) in salary costs, according to the Financial Times.
While staff placed on unpaid leave will receive full healthcare benefits, those based in the US have been encouraged to apply for government benefits.
The move comes as more than 20 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since the coronavirus crisis began.
Staff based in Paris will be placed on France's “partial activity scheme,” which allows companies to furlough workers and covers up to 84% of salary costs
Last year, Disney made almost $7bn from its parks, experiences, and associated products business, accounting for nearly half of its operating profits.
Earlier this month, Disney said that it would furlough tens of thousands of workers, pointing to widespread shutdowns across the world.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on our world with untold suffering and loss, and has required all of us to make sacrifices,” the company said in a statement.
“Over the last few weeks, mandatory decrees from government officials have shut down a majority of our businesses.”
By the end of last month, Disney had raised more $20bn in fresh cash through debt raises and the signing of new credit facilities with lenders.
The company still expects to pay a dividend of $1.5bn to shareholders in July, and has thus far protected its executive bonus scheme, according to the Financial Times.
But Bob Iger, the company’s executive chairman, and Bob Chapek, its chief executive, last month announced they would take a 50% pay cut.
Iger, who had planned to retire from the company last year, made almost $48m from Disney last year, making him one of the highest-paid bosses in the entertainment industry.
On Jan. 7th, 1942, a month after the Pearl Harbor Attacks, the owner of Sun Rubber Company, T.W. Smith Jr, along with his assistant, Dietrich Rempel, presented the sketch of the Mickey Mouse gas mask to the Chief of Chemical Warfare Service, Major General William N. Porter, and was approved. The mask was made for children and was given the look of the famous Mickey Mouse to reduce children's fear of wearing a gas mask. Walt Disney himself was very fond of the idea and approved of the production of the gas mask.
Sun Rubber Company went to produce a little over 1,000 of the Mickey Mouse gas masks, and was given the Army-Navy "E" for excellence in 1944.
No chemical attack was laid onto the United States, and the desire for the Mickey Mouse gas mask vanished. The gas masks were handed to senior officials and others as mere keepsakes.
The gas mask features what appears to be 6-point head harness, two small glass eye lenses, a large filter with a thread smaller than 40mm, and an exhale valve/voicemitter, with a bright red guard over it. The face piece appears to be made of rubber. On top of the two temple straps, it is very apparent that the mask features "Mickey Mouse" ears.
Now, today in the market, the Disney Mickey Mouse gas mask is without a doubt, the rarest and most-wanted gas mask to American collectors. Very few of them are still around. The US Army Chemical Museum in Fort McClellan, Alabama has a hand-made prototype of the mask on display. The 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma has a finalised version of the Mickey Mouse mask, the Walt Disney Archives in Burbank, California has an unfinished face piece of the mask, featuring no eye lenses, no exhale valve, no voicemitter, and no filter. It is rumoured a woman with a huge Mickey Mouse collection in Japan has one.
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