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[flor]

As you maybe already know André Lacroix has quit his job as president of the Euro Disney group. His place has been taken by Karl Holz.

Any thoughts about this fact?

[Anthony]

Change at Euro Disney
Disney Cruise Line's Holz takes helm in France

Confronted with ongoing losses at its theme parks near Paris, Walt Disney Co.'s Euro Disney operation on Thursday announced that it had replaced the resort's French chief executive with a company insider.

Euro Disney SCA, which is 41 percent owned by the U.S. entertainment giant, said in a statement that André Lacroix, 45, had left "to pursue other opportunities."

Disney said it replaced Lacroix with Karl Holz, 54, a former Walt Disney World executive and head of the Disney Cruise Line.

The move follows a record loss of nearly $190 million for Euro Disney in the year ended Sept. 30. Although results have since improved, the resort continues to lose money, recording a loss of $105 million for the six months ended March 31.

Investors' confidence in the business has been badly shaken. Shares of Euro Disney have fallen nearly 50 percent in the past year.

The resort has struggled for much of its 13 years, and now has its sixth CEO since opening.

Financial woes mounted after a second theme park opened at Disneyland Paris in 2002. After making money for seven years running, the company reported a loss that year.

The park has failed to generate enough additional revenue to cover costs or to lift theme-park attendance to the 16 million guests a year that the company had projected.

"Given the years of continuing struggles, they're trying to find the right mix of executives over there," said Richard Greenfield, a media industry analyst with Fulcrum Global Partners. "This doesn't surprise me at all."

A former Burger King International executive, Lacroix was tapped two years ago to turn around the business.

But dwindling revenues and rising debts brought Euro Disney close to bankruptcy.

Lacroix instead presided over a yearlong financial restructuring that resulted in a deal with creditors to bail out the resort for the second time in a decade.

Among other things, the rescue plan allowed Euro Disney to defer royalty and management fees to Disney over the next decade and to issue new shares to raise money to build attractions.

Holz is a former Knott's Berry Farm executive who was hired by Disney nine years ago. A native of Germany, he joined Euro Disney in September 2004 as president and chief operating officer.

Disney shares rose 44 cents to close at $27.94 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Taken from http://www.orlandosentinel.com

[Anthony]

First of all, I really have to say I'm very very shocked about this.  Why would André leave now?  He's just kicked off a huge investment plan, so wouldn't you think he'd want to stay with the company till the end and leave on a high?  Or maybe he decided it's best to leave now, with that excellent future in place and ready to get started?  After making lots of changes within the company in the last year to allow these new attractions he might just think his work here is done, and he wants to go off and continue his good work elsewhere....

Or maybe he didn't choose to leave?  It's a possibility...  I can't imagine they would have fired him for not improving profits more though.  I mean, he was a good CEO, but he wasn't a miracle worker.  Good luck to him in the future though, and thanks for an amazing last couple of years!

Karl Holz doesn't sound too bad though.  He's got experience with Disney and so should know what it's all about.  Since he's had experience at the American parks and so knows about building and opening rides then he should do some good work for EDSCA.  He's just not André though, is he?  He doesn't look as happy, as welcoming - and he has only been with EDSCA since September 2004, which isn't long at all.  I suppose it is more experience than André had, and it's always interesting to wonder just how much André actually did to make the resort better in the past year - he can't have asked for every new detail and refurb, surely?

All I hope from Karl is for him to continue the work André started with his management team and to look to improve profits in new ways - and not by bringing in cost cutting that will affect the guest experience.  Good luck to him, he must be a very brave man to have accepted such a challenging position.  :wink:

[Kristof]

Actually, I believe this was all planned.  Wasn't Karl Holz the one who opened mission 2, instead of André...

[Anthony]

Yeah, that was him.  Disc°o°veryBoy said at the time: "Karl Holz really is not the good person to invite to open an attraction!!! He looked bored and not interested about what he said..."  :?

He may have done that because he was operations manager though, and he'd be controlling the running of the attraction.  André was very much centre stage at the press event and ride launch, so it was strange that André wasn't there that morning, since he did always seem to like to meet the normal guests in the park.  Maybe they did think they'd give Karl his chance, then?  If this was planned, though, it's strange how they announced it so suddenly and with practically no reasons for André's departure.

I'd imagine Karl Holz will have had a lot of power in the company in his old position, and so we probably won't see much of a change now he's here.  And if we think back to all the refurbs between September and now - that's a LOT of work.  As Operations manager, he will have probably had a lot to do with keeping those going aswell, which should be a good sign.  I hope he improves his attraction-openings though, he's going to definately need that skill!