Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil, meaning "Circus of the Sun," is a contemporary circus group founded in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec, in 1984. It is the world's largest contemporary circus producer. Cirque du Soleil performs tours around the world and resident shows in permanent locations. Since its founding, shows have been performed in 450 cities in sixty countries and have been attended by over 180 million people.

 Les Échassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul (the Stiltwalkers of Baie-Saint-Paul).

Cirque du Soleil was founded in 1984 by former street performers Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix. Cirque du Soleil began as a group of twenty street performers named Les Échassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul––the Stiltwalkers of Baie-Saint-Paul––founded by Ste-Croix in the early 1980s. The group also created Le Club des talons hauts, "the High Heels Club," and La Fête foraine de Baie-Saint-Paul, a cultural event for street performers held each year between 1982-1984. The success of these groups and events made Laliberté and Ste-Croix want to start a circus in Québec and perform around the world. Their opportunity came in 1984, the 450th anniversary of the discovery of Canada. Québec City was in need of festivities for the celebration, and Laliberté proposed the idea for Cirque du Soleil. They were awarded $30,000 from the provincial government to put the show together. The first production was named Le Grand Tour and debuted during the celebration on July 16, 1984.

Le Grand Tour continued to perform in ten more cities in the province. In 1985, Cirque du Soleil performed in three cities in Ontario with the eponymous tour Cirque du Soleil. In 1987, Cirque du Soleil performed in the United States for the first time at the Los Angeles Art Festival in California, and the show was incredibly well-received. The North American tour continued in 1988, and the show debuted in Europe in 1990. More shows were created, and Cirque du Soleil continued to tour across the world throughout the 1990s and 2000s, performing in new locations, including Japan, Germany, Austria, and Mexico. Resident shows were added to permanent locations in various cities around this time.

In January 2013, Cirque du Soleil laid off four hundred employees after several unsuccessful tours were canceled prematurely. Private equity group TPG became the controlling shareholder of Cirque du Soleil in April 2015. Fosun took a minority stake in the same deal, and cofounder Laliberté maintained his small stake. In July 2017, Cirque du Soleil acquired Blue Man Productions, producer of the Blue Man Group. Cirque du Soliel acquired Vstar Entertainment Group in July 2018 and The Works Entertainment in February 2019.

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 led to a mass layoff of Cirque du Soleil employees. 4,679 people were laid off, about 95 percent of the company's staff. Seventy-one upcoming shows were canceled, resulting in the loss of one billion dollars in revenue. In June, Cirque du Soleil filed for bankruptcy, which was granted under a court order. In November 2020, the company was sold to Catalyst Capital Group. The sale removed the bankruptcy protection order. Aside from a few shows, Cirque du Soleil did not perform past the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 until summer 2021, when four shows began performing again in limited areas.

On December 1, 2021, Stéphane Lefebvre became the new CEO of Cirque du Soleil. He replaced Daniel Lamarre, who held the position for the two decades prior.