Oriental Land Says It May Cooperate With Disney on Shanghai Theme Park
Oriental Land Co., operator of the Tokyo Disney Resort, said it may cooperate with Walt Disney Co. on a planned Shanghai theme park.
“There’s a possibility we may work together with Disney on Shanghai,” Akiyoshi Yokota, executive director, said in an interview at the company’s headquarters in Chiba prefecture, a Tokyo suburb. No details on cooperation were decided, he said.
Oriental Land has been talking about the planned theme park and exchanging information with Disney, Yokota said, without elaborating. Disney last year won Chinese government approval for a park in Shanghai that may be completed by 2014.
The Japanese theme park operator, aiming to post a record profit for the second straight year, is looking to expand its business outside Japan while trying to attract tourists from China and other countries, as domestic customers spend less amid falling wages.
Oriental Land gained 0.3 percent to 7,380 yen at 1:08 p.m. in Tokyo trading, 50 yen below the 7,430 yen reached on June 21, the highest since Jan. 5, 2009. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average today sank 1.7 percent.
Net income will probably rise 1.6 percent to 25.8 billion yen ($285 million) for the year ending March 31, Oriental Land said in May. Sales may decline 4 percent to 356.6 billion yen.
The company’s Disney resort includes Disneyland, DisneySea and Disney Ambassador Hotel.
Walt Disney Co. (Japan) Ltd. acquired Retail Networks Co., operator of Disney retail stores in Japan, from Oriental Land in March, the Japanese company said in May. Oriental Land pays royalties to Disney to operate its theme parks.
To contact the reporter on this story: Naoko Fujimura in ?? at nfujimura@bloomberg.net
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