Disney paying dividends, not employees
 

Disney recently furloughed about 100,000 salaried employees which saves the corporation abt $500,000,000 [corrected] per month. They are continuing to cover health insurance. They wrote to their employees to be sure to apply for the federal program giving them $600/wk in extra unemployment and Florida benefits of $275/wk.

Here is the reason for my post. In July Disney is scheduled to pay it shareholders $1,500,000,000 in dividends. That would cover 3 months of salary to its employees and save you the taxpayer of FL and USA from assuming the cost. If the 500,000,000 [corrected] per month is the savings to Disney, that would also then include Disney's employer contribution to Social Security, Medicare, and the state Unemployment Fund. So these programs are being non-funded by paying stockholders instead of workers.

It seems that the shareholders who invest expecting a share of the profit of the corporation would be expected to take a hit when the corporation does poorly. Why isn't Disney cancelling the July dividend and instead using that money to pay its workers.

Carnival cruise has cancelled its dividend. It can be done.

Corporate greed
 

Because Corporate Greed always takes precedence over Corporate Responsibility - What ever headlines there are, we are never, ever ‘All in this together’

How do they save only $500,000 per month by furloughing 100,000 employees? That is only 5 dollars per employee.

Illegals

Congress should have never passed a bill that provides more income for unemployed employees than when they were working. That encourages employees not to work, which is just the opposite result that they were trying to achieve. Why don't they fix it?

I don't think that Carnival pays into the unemployment fund because they are not U.S. company and don't even pay U.S. income tax. Their employees also don't pay U.S. taxes. But, Disney pays for unemployment compensation and I think their employees should be able to use the fund. Why should the Disney stockholders lose money when the company has been successful? I don't know if Disney received any of the stimulus money or not. But, furloughing employees is a logical action when you don't have any work for them to do.

Oh!! I'm usually more careful. I missed a few zeroes. I am going back to correct the initial post but thank you for catching my mistake.

500,000 should be 500,000,000 [500 hundred million]

I used Carnival as an example that I easily found that corporations can and do suspend dividends to shareholders when they have a business downturn. I didn't say anything regarding Carnival otherwise. I agree Disney employees should qualify if they are not being paid by Disney.

My argument is that if Disney has 1.5 billion in cash they are planning on paying out in July, that the money should go to its workers, not to its stockholders. You actually are allowed to furlough workers and still pay them. Workers >>> stockholders in my ideal world. YMMV

However, the only LEGAL requirement put upon a corporate board of directors is to MAKE A PROFIT for their shareholders.

:boom:


:bigbow:

Curious that you are only targeting Disney??

Haven't all the theme parks based in FL laid off their non-essential employees, haven't all the huge hotel chains operating in Orlando done the same with their non-essential staffs??

You can be sure that conversations are happening in the front offices and the board rooms of large corporations across the country regarding the declaration of dividends

These large corporations are going to be digging deep into their cash reserves to 'retool' their whole operation to ensure a safe working environment for staff and an environment that customers will view as safe....where's that money coming from now that they're shut down?

I suspect that the ex-dividend date of record for Disney's next payout is still a few weeks away

What's equally important is that these companies are able to reopen for business and get their employees back to work a quickly as possible

remember, no matter how flat the pancake is, there's always two sides to it

Is anyone really surprised that a major corporation furloughed employees after more than 30 days with NO income? I give them kudos for continuing the health care benefits.

Thank you for your contribution. I am not picking on Disney. If you click the link to the news report, that report is about Disney. It does say in that report that other companies are continuing to pay their employees but no details are given.
You are correct that the dividend is a few weeks away, it is in July.
If Disney were using its cash on hand to, as you suggested, 'retool' their whole operation to ensure a safe working environment for staff and an environment that customers will view as safe, I would think that's fine.

But that is not what Disney is doing with this bucket of cash. They are paying it to stockholders. The article mentions but is not specific so I left it out, that Disney is also giving large bonuses to its top executives from its cash on hand.

Disney I understand continues to pay furloughed employees benefits. Give them credit for that. Also, employers pay into the unemployment system for their employees. Remember Florida unemployment pay is 275.00 a week which is less than $7.00 per hour. The stimulus package pays 600.00 additional a week. Between the two the unemployed Disney employee is making just roughly north of 21.00 per hour. Hallelujah that is probably more money than they make working... such a deal! :bigbow:

OR


If investors are not willing to invest in Disney, there is no Disney and their are no jobs.