DIS Shareholders and Stock Info ONLY

[wabbott]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...-disney-ceo-s-billion-dollar-crisis#xj4y7vzkg

Businessweek
Has Bob Iger Lost the Magic?

Disney’s legendary CEO came out of retirement to save the company—right in time for its 100th birthday. Nothing has gone his way.
October 10, 2023 at 4:00 AM CDT


“Barbenheimer” aside, it was the summer from hell for Hollywood executives, and none more so than Bob Iger. In July he and fellow moguls Gulfstreamed to the jagged green mountains of Sun Valley, Idaho, for their annual retreat, where between power lunches and tandem bike rides they debated media deals and the impact of artificial intelligence. But the big reveal was that Iger, who in November emerged from retirement to temporarily lead Walt Disney Co., would be extending his contract. Disney was worth $160 billion—or less than half what it had been when he left in 2021—and the company’s problems seemed to be getting only worse. Iger was burning through his two-year agreement with no clear successor in sight, and Disney’s board chose the elite confab to announce that the man who had once made the company unstoppable had agreed to stay on until 2026.

Investors barely had time to cheer before the news was overshadowed by an Iger gaffe on the eve of actors joining writers in a strike, the first time both unions had banded together in 60 years. Iger had a long-earned reputation as a dealmaker and diplomat, having played a major role in thawing the ice between studios and scribes at the height of the Writers Guild of America strike in the late aughts. But when asked by CNBC about the actors’ demands, which include better payment from streaming services and job protections against AI, Disney’s chief executive officer said: “There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic.”

 

[BrianL]

Well in the specific example I used it is Bluey that the customers appears to want. Bluey is the single most watched programming on Disney+ by a massive margin. I find it interesting that the flagship content on Disney+ is not a Disney made IP at all. Wouldn’t Disney be smart to look at what is watched and look to make more content in a similar realm?

No, actually. Looking at a very hot property and trying to emulate it usually leads to failure. Not only does the audience see it as a bit of a "rip off" usually by the time it and the zillion other attempts to copy it hit, the property it's all based on is already waning. Usually, they can't capture what made the original special to beign with. Trying to be original and find the next big hit is a better strategy. Certianly not everything will, but it only takes one.

 

[HokieRaven5]

Bluey is also 8 minutes an episode or less. Easy to consume and easy to shut off vs a longer show or movie.

 

[RivShore]

No, actually. Looking at a very hot property and trying to emulate it usually leads to failure. Not only does the audience see it as a bit of a "rip off" usually by the time it and the zillion other attempts to copy it hit, the property it's all based on is already waning. Usually, they can't capture what made the original special to beign with. Trying to be original and find the next big hit is a better strategy. Certianly not everything will, but it only takes one.

To be honest, that has been Disney's MO for decades now - lets make 18 sequels of TS, lets redo every animation classic as live action, then lets remake that in animation, again and again and again, rinse repeat, rinse repeat....

Can you tell I am sick of it?

 

[ChipnDale79]

To be honest, that has been Disney's MO for decades now - lets make 18 sequels of TS, lets redo every animation classic as live action, then lets remake that in animation, again and again and again, rinse repeat, rinse repeat....

Can you tell I am sick of it?

the lion king is my favorite disney movie. the live action was literally the same movie that was just made into live action. it was boring and lazy; it was a money grab.

id like more new stuff.

 

[wabbott]

So how does this Nelson Peltz thing end?

Just my take on things, I expect Peltz will be a tougher negotiator this time around. He's an old guy, and he's going to be mindful of his reputation/legacy, and probably feels that Iger smooth-talked him into backing down. As evidenced by the poor performance of DIS' stock price this year, progress has been scant toward the goal of steady growth for the company.

But the projects to get streaming profitable have catchy names - Dory and Yoda. So there's that. But investors will probably want to see something a bit more substantial.

 

[wabbott]

This is a rewrite of the partial Bloomberg article that I posted earlier.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/bob-iger-found-disney-worse-144323034.html

Bob Iger Found Disney in ‘Worse Shape’ Than He Expected, Now ‘Overwhelmed and Exhausted’ Bloomberg Reports
Eileen AJ Connelly
Tue, October 10, 2023 at 9:43 AM CDT

Bob Iger’s heralded return to the Disney C-suite last year hasn’t produced the rosy results investors hoped for, and the array of setbacks he’s faced has left the 72-year-old executive “overwhelmed and exhausted,” even privately questioning why he returned, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

Disney’s stock is now down more than 9% since Iger took back the CEO title from Bob Chapek in November and activist investor Nelson Peltz is once again rattling the cage and pushing for a seat on the company’s board.

But the challenges at the House of Mouse go beyond the potential for a renewed proxy fight with a cantankerous investor.

The company was in “worse shape than Iger realized” when he came back, Bloomberg reported.

On the streaming side, Disney+ was losing hundreds of millions of dollars every quarter, and the 2024 deadline for turning a profit — a promise the company made to Wall Street — was looming, even as costs for producing shows was soaring. A deal Iger shepherded through in 2016 to acquire streaming technology company BAMTech turned out to be more expensive than expected and the tech was not as efficient as rivals’, Bloomberg reported. Another deadline Iger negotiated with Comcast for Disney to acquire the 33% of Hulu that it doesn’t own for no less than $27.5 billion is fast approaching, but it’s not clear what value taking the stake will deliver.

In addition, Iger fumbled badly with a comment that the demands made by WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikers this summer were “just not realistic,” sparking massive backlash as actors and writers on the picket line pointed to his $27 million annual salary.

The sum total of the challenges has left the executive joking, “Why did I come back?” the report said, noting the once tireless CEO spent a significant amount of time on his yacht in the Mediterranean this summer, then was laid up at home following surgery.

The musing comes despite the report saying that Iger “immediately regretted” his 2020 departure from the CEO’s chair and its accompanying spotlight, and tried to get his job back, an account the company disputed.

Iger’s return was heralded by Wall Street and staff worldwide, and he had early success with fending off Peltz, who mounted a proxy battle over Disney spending, by announcing $3 billion in spending cuts, including axing 7,000 jobs.
Those cuts came with a restructuring plan that created new divisions in the company. But it’s still losing hundreds of millions on streaming and it suffered a string of box-office flops this summer despite a resurgence in theater-going led by rival studios’ productions of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.”

Moreover, “Iger seemed blindsided by the state of the TV industry,” Bloomberg reported. With its networks rapidly losing viewers as they switch to streaming, the report said Iger now has few choices but to sell off Disney’s TV business, which includes ABC, The Disney Channel, FX and National Geographic networks, while ESPN is “in desperate need of a transformation from a shrinking cable operation into a streaming service.”

Rumors swirled that Iger was considering selling Disney to Apple, where he sat on the board for almost a decade, but by summer’s end that chatter had died down.

Instead, Iger is trying “incremental fixes,” the report said, tinkering with the movie release calendar, raising Disney+ subscription prices , publicly toying with selling ABC and inking a sports-betting deal tied to ESPN.

He also shifted positions on the Hollywood strikes, stating that Disney’s relationship with is creative talent is a top priority.

But after many of his allies left Disney when he did, Iger is also “increasingly isolated,” the report said, questioning whether the executive has “lost the magic” he brought to the company during his previously stint at the helm.

 

[Moliphino]

the lion king is my favorite disney movie. the live action was literally the same movie that was just made into live action. it was boring and lazy; it was a money grab.

id like more new stuff.

And it wasn't even live action, it was just a different type of animation.

 

[clarker99]

Deleted

 

[Scalemaster34]

This is a rewrite of the partial Bloomberg article that I posted earlier.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/bob-iger-found-disney-worse-144323034.html

Bob Iger Found Disney in ‘Worse Shape’ Than He Expected, Now ‘Overwhelmed and Exhausted’ Bloomberg Reports
Eileen AJ Connelly
Tue, October 10, 2023 at 9:43 AM CDT

Bob Iger’s heralded return to the Disney C-suite last year hasn’t produced the rosy results investors hoped for, and the array of setbacks he’s faced has left the 72-year-old executive “overwhelmed and exhausted,” even privately questioning why he returned, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.


But after many of his allies left Disney when he did, Iger is also “increasingly isolated,” the report said, questioning whether the executive has “lost the magic” he brought to the company during his previously stint at the helm.

You reap what you sow?

 

[clarker99]

Iger was re-instated on Nov 20, 2022. He has only reported 2 quarters based his cuts and re-structuring and both reports made progress on fixing the Direct to Consumer mess.

IMO, the Q1FY24 earnings call is where we can start to evaluate Iger 2.0 and his decisions. Some of the programming cost cutting will not even take effect until later in fiscal year 2024.

I will say it now (bookmark this and call me out if I am wrong), Direct to Consumer will post a profit in FY24. A greater than $4B turnaround in less than 2 years.

 

[RivShore]

At least they are still trying to generate revenue with some of the removed stuff:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/ne...71492bb57e9d30eb9c6713&ocid=winp2fpswipe&ei=7

Disney Quietly Adds Original Movies Removed From Disney+ to Paid Platforms

Story by Drew Taylor • 1h

Disney started pulling content from its direct-to-consumer streaming platform Disney+ earlier this year, following the streaming content bubble bursting spectacularly. Now some of it is beginning to reappear - on paid platforms.

Seasons of shows were unceremoniously zapped from the app, along with several high profile made-for-Disney+ movies, including "Crater," which was erased a little more than a month after debuting on the platform. Those movies are back - and available to rent or buy on the PVOD platform of your choice (Apple, Vudu, Amazon, etc.)

Disney didn't publicize this; they just showed up with as little fanfare as when they were removed in the first place.

The removed titles now available to rent (for around $4) or buy (for $20) are "Artemis Fowl," "Better Nate Than Never," "Crater," "Cheaper by the Dozen," "Flora & Ulysses," "Stargirl," "Hollywood Stargirl," "The One and Only Ivan," "Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made" and documentary "Wolfgang." Disney+ original films that have yet to show up for rental or purchase are "Black Beauty," "Magic Camp" and "Darby and the Dead."

Several of these films were intended for theatrical release before debuting on Disney+ during the pandemic (like "The One and Only Ivan" and "Artemis Fowl"), which made their removal from the platform even more baffling. And many of them are actually quite good - "Stargirl" was charming enough for the studio to order a sequel with much of the cast and creative team returning for the follow-up. ("Timmy Failure" could have easily warranted a sequel too.)
While it feels weird to pay $20 for a movie that you used to be able to access, free of charge, on a different app, it is important that these movies still exist in the world and are available at all. None of the Disney+ original series that were removed have resurfaced in a similar fashion but maybe this is a good sign of things to come?

Disney did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.

The post Disney Quietly Adds Original Movies Removed From Disney+ to Paid Platforms appeared first on TheWrap.

 

[wabbott]

Iger was re-instated on Nov 20, 2022. He has only reported 2 quarters based his cuts and re-structuring and both reports made progress on fixing the Direct to Consumer mess.

IMO, the Q1FY24 earnings call is where we can start to evaluate Iger 2.0 and his decisions. Some of the programming cost cutting will not even take effect until later in fiscal year 2024.

I will say it now (bookmark this and call me out if I am wrong), Direct to Consumer will post a profit in FY24. A greater than $4B turnaround in less than 2 years.

I sincerely hope you are correct. As I have often stated, I have a direct pecuniary interest in the future of DIS. Stated in contemporary jargon, I have "skin in the game."

 

[Jwaire]

I've never seen an activist investor that cared about the company they invested in. It's always a short-term play. The end goal is always to get the company to sell off a bunch of assets, pump up the stock, then sell and leave the company hanging.

See Carl Icahn's entire career.

 

[wabbott]

I've never seen an activist investor that cared about the company they invested in. It's always a short-term play. The end goal is always to get the company to sell off a bunch of assets, pump up the stock, then sell and leave the company hanging.

See Carl Icahn's entire career.

I will have to disagree with you, specifically in regards to Nelson Peltz. We have had a long-term buy and hold position in Procter & Gamble since about 2008. All through the first half of the 2010s, the company languished and added little value. Peltz took a position in the mid 2010s and was elected to the board of directors. Since then, the stock has doubled and looks to be on the path to sustained growth. Christine McCarthy is on P&G's board.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

No doubt Peltz wants to maximize stock value, and he does likely want to make sure he can maximize his profits as an investor. He is buying up tons of Disney stock…..so there is a possibility he is more interested in turning the financial performance of Disney around. He has been around a while, so do we think he would really start selling off everything if in charge?

 

[RivShore]

I will have to disagree with you, specifically in regards to Nelson Peltz. We have had a long-term buy and hold position in Procter & Gamble since about 2008. All through the first half of the 2010s, the company languished and added little value. Peltz took a position in the mid 2010s and was elected to the board of directors. Since then, the stock has doubled and looks to be on the path to sustained growth. Christine McCarthy is on P&G's board.

Did Peltz spearhead any big divestitures while at P&G?

 

[Jwaire]

Did Peltz spearhead any big divestitures while at P&G?

Absolutely. Duracell, Covergirl, Folgers, Pringles and dozens of others. Those are just the ones I happen to remember. Along with pushing for layoffs, as always.

PS - I own some P&G too.

 

[wabbott]

Did Peltz spearhead any big divestitures while at P&G?

Nothing significant. They still have pretty much the same products they always have had. He cleaned out a big bunch of middle management deadheads, though.

 

[wabbott]

Absolutely. Duracell, Covergirl, Folgers, Pringles and dozens of others. Those are just the ones I happen to remember. Along with pushing for layoffs, as always.

PS - I own some P&G too.

P&G's food division was sold years before Peltz was involved.

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/pg-walks-away-foods-sells-pringles-235-billion-2011-04-07