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Disney, Caesars, & Hilton to furlough workers amid coronavirus

Yahoo Finance's Sibile Marcellus joins Seana Smith to break down the latest companies furloughing some of their employees as coronavirus cases spike in the U.S.

Video transcript

SEANA SMITH: Well, companies across nearly all industries are trimming their workforces due to the coronavirus outbreak. We have Disney today announcing that non-essential employees will be furloughed as of April 19. We also have Caesar's now recently announcing plans to furlough 90% of its employees. Sibile Marcellus is joining us now with more on this. And Sibile, when you take a look at this, it's staggering, these numbers, because the job losses just keep on climbing.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: That's right, Seana. It's really staggering. You mentioned Disney there. So they announced recently that they're going to be furloughing all employees that they don't consider essential. But while they're furloughed, they're still employees of Disney. They can still collect health benefits. Sorry. They could still have health benefits, but they can still collect unemployment. And in terms of Disney, let's remember they suspended the release of big-bucks movies, its cruise line, and theme parks around the world have been closed.

Now, when it comes to Caesar's, the hotel and casino giant, now they are furloughing about 90% of their workers. They're only keeping the very limited amount of workers that can help keep basic operations functioning. They're also allowing those employees to keep health benefits, but they will also be allowed to apply for unemployment benefits.

Now, in terms of Hilton, they've had to close hotels across cities throughout the nation. So because of that, they're also furloughing workers. And that's starting tomorrow. And the company-- their stock has been down more than 50% year to date. Caesar's, the same thing. And Disney-- their stock is down more than 30% year to date.

SEANA SMITH: Sibile, I guess my question to you is, it's interesting, because it seems to be across almost all industries at this point. At first, we were talking about the obvious impact that it's having on travel and on tourism. You saw that you don't want to look any further than the jobs report that we just got out this morning. And then we were also talking about the impact that it's having on retail. But really, when you step back, it's across-- I don't know if many people would have initially thought that Disney would be hit as hard as it is getting hit, at least at this point.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Yes, Disney is one of the strongest performers. We love to look at that stock and see how CEO Bob Iger, when he was CEO, was doing so well for the company. But we're seeing that they're really hit by the coronavirus pandemic from their movie business. Also, ESPN-- their lifeblood is live sporting events, and those have also been suspended.

So a lot of strong performers, companies being hard hit here by the coronavirus pandemic. And as long as this continues to go on, they're going to continue to bleed financial losses.

SEANA SMITH: All right, Sibile, thank you.