Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada the famous cirque nouveau was started in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier. Initially they encountered financial hardships and were famously saved by Canadian government grants. But later they found remarkable success and currently enjoy annual sales of over 700 million USD while attracting over 10 million visitors a year.
Guy Laliberté, who is now 98 per cent owner after buying out his partner for a reported 445 million USD in 2001, has always been reluctant to sell. But it seems talks are well-under way with the Dubai sovereign wealth fund (SWF) that is apparently willing to take a hands-off investment approach.
Translating into Circus of the Sun, the company revolutionized the business by replacing the traditional circus animal acts with stylised acrobatics, dance and live music. Also key was the focus on a central theme and storyline which draws the audience into the performance by having no curtains, while the actual performers change the props.
What the new deal by the SWF of Dubai could offer Laliberté is the means to expand the operation more aggressively in return for a significant stake. The only remaining stumbling block is the price being asked.
There are currently six permanent Cirque venues (most of which are in Las Vegas) but crucially there is one due to open soon in a purpose-built 1,800-seat theatre on Nakheel’s Palm Jumeirah island in Dubai. The Quidam show in 2007 was the most successful single entertainment project ever to be staged in the Emirate with over 100,000 people attending during the show’s one month duration.
Cirque de Soleil’s worldwide numbers are breathtaking. The troupe stages more than one show every day, while it has drawn over 80 million spectators in more than 200 cities in five continents since its inception. Most remarkable of all is the fact that the company has no debt whatsoever and makes a solid 20 per cent profit margin, half of which Laliberté re-injects back into the business to feed research and expansion.
While Cirque has built a solid reputation from its success it is not top of its league, yet. Currently the biggest players in the entertainment business are Walt Disney (Disneyland) with 116 million visitors a year, then Merlin (Madame Tussauds & Alton Towers) with 32 million visitors, Universal (Universal Studios) with 26 million visitors and Six Flags with 25 million visitors. But Cirque de Soleil will bring a lot of prestige to Dubai’s SWF’s portfolio, and given the extra capital, Cirque could well end up ruffling a few of the big-wigs’ feathers. You heard it here first.
