UA Theatres restructures
Effective May 1, the cuts land squarely in the circuit's regional accounting departments and support services, as the Denver-based circuit centralizes operations at HQ. No senior level management posts were eliminated.
Disclosure of UA's reorganization belied previously published reports, which pegged job losses at 126 employees and characterized the measures as designed to save the circuit $ 32 million.
With an estimated savings of $ 4.75 million annually, the circuit's plan calls for a new East Coast regional office in Baltimore under the aegis of general manager Jay McIntyre, while West Coast operations will be helmed by Bob Vallone in Los Angeles.
The move from four regional offices to two renews UA's emphasis on district offices, which manage 15-25 theaters each. The strategy is designed to add an entrepreneurial flavor to the behemoth chain, according to UA prez Pete Warzel.
UA's move comes nine months after UA chairman Stewart Blair led a $ 680 million management buyout of the circuit from Tele-Communications Inc. Prior to the deal, the four divisional offices generally operated as stand-alone circuits--a structure designed to allow TCI to sell the divisions piecemeal if it desired.
On the accounting side of the equation, UA has hatched plans to build a sophisticated box office accounting system, which would allow it to keep closer tabs on sales, marketing patterns and customer service.
UA's film booking operations under chieftain Hank Lightstone remained generally status quo with incumbent head film buyers Richie Fay (New York) Scott Robb (Dallas) and Mike Doban (Los Angeles) in place. UA will beef up film buying in Dallas with former Atlanta head film buyer Bob Keller moving to Texas to assist in the booking of roughly 1,200 Midwestern screens.
