SeaWorld Entertainment CEO Jim Atchison will step down on Jan.
15, and the company will eliminate jobs in an effort to cut annual expenses by
$50 million a year.
SeaWorld’s chairman, David D’Alessandro, will serve as
interim CEO while the company searches for a permanent replacement. Atchison has
been SeaWorld’s CEO since 2009 and had served as president and COO of the
company (then known as Busch Entertainment Corp.) between 2007 and 2009.
The company is looking to reverse declining park attendance
and improve financial performance. Last year, attendance at SeaWorld’s 11 theme
parks fell 4.1% from a year earlier, to 24.4 million guests.
Through September of this year, attendance fell 4.7% from a
year earlier, to 18 million, while revenue fell 63%, to $1.11 billion.
SeaWorld has blamed the attendance decline on fierce
competition in Florida and negative media attention after a SeaWorld Orlando
trainer was killed by an orca in 2010. That incident spurred the making last
year’s documentary “Blackfish,” which had been followed by protests at
SeaWorld’s San Diego park.
The company is looking to reverse declining park attendance and improve financial performance.
California legislators earlier this year proposed a ban on
performances of killer whales.
SeaWorld has criticized “Blackfish,” as being “false and
misleading,” calling its portrayal of the trainer’s death “entirely
fictitious."
An addition to announcing that Atchison was stepping down,
the company on Thursday also detailed efforts to reduce annual expenses by $50
million through a restructuring program and job cuts, though SeaWorld didn’t
say how many jobs would be eliminated.
"In order to achieve the goals of our business
realignment, we regret that some positions will necessarily be eliminated,"
Atchison said in a statement. "However, our cost savings effort is part of a
broader program to position us for long term growth."