Darkbeer
12-08-2002, 03:15 PM
Disney Delays Plans To Open Park In China (http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/021208/72/35i5c.html) - Dow Jones, 12/9/02
Quik Quote: "In all likelihood, we will not open a second theme park in China before 2010," said Irene Chan, Disney's head of communications for Asia. Its first Chinese theme park will be Hong Kong Disneyland, a joint venture with the Hong Kong government that is under construction and scheduled to open by early 2006. Disney's delay will come as a relief to Hong Kong authorities, who are investing $2.8 billion in that park and in related infrastructure in a bid to revitalize the city's tourism industry. People familiar with Disney's plans said Hong Kong leaders lobbied the company in recent months to hold off on a Shanghai park, which they feared would compete with the Hong Kong park for mainland Chinese tourists.
Disney's delay also is a boon to competitor Universal Parks & Resorts, the theme-park unit of Vivendi Universal SA, which on Saturday officially unveiled plans to open a movie theme park in Shanghai in 2006. Universal officials said the company will hold at least 25% of the equity in the project, with the rest held by two Shanghai municipally owned partners, Waigaoqiao Group Co. and Shanghai Jinjiang (Group) Co. Universal will likely put up less than $100 million of the expected $870 million cost, and later would receive a management fee for operating it.
Quik Quote: "In all likelihood, we will not open a second theme park in China before 2010," said Irene Chan, Disney's head of communications for Asia. Its first Chinese theme park will be Hong Kong Disneyland, a joint venture with the Hong Kong government that is under construction and scheduled to open by early 2006. Disney's delay will come as a relief to Hong Kong authorities, who are investing $2.8 billion in that park and in related infrastructure in a bid to revitalize the city's tourism industry. People familiar with Disney's plans said Hong Kong leaders lobbied the company in recent months to hold off on a Shanghai park, which they feared would compete with the Hong Kong park for mainland Chinese tourists.
Disney's delay also is a boon to competitor Universal Parks & Resorts, the theme-park unit of Vivendi Universal SA, which on Saturday officially unveiled plans to open a movie theme park in Shanghai in 2006. Universal officials said the company will hold at least 25% of the equity in the project, with the rest held by two Shanghai municipally owned partners, Waigaoqiao Group Co. and Shanghai Jinjiang (Group) Co. Universal will likely put up less than $100 million of the expected $870 million cost, and later would receive a management fee for operating it.