Big Boss Interview - #5 Merlin Entertainments CEO, Fiona Eastwood: Our Biggest Competition? Kids On Screens

Download #5 Merlin Entertainments CEO, Fiona Eastwood: Our Biggest Competition? Kids On Screens

Fiona Eastwood, CEO of Merlin Entertainments tells Sean Farrington what it is like running one of the world’s leading entertainment companies. Merlin runs over a hundred theme parks and attractions around the world from Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures, to Sea Life and Madame Tussauds. She explains how the main competition to her business is the amount of screen-time kids have, and how that influences the partnerships that they make with the likes of Lego, Peppa Pig, Bluey and now, most recently, Minecraft. But the industry has been struggling - from covid lockdowns to the cost of living crisis, in fact Merlin's credit rating was recently even downgraded; Fiona addresses this and calls for a reduction in VAT on the Tourism and Leisure industry and says that there is too much red tape when it comes to planning reforms. And despite being the Big Boss, find out which ride Fiona can't stomach.

00:00 Fliss and Sean Intro
02:15 Interview starts
03:54 Our competition is the home and screen time
04:50 Trends of customer spending
09:35 The growth and importance of Halloween
12:45 Credit rating downgrade of Merlin Entertainments
15:55 Impact of a late Autumn Budget
17:00 We need a VAT cut in Leisure and Tourism sector
20:35 How Merlin develop partnerships with Peppa Pig and now Minecraft
27:00 The role of Madame Tussauds for the business
30:20 Merlin operating in China for 25 years
31:45 How does Chief Operating Officer differ from Chief Exec

Presenter: Sean Farrington
Producer: Olie D'Albertanson
Editor: Henry Jones

(Picture credit: Getty)

Published on Tuesday, 21st October 2025.

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