Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- Production company Beyond International (BYI) has closed all of its offices in London, Dublin, LA and Brisbane
- At the moment, only essential staff in Sydney are working, while everyone else is working from home
- All staff and executives have been asked to take pay cuts from April 1
- Staff will take on between a five and 20 per cent pay cut, while non-executive directors will cut all their director fees
- The CEO will also be taking a 20 per cent pay cut
- COVID-19 has already had a significant effect on the company, with television productions all over the world deferred
- To keep afloat, Beyond is looking for ways to create content without being on location
- On the market today, Beyond is in the grey with a trading price of 50 cents per share
Production company Beyond International (BYI) is the latest in a string of media businesses to be infected by COVID-19.
Beyond has completely closed all of its offices across London, Dublin, Culver City (LA) and Brisbane. All staff are now working from home. In its Sydney office, only essential staff are working.
The company will cut its staff and executive salaries as it tries to survive the pandemic. Salaries will be cut by between five and 20 per cent, while non-executive directors have agreed to cut all of their director fees.
The CEO will also take a 20 per cent reduction in salary. Beyond says the situation will be monitored and further steps may be needed.
These measures will come into effect from tomorrow (April 1).
COVID-19 has already had a significant effect on the company, with television productions already deferred. Beyond is looking for ways to create content without being on location.
Beyond says its extensive catalogue of programing may generate higher than anticipated sales, as broadcasters are looking to fill their schedules following the cancellation of sports, reality shows, scripted series and other programming.
However, due to the uncertainty of the virus and government restrictions, Beyond says it can not provide any guidance to the market at this time.
On the market today, Beyond is in the grey with a trading price of 50 cents per share at 3:00 pm AEDT.
