
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 1, 1994                   TAG: 9401010022
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

`DREADFUL' PERFORMANCE MAY CLOSE EURO DISNEY

The Euro Disney theme park outside Paris is doing so poorly it might have to close unless it gets help soon from its lenders, the chairman of Walt Disney Co. said in an interview published Friday.

Michael Eisner, in his strongest remarks yet about the 20-month-old park, was quoted in the French weekly magazine Le Point as saying "everything is possible" concerning Euro Disney's future, "including closure," if efforts to improve the park's financial health fail.

Eisner's comments surfaced only days after he termed Euro Disney's performance "dreadful." Disney owns 49 percent of the park's operating company; the rest is held by private investors.

The debt-laden attraction lost a whopping $920 million in its fiscal year ended Sept. 30, which led to a $78 million fourth-quarter loss for Disney in the same fiscal year.

Despite those problems, analysts say it is unlikely Disney will close the park. Its reputation - not to mention hundreds of millions of its dollars - are at stake.

- Los Angeles Times

by CNB