The entrance to Disneyland in California is empty on Sept. 30, 2020.
Under California’s first strict closure order in the nation, disney is also considering joining the legions of exiting companies that intend to move some or all of their California operations to Florida.
Ashley Webster of FOX Business Channel said that while no concrete plans have been made, Disney has not denied the idea. As the largest employer in Central Florida, we have been exploring development opportunities near Florida’s theme parks, but there are no firm targets at this Time, Disney said in a statement.
It’s not clear what divisions might move. But the analysis suggests that some operations could face logistical challenges when they relocate. Some of Disney’s TV shows and movies have been filmed at Disney’s Orlando facility, but most of its studio production operations are still done in Burbank, L.A. County, for the convenience of the Hollywood film community.
That said, the closure of Disneyland in Anaheim, Orange County, California, and the closure of Disney California Adventure for nearly a year, which is still not open, will likely drive Disney to make more change decisions.
The expectation is that Disneyland and Disneyland Paris will close for the entire second quarter, Disney Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy said on Feb. 11. Disney’s second quarter usually ends March 28 to April 2.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek criticized California’s Epidemic prevention rules as arbitrary and capricious. He said California’s Disneyland has been closed for nearly a year since the pandemic, which has had an ongoing negative impact on the company’s operations.
Under Governor Newsom’s current rules, the two Disneyland parks in Anaheim can only reopen when Orange County reaches less than 1 additional infection per 100,000 residents per day and the positive test rate is less than 2%. California currently allows small theme parks with a capacity of less than 15,000 guests to open on a limited basis once the county where the park is located has reached the orange level, the second least severe of the four color levels of the outbreak. However, large theme parks cannot open until the county where they are located has reached the yellow level, the least severe level of the outbreak. Orange County is still at the purple level, the most severe level of the epidemic.
Although California is the world’s 5th largest economy, its population and job growth have continued to slow in recent years, and many people are tired of California’s high tax burden, expensive cost of living and strict regulatory codes. From 2008 to 2016, 13,000 companies moved out of California, taking with them 275,000 jobs and $76.7 billion in capital, according to a business study. And those companies acquired 133 million square feet of workspace after moving to other states. The areas with the largest exodus of companies are Los Angeles and Orange counties. In addition, company exodus in San Diego and San Bernardino counties, as well as Santa Clara and San Francisco counties and Sacramento County in the Northern California region, are among the highest in the state.
Data show that the net migration out of California has exceeded 135,000 since the outbreak as remote work has increased, making it the third largest net migration loss on record for the state. A recent survey showed that a third of Bay Area workers would likely leave permanently if they could work from Home indefinitely. And Dropbox, Twitter and Facebook already offer most employees the opportunity to work remotely permanently.
And a long period of strict prevention has many large companies considering moving away. Boeing revealed last November that it was expanding to Texas and also issued a job posting for its Austin plant. Hewlett-Packard (Hewlett-Packard) announced it would move its headquarters to Houston, Texas. Palantir, a leader in technology data, has moved its headquarters out of Silicon Valley to Denver, Colo. Last September, Jeffrey Gundlach, billionaire and CEO of asset management firm DoubleLine Capital, also said he was considering leaving California and moving to a lower-tax state.
And no one is more famous for this wave of moves out of California than Elon Musk, currently the world’s richest man and chief executive of tesla Inc. Musk moved to Texas late last year. He said he would develop the Starship (a Space X spacecraft) in South Texas; and build a new U.S. factory for Tesla.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal at the time, Musk said California had too much influence in the world, but that California’s power was waning. He compared California to a successful sports team that is “a little bit complacent, smug, and no longer able to win championships.” Musk said California has been winning for too long and has taken these companies (staying in California) for granted.
Musk also reminded that California used to have more than a dozen car factories, but now Tesla is the last car company still producing cars in California.
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