Disney is moving thousands of jobs from California to 'business friendly' Florida

• Disney will be relocating 2,000 employees to Florida.
• The company says the employees all work in the parks, experiences, and products division.
• About 60,000 employees already work in Florida, which Disney says is more "business-friendly."

Disney announced plans Thursday to move 2,000 employees from Southern California to a new campus near Orlando, Florida in an effort to increase collaboration amongst staff and consolidate operations, according to a press release.

Disney has been planning the move since 2019, and most of the employees relocating are in the parks, experiences, and products division. Florida's business-friendly climate is also behind the move.

"Expanding our already significant DPEP [Disney parks, experiences and products] footprint in Florida makes sense," Josh D'Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, said in a letter to employees. "In addition to Florida's business-friendly climate, this new regional campus gives us the opportunity to consolidate our teams and be more collaborative and impactful both from a creative and operational standpoint."

Disney has a total of 203,000 employees worldwide, according to its 2020 annual report. More than 60,000 of those employees are already located in Florida.

Disney says it will not be leaving the Southern California campus entirely, the 2,000 employees that are expected to move in the next 18 months make up less than 5% of the total population of California employees. Disney says they'll be paying moving costs for all 2,000 employees.

Disney isn't the only company that has decided to move operations to Florida. During the pandemic, Florida has seen an influx of tech workers flocking to the sunshine state, welcomed by the state's governor who defiantly declared the state open for business last year much earlier than other states.

Company's such as Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, and Elliot Management have either decided or are considering opening up offices in parts of Florida.