Cirque du Soleil is the magical story of a rebirth. In 2020, the pandemic forced the famous Quebec artistic entertainment company to abruptly cancel dozens of shows and lay off thousands of employees. Deprived of all its financial income, it is close to bankruptcy with a debt beyond a billion euros. Today, Cirque du Soleil is financially stronger than before. On the eve of its first “Kurios” show at Brussels Expo, Trends Tendances spoke with Stéphane Lefebvre, its CEO since the end of 2021.
How did Cirque du Soleil recover from the pandemic?
Stéphane Lefebvre, CEO of Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group
Before the pandemic, our business was generating a billion dollars in revenue and suddenly we went to zero! After coming close to bankruptcy in 2020, we managed in November of the same year to close a new financing. We had to find 300 million dollars to restart operations. It is this amount that the new investors have made available to us.
It was a real bet on the future but, at that time, we felt that we could start again on a good basis. I must admit that we were quite conservative when working on the new business plan because we were well aware that we would not have many chances to seek financing. We remained very careful to restart our operations in the summer of 2021. The easiest thing was to resume our activities in Las Vegas in residence, because the equipment we needed, the staff, the artists, the technicians, … everything was already in place.
What were the biggest risks during the relaunch?
There were two significant risks. The first: will the artists want to come back to work with us? Not only did they come back in droves, but they were also physically in much better shape than we had imagined. They had continued to train throughout the confinement. This has greatly facilitated the resumption of shows.
The Kurios show of Cirque du Soleil.
The second big risk was: are audiences going to want to come back to theaters and buy tickets? And yes, the public was present. I was there in Las Vegas for the very first post-pandemic show and when I saw the crowd that was there, I thought to myself “this is it, this is going to work well!”.
People had this desire, this need to see shows again. Then we relaunched the tours towards the end of 2021, through mid-2022. They broke all-time highs in multiple markets, including Europe, London and Spain, as well as North America.
More than a revival, can we speak of a rebirth for Cirque du Soleil?
I think so. Internally, we are talking about our desire to recreate a new golden age for Cirque du Soleil after the pandemic. And I must admit that since the relaunch – knock on wood – things have been going really well. I am very happy.
For you, was it unexpected to be reborn like this?
We have always believed in the strength of the Cirque du Soleil brand around the world. In North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia,… on all continents, it enjoys great influence. That’s where the key was. If the mark had not been so strong, the recovery would have been much more difficult.
The Kurios show of Cirque du Soleil.
In terms of your finances, have you, to date, returned to your pre-pandemic level?
We are at a level that is very similar in operational terms to pre-pandemic. It’s ironic, but our company is even financially stronger today than it was before. Our revenue is close to US$1 billion on an annualized basis, except that our debt level is significantly lower. It is now half of what it was before the pandemic. We have evolved into a company that has less debt, a good level of liquidity and a business model that tends to diversify live entertainment by adding other offers, especially digital ones.
Do you see digital entertainment as a form of competition?
It’s clear that the pandemic has changed the relationship people have with entertainment. They clung to Netflix and other streaming platforms. We don’t see this as competition. I rather think that these two types of entertainment are very complementary. And that’s not just the case for us, it’s also for music groups, when they perform in concerts and festivals. People need to go out, reconnect, and have experiences that are unique outside of their living room and streaming platforms.
The Kurios show of Cirque du Soleil.
How do you concretely adapt to this new reality?
It is important for us to diversify our offer because the trend will last. We are developing very specific formats for these platforms. The idea is really to be able to provide a much more complete experience for our fans and our public. We recently launched an immersive experiences platform on Roblox, this interactive gaming platform for the youngest with 70 million players every day. This allows us to reach an incredible number of people. Our strategy in the coming years is to continue to develop different digital formats to maintain this bond with our fans, outside of our shows.
What are your other plans for the future?
We’ve just launched a new traveling marquee show. We are also working on different formats that have been successful in some countries. Notably, a cabaret-type show in Las Vegas that could very well work elsewhere in the world. A dinner show works very well in Mexico at the moment. We have established partnerships, which are not yet public, to export these more intimate show concepts to Europe and Asia.
The Kurios show of Cirque du Soleil
Is this diversification and multiplication of formats a financial necessity?
The tents of our traveling shows include an infrastructure that is very bulky and complex in logistical terms. It is not suitable for all markets. It is important for us to develop shows in different formats and in smaller venues such as theatres, with a more traditional stage that we call “Italian style”. Diversifying in this way is not a financial necessity, but an attractive growth opportunity.
2023-09-06 21:14:25
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