My Take | Disney’s taking Hong Kong for a ride
The parent company is making billions – in US dollars – yet puts out his hand for taxpayer subsidies to expand its theme park here
Disney has gone for the kill in an “I kill you later” move that will put the Hong Kong government on the hook for HK$5.8 billion. That’s more than half of the HK$10.9 billion for the latest expansion plan for Hong Kong Disneyland.
Government officials like Greg So Kam-leung would have us believe it’s only fair. After all, the equity distribution in Hong Kong Disneyland is 52 per cent and 48 per cent, respectively, for the government and corporate Disney in the US.
But how did we get here in the first place?
Some of us still remember what happened in 2009. Back then, to get Disney to agree to a park expansion, the government had to convert more than HK$5 billion worth of loans to Disneyland into equity. That was the government’s way of saying it would take a long, long time, if ever, for us to get our money back.
To placate a public uproar, the then chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen promised the capital conversion would be one-off and that Hong Kong would not invest any more capital in Disneyland.
Well, guess what? Seven years later, another giant bill comes in at HK$5.8 billion, thanks to our equity in the theme park, according to people like So. Nice move, Disney.