Disney: The Most Evil Business In The World

[MurphyVol]

$1.7 billion a year for the next 10 years sounds like a lot since the Reedy Creek advantage is going away. Maybe they should claw that back and put it into California's theme park, since that seems to be where everyone wants to live.

It's not going away. The "advantage" of double taxation remains. It's just now that the entity for infrastructure management is run by Ron's donors and has a new name.

 

[bamawriter]

Disney announced this plan 2 years ago, though it had been in the works since 2019. They never broke ground. Then a year ago, Chapek announced they were delaying it until 2026 (obviously timed at the end DeSantis' 2nd term, which he had yet to win at the time of the announcement). Then Chapek gets canned.

While I'm sure that the battle with DeSantis contributed to this decision, it's silly to claim it's the entire reason for it. Iger came in and announced that Disney would be conducting massive layoffs. It's difficult to justify laying off 7,000 employees, only to then spend a billion dollars to move 2,000 existing employees across the entire country. Couple that with the ungodly amounts of money Disney spent building the Harmonious production at EPCOT and the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser experience, only for both to be scrapped within 18 months of premiering, and it's obvious that Iger 2.0 leadership team is committed to scaling back on the screwups of Chapek and company. I don't care how much Disney is pissed at DeSantis, they wouldn't be shuttering this project if it made good business sense.

All of that said, DeSantis is pissing away a lot of good will with conservatives that like him but are totally opposed to weaponizing the government against a private business over a political dispute. This entire thing is absurd. So Disney released a meaningless statement but didn't actually do anything to combat the bill? Why should DeSantis care? The bill passed and is overwhemingly popular with the voters. Spike the football and move on.

There can be no winner in this fight. The two sides need to assess the damage and determine how much they are each willing to lose. Make peace and get on with governing / running your business.

 

[MurphyVol]

Disney announced this plan 2 years ago, though it had been in the works since 2019. They never broke ground. Then a year ago, Chapek announced they were delaying it until 2026 (obviously timed at the end DeSantis' 2nd term, which he had yet to win at the time of the announcement). Then Chapek gets canned.

While I'm sure that the battle with DeSantis contributed to this decision, it's silly to claim it's the entire reason for it. Iger came in and announced that Disney would be conducting massive layoffs. It's difficult to justify laying off 7,000 employees, only to then spend a billion dollars to move 2,000 existing employees across the entire country. Couple that with the ungodly amounts of money Disney spent building the Harmonious production at EPCOT and the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser experience, only for both to be scrapped within 18 months of premiering, and it's obvious that Iger 2.0 leadership team is committed to scaling back on the screwups of Chapek and company. I don't care how much Disney is pissed at DeSantis, they wouldn't be shuttering this project if it made good business sense.

All of that said, DeSantis is pissing away a lot of good will with conservatives that like him but are totally opposed to weaponizing the government against a private business over a political dispute. This entire thing is absurd. So Disney released a meaningless statement but didn't actually do anything to combat the bill? Why should DeSantis care? The bill passed and is overwhemingly popular with the voters. Spike the football and move on.

There can be no winner in this fight. The two sides need to assess the damage and determine how much they are each willing to lose. Make peace and get on with governing / running your business.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's a bizarre hill to die on. The guy has an excellent military record, 2 Ivy League degrees and his state is an economic juggernaut....and he's spending all this time fighting Mickey Mouse. I would literally hammer those, 3 points over and over and over again. We have 2 senile draft dodgers as front runners....he should be moping the floor with these guys.

 

[hog88]

Disney announced this plan 2 years ago, though it had been in the works since 2019. They never broke ground. Then a year ago, Chapek announced they were delaying it until 2026 (obviously timed at the end DeSantis' 2nd term, which he had yet to win at the time of the announcement). Then Chapek gets canned.

While I'm sure that the battle with DeSantis contributed to this decision, it's silly to claim it's the entire reason for it. Iger came in and announced that Disney would be conducting massive layoffs. It's difficult to justify laying off 7,000 employees, only to then spend a billion dollars to move 2,000 existing employees across the entire country. Couple that with the ungodly amounts of money Disney spent building the Harmonious production at EPCOT and the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser experience, only for both to be scrapped within 18 months of premiering, and it's obvious that Iger 2.0 leadership team is committed to scaling back on the screwups of Chapek and company. I don't care how much Disney is pissed at DeSantis, they wouldn't be shuttering this project if it made good business sense.

All of that said, DeSantis is pissing away a lot of good will with conservatives that like him but are totally opposed to weaponizing the government against a private business over a political dispute. This entire thing is absurd. So Disney released a meaningless statement but didn't actually do anything to combat the bill? Why should DeSantis care? The bill passed and is overwhemingly popular with the voters. Spike the football and move on.

There can be no winner in this fight. The two sides need to assess the damage and determine how much they are each willing to lose. Make peace and get on with governing / running your business.

^^This

 

[hog88]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's a bizarre hill to die on. The guy has an excellent military record, 2 Ivy League degrees and his state is an economic juggernaut....and he's spending all this time fighting Mickey Mouse. I would literally hammer those, 3 points over and over and over again. We have 2 senile draft dodgers as front runners....he should be moping the floor with these guys.

^^And this

 

[RikidyBones]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's a bizarre hill to die on. The guy has an excellent military record, 2 Ivy League degrees and his state is an economic juggernaut....and he's spending all this time fighting Mickey Mouse. I would literally hammer those, 3 points over and over and over again. We have 2 senile draft dodgers as front runners....he should be moping the floor with these guys.

You know people can multitask right? He's not spending all his time fighting Disney. He's also banning gender surgeries on minors, signing forward school choice, having a great budget, focused on infrastructure the last few years, cleaning up porn in public schools, etc.

 

[RikidyBones]

 

[MurphyVol]

You know people can multitask right? He's not spending all his time fighting Disney. He's also banning gender surgeries on minors, signing forward school choice, having a great budget, focused on infrastructure the last few years, cleaning up porn in public schools, etc.

Well it's working wonders, I saw today Trump's up 36 points. Yeah I know he hasn't declared yet, but that's a steep hill to climb

Trump accuses DeSantis of costing Floridians jobs with Disney feud

 

[RikidyBones]

 

[bamawriter]

Well it's working wonders, I saw today Trump's up 36 points. Yeah I know he hasn't declared yet, but that's a steep hill to climb

Trump accuses DeSantis of costing Floridians jobs with Disney feud

And the big problem is that this fight with Disney only appeals to the Trumpy wing of the Republican party that wants to invoke punishment on those that dare oppose them. DeSantis is not going to win those voters no matter what he does. There is nothing Trump can do to lose those votes.

DeSantis has to start appealing to the sane Rs and the moderates. Fighting Disney is nothing but a losing proposition.

 

[MurphyVol]

And the big problem is that this fight with Disney only appeals to the Trumpy wing of the Republican party that wants to invoke punishment on those that dare oppose them. DeSantis is not going to win those voters no matter what he does. There is nothing Trump can do to lose those votes.

DeSantis has to start appealing to the sane Rs and the moderates. Fighting Disney is nothing but a losing proposition.

Yes and the independents. Well said

 

[RikidyBones]

And the big problem is that this fight with Disney only appeals to the Trumpy wing of the Republican party that wants to invoke punishment on those that dare oppose them. DeSantis is not going to win those voters no matter what he does. There is nothing Trump can do to lose those votes.

DeSantis has to start appealing to the sane Rs and the moderates. Fighting Disney is nothing but a losing proposition.

I agree that he needs to move on.

 

[turbovol]

And the big problem is that this fight with Disney only appeals to the Trumpy wing of the Republican party that wants to invoke punishment on those that dare oppose them. DeSantis is not going to win those voters no matter what he does. There is nothing Trump can do to lose those votes.

DeSantis has to start appealing to the sane Rs and the moderates. Fighting Disney is nothing but a losing proposition.

You're right--but DeSantis is not a moderate; he's a diminutive right-wing bully--and moderates surely don't find him very appealing. But it's going to be a problem for Republicans if conservative voters stick with the gangster in the primaries. That would be stupid, un-American and a losing proposition. Both men are horrible.

 

[bamawriter]

You're right--but DeSantis is not a moderate; he's a diminutive right-wing bully--and moderates surely don't find him very appealing. But it's going to be a problem for Republicans if conservative voters stick with the gangster in the primaries. That would be stupid, un-American and a losing proposition. Both men are horrible.

Disney fight aside, I disagree. Look at the coalition he built in FL. His actual policies appeal to a large segment of the population.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

Disney announced this plan 2 years ago, though it had been in the works since 2019. They never broke ground. Then a year ago, Chapek announced they were delaying it until 2026 (obviously timed at the end DeSantis' 2nd term, which he had yet to win at the time of the announcement). Then Chapek gets canned.

While I'm sure that the battle with DeSantis contributed to this decision, it's silly to claim it's the entire reason for it. Iger came in and announced that Disney would be conducting massive layoffs. It's difficult to justify laying off 7,000 employees, only to then spend a billion dollars to move 2,000 existing employees across the entire country. Couple that with the ungodly amounts of money Disney spent building the Harmonious production at EPCOT and the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser experience, only for both to be scrapped within 18 months of premiering, and it's obvious that Iger 2.0 leadership team is committed to scaling back on the screwups of Chapek and company. I don't care how much Disney is pissed at DeSantis, they wouldn't be shuttering this project if it made good business sense.

All of that said, DeSantis is pissing away a lot of good will with conservatives that like him but are totally opposed to weaponizing the government against a private business over a political dispute. This entire thing is absurd. So Disney released a meaningless statement but didn't actually do anything to combat the bill? Why should DeSantis care? The bill passed and is overwhemingly popular with the voters. Spike the football and move on.

There can be no winner in this fight. The two sides need to assess the damage and determine how much they are each willing to lose. Make peace and get on with governing / running your business.

This is likely Disney's warning shot to DeSantis to let him know the thousands and thousands of existing corporate employees there could be moved (to GA or NC, for example).

Losing 2,000 high paid Corp. Employees is one thing. Losing 10K more would really impact the Central FL economy....

 

[bamawriter]

This is likely Disney's warning shot to DeSantis to let him know the thousands and thousands of existing corporate employees there could be moved (to GA or NC, for example).

Losing 2,000 high paid Corp. Employees is one thing. Losing 10K more would really impact the Central FL economy....

Eh. There's a message behind it, but I don't think there is any great threat here. FL didn't "lose" 2,000 employees. Those employees never came, and weren't likely to ever come with or without the DeSantis fight. Actually picking up existing FL workers and moving them elsewhere will cost Disney a lot of money. Again, it's hard to justify such a move in the midst of massive layoffs.

In truth, the timing of this announcement is designed to draw attention away from the closing of Galactic Starcruiser. That product lost an insane amount of money. If it had been at capacity for all 80 weeks that it will have been open by September 30th (and of course it was nowhere near capacity or it wouldn't be closing), that experience will have generated $180 million. It cost over $500 million just to build it, and God only knows how much to run it 4 to 6 days a week. That thing is one of the biggest disasters in Disney history, and in no way can it be blamed on DeSantis. So Disney wisely announced the cancelation of the Lake Nona project (which was unlikely to happen anyway) on the same day so that everyone will point and say "Look what DeSantis did!" while mostly ignoring the unbelievable failure of one of their biggest projects.

 

[WBO]

Where will they place it? Have them in CA to own the desantis and pay higher wages and more taxes? Good own.

It already is located in California, it's an active company involved with entertainment industry. It was going to transfer to Orlando area.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

Eh. There's a message behind it, but I don't think there is any great threat here. FL didn't "lose" 2,000 employees. Those employees never came, and weren't likely to ever come with or without the DeSantis fight. Actually picking up existing FL workers and moving them elsewhere will cost Disney a lot of money. Again, it's hard to justify such a move in the midst of massive layoffs.

In truth, the timing of this announcement is designed to draw attention away from the closing of Galactic Starcruiser. That product lost an insane amount of money. If it had been at capacity for all 80 weeks that it will have been open by September 30th (and of course it was nowhere near capacity or it wouldn't be closing), that experience will have generated $180 million. It cost over $500 million just to build it, and God only knows how much to run it 4 to 6 days a week. That thing is one of the biggest disasters in Disney history, and in no way can it be blamed on DeSantis. So Disney wisely announced the cancelation of the Lake Nona project (which was unlikely to happen anyway) on the same day so that everyone will point and say "Look what DeSantis did!" while mostly ignoring the unbelievable failure of one of their biggest projects.

Not exactly true. Disney has hired/relocated many of those 2,000 employees. Disney just pushed back the timing (and eventually eliminated) the new campus. I know that for as fact as they've hired a couple of my former staff as part of that 2K....

Yes, the campus cancellation is likely more related to not needing as much office space post COVID as compared to DeSantis...

 

[bamawriter]

Not exactly true. Disney has hired/relocated many of those 2,000 employees. Disney just pushed back the timing (and eventually eliminated) the new campus.

They are existing employees, mostly in California. According to D'Amaro's email, fewer than 200 have actually relocated at this point. This was meant to be a net add to FL operations, but a net zero to the Walt Disney Company.

 

[WBO]

Disney still has plans to spend 17 billion on construction at DW over the next decade. Guessing they still view Florida as pro business.

Wait and see. Either DeSantis backs off or they cancel more. This is Iger, not some lightweight. He relishes battles and has never lost a big one according to an article I read in WSJ. He's the kind of guy who would love the scalp of a Presidential campaign to hang on his belt. He loves publicity and is great in front of an audience.

If my memory serves me correctly he's taken down two hand-picked successors for deviating from his vision. Retired and came back, twice. I don't think even the legendary Jack Welch was able to do that at GE.

Too bad we don't elect guys like him as President.

 

[volfanhill]

Wait and see. Either DeSantis backs off or they cancel more. This is Iger, not some lightweight. He relishes battles and has never lost a big one according to an article I read in WSJ. He's the kind of guy who would love the scalp of a Presidential campaign to hang on his belt. He loves publicity and is great in front of an audience.

If my memory serves me correctly he's taken down two hand-picked successors for deviating from his vision. Retired and came back, twice. I don't think even the legendary Jack Welch was able to do that at GE.

Too bad we don't elect guys like him as President.

Guys like him don't want the job

 

[clarksvol00]

conservatives that like him but are totally opposed to weaponizing the government against a private business over a political dispute

Nah... most of this group, to the extent they actually exist, will ignore this.

 

[Franklin Pierce]

Wait and see. Either DeSantis backs off or they cancel more. This is Iger, not some lightweight. He relishes battles and has never lost a big one according to an article I read in WSJ. He's the kind of guy who would love the scalp of a Presidential campaign to hang on his belt. He loves publicity and is great in front of an audience.

If my memory serves me correctly he's taken down two hand-picked successors for deviating from his vision. Retired and came back, twice. I don't think even the legendary Jack Welch was able to do that at GE.

Too bad we don't elect guys like him as President.

Iger better be focusing on SUBSCRIBER LOSSES. The losses have been substantial, even with discounting the India losses. In quarter 1 they lost 2.4 million subscribers. Disney is also slashing $3 Billion in spending on content (subscribers will love that). Production delays and firing 7,000 of its employees.

If Iger doesn't get things under control, he may not even be president of Disney.

 

[MurphyVol]

Iger better be focusing on SUBSCRIBER LOSSES. The losses have been substantial, even with discounting the India losses. In quarter 1 they lost 2.4 million subscribers. Disney is also slashing $3 Billion in spending on content (subscribers will love that). Production delays and firing 7,000 of its employees.

If Iger doesn't get things under control, he may not even be president of Disney.

He needs to focus on steaming profitability. As has been stated multiple times the losses were expected from the Hotstar platform and price increases.
They'll probably fully merge with Hulu at some point

Slashing bloated content only makes sense if nobody's watching it. Laying off 7,000 employees is fiscally responsible if they're not needed.

Despite what Tucker says, these are necessary steps to right the ship.

Tucker "woke Disney lays off 7,000 employees!!!"

Wall Street (and common sense people) "in an effort to trim fat and grow profitability, Iger is laying off 7,000 employees"


Anti-wokefranklinhearstucker.com : "Disney caves and streams ESPN!"

Wall St "Disney stock was up today on the news that they'll be steaming ESPN as a stand alone service"

WSJ "Disney losses on steaming narrowed last quarter"

Desantishasgaymiceinhisgarage.com "Disney has steaming losses again!!!!"

 

[WBO]

Iger better be focusing on SUBSCRIBER LOSSES. The losses have been substantial, even with discounting the India losses. In quarter 1 they lost 2.4 million subscribers. Disney is also slashing $3 Billion in spending on content (subscribers will love that). Production delays and firing 7,000 of its employees.

If Iger doesn't get things under control, he may not even be president of Disney.

My point is he controls Disney, he isn't getting fired. Besides, you think Disney is going to sweat working through streaming? Pretty much all the media companies are struggling with stabilizing that revenue stream.

They're going to be streamlining operations and killing the excess fat for a couple of years. One example is the Star Wars Hotel. $5000 a couple for a 2 night stay (total immersion). 100 rooms, totally booked. But the manpower requirements are high making it difficult to scale up to larger size. It's profitable, but doesn't offer the return on investment Disney wants so it's getting terminated.

Doesn't sound like they're having revenue problems.