Carnival Sells 8 Percent Stake to Saudis After Dire Financial Warning
Photo Credit: The Carnival Vista in St. Thomas Carnival Cruise Lines via Reuters
Skift Take
Carnival is facing two unprecedented crises: Lost revenue from the complete cessation of its cruising operations and an optics nightmare that puts the future of cruising's popularity in genuine doubt.
Carnival Corp. stealthily filed its first quarter earnings on Friday, giving insight into a company on its knees as it faces an unprecedented crisis, and disclosing a long list of risk factors to its business going forward.
The world's largest cruise company — which has found itself at the epicenter of the Covid-19 crisis with incidents across its fleet — paused sailings on Mar. 13 after both the U.S. State Department and the Centers for Disease Control advised against cruising. It has approximately 6,000 passengers on vessels still at sea, which it is struggling to find ports for, creating a PR nightmare as well as a genuine risk of life to crew and passengers on board.
The company's share price has been down 80 percent since the beginning of the year. On Monday, shares jumped 25 percent when Saudi Arabia's public investment fund took an 8.2 percent stake in the company.
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