The coronavirus, or COVID-19, has officially been declared a pandemic. Multiple companies have canceled events around the world due to fear of travel. Here are the latest.
E3 2020
Arguably the biggest gaming conference in the world, E3 2020 is canceled. The three-day conference was originally scheduled to take place in early June at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Growing concerns over the coronavirus is the cause of the cancelation. It brings in thousands of people from across the globe which could accelerate the spread in the United States. Some participating companies included Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA), Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox and Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO).
Chicago's St. Patrick's Day Parade
The iconic and well-attended festival St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the windy city where the Chicago River is dyed green has been postponed as a precautionary measure to help prevent the continued spread of the coronavirus. It was originally supposed to take place on March 14th.
Coachella
The music and arts festival was expected to draw over 250,000 attendees in April, now it's been postponed until October. The postponement is from growing concerns over the coronavirus.
SXSW 2020
One of the larger festivals, South by Southwest blends interactive, film and music industries together. Notable attendees have started to pull out due to fears over the coronavirus include Twitter (NASDAQ: TWTR), Amazon, Mashable, TikTok, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Facebook (NYSE: FB). UPDATE: After multiple notable names pulled out, the festival as a whole has been canceled.
Ultra Music Festival Miami
The city of Miami canceled the popular Ultra Music Festival on coronavirus fears. The festival will not happen this year, but will instead happen next year from March 26th to 28th. The event was going to bring thousands of attendees from over 100 countries. Ticket purchasers will be contacted through email on Monday regarding the next steps to take.
TwitchCon Amsterdam
The conference was scheduled to take place in Amsterdam from May 2nd to May 3rd. It was canceled due to coronavirus concerns. The company said it is reaching out to attendees and exhibitors with information about refunds.
IBM Think 2020
The premier client and developer conference by IBM (NYSE: IBM) will now be an online-only event. The conference will still be held between May 5th to 7th but cited mounting concerns over the coronavirus as the reason for canceling the in-person aspect of the event.
No Time To Die
The release of the upcoming James Bond movie, No Time To Die, will be postponed until November 2020 amid the coronavirus outbreak. International box office numbers are being negatively impacted by the virus as people are increasingly fearful of going to public places.
Google I/O 2020
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL) previously allowed registration cancelations until April 15th, but instead, decided to cancel the event as a whole as the coronavirus situation continues. At the conference, Google announces new products and software and attendees get a hands-on look. Although Google can still make its I/O announcements online, there might be a lack of hands-on review content.
EXPO West
A trade show which comprises of "natural, organic and healthy products" was canceled as over 200 vendors pulled out of the event over the coronavirus. Some notable names that pulled out of the event include General Mills (NYSE: GIS), Red Bull and Whole Foods.
Gucci's Cruise 2021 Fashion Show
The luxury Italian fashion company Gucci canceled its Cruise 2021 fashion show amid coronavirus fears. It was scheduled to take place on May 18th in San Fransisco.
Game Developers Conference
After multiple notable attendees pulled out of the conference due to coronavirus fears, the conference decided canceling the event as a whole would be best. Some of the notable names include Facebook, Sony (NYSE: SNE), EA (NYSE: EA), Epic Games and Microsoft. It’s important to note some companies, such as Amazon, announced alternative measures to make up for their lack of announcements.
Intel Labs Day
Chipmaker Intel decided it was best to cancel its San Francisco Labs Day conference showcasing emerging tech citing “ongoing and evolving coronavirus situation.”
Zendesk
Zendesk (NYSE: ZEN) canceled its Zendesk Relate conference that was scheduled for March 3rd-5th in Miami.
Domo
Domo (NASDAQ: DOMO) announced its Domopalooza conference will now be an online-only event. Domopalooza was originally scheduled to take place in Utah from March 17th to the 20th.
Shopify
Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP) Unite, a partner and developer conference, was canceled. It was scheduled to take place in Toronto from May 6th to 8th.
Geneva International Motor Show (GIMS)
The 90th Geneva International Motor Show has been canceled. It was set to begin next week. The Swiss government has banned all "public and private" events with more than 1,000 people. In a statement, GIMS/Palexpo SA said "The 90th edition of the GIMS, which was supposed to welcome the media from next Monday and the general public from 5 to 15 March 2020, will now finally not take place. This is an injonction decision of the Federal Council of 28 February 2020 that no events with more than 1,000 people are allowed to take place until 15 March 2020. The decision falls 3 days before the opening of the exhibition to the media."
ome companies that were set to exhibit at GIMS were:
Audi (OTC: AUDVF)
Volkswagen (OTC: VWAPY)
Hyundai (OTC: HYMTF)
BMW (OTC: BMWYY)
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE: FCAU)
Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC)
Mazda Motor Corp (OTC: MZDAY)
Daimler AG (OTC: DMLRY)
Renault (OTC: RNLSY)
Toyota Motor Corp (NYSE: TM)
ITB Berlin
One of the world’s largest travel trade shows, ITB Berlin was set to take place on March 4th through March 8th.
“ITB Berlin 2020 will not take place. Due to the increasing spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Economics have decided to cancel ITB Berlin. The responsible health authority of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf of Berlin has increased the requirements for the event to take place early this evening (18:27). Among other things, the authority orders Every trade fair participant must prove to Messe Berlin that they do not come from the defined risk areas or have had contact with a person from the risk areas. Messe Berlin is unable to implement all these requirements.”
Facebook
Facebook canceled its annual F8 developer conference due to fears over the coronavirus. The event was originally scheduled for May 5th and 6th, but instead, the company will host local events and live stream some content in an effort to make up for the in-person component of the conference.
Before the cancellation of its F8 conference, Facebook also canceled its Global Marketing Summit citing health concerns due to the recent outbreak. The event was scheduled to take place March 9th through 12th.
MWC
One of the biggest tech events of the year, MWC (formerly known as Mobile World Congress), was canceled over growing concerns around the coronavirus. Hosted in Barcelona, the event gathers exhibitors and press from all over the world, with a lot coming from China.
The event attracts roughly 100,000 attendees, making it one of the highest-profile events canceled over the coronavirus. Some notable attendees included Amazon, Intel, Facebook and Sony.
Global Fashion Weeks
Beijing and Shanghai’s fashion weeks, set to take place at the end of March, have both been postponed. This makes sense, as most coronavirus cases are China, but Chinese fashion brands have also pulled out of the more notable fashion weeks which take place in Paris and Milan.
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