Disney reaffirms July dividend and executive pay

[imjustafatkid]

Disney reaffirms July dividend and executive pay

I have no problem with this.

 

[PCFriar80]

As a very tiny 100 share stockholder, I'm not sure the story means what you think. I get an annual dividend. Last year it was 0.83¢ per share. Or $83.00. that's an annual figure. I've never seen quarterly dividends. So far I've donated more than $83 to local food banks and such for the crisis.
Sometimes cash in individuals hands can be just as good as corporate assistance.

Disney pays a semi-annual dividend; January and July. 2019 annualized payout was $1.76 with $.88
paid on 1/10/19 and $.88 on 7/25/19. This years January payment of $.88 was paid on 1/16/20.

 

[OKW Lover]

Just wanted to clarify a few misconceptions in this thread.

• Disney doesn't pay dividends quarterly. In recent years it has been once or twice in a calendar year. The actual dividend schedule is up to the Board, after recommendation from management considering cash flows.
• Dividends do not determine stock prices. Well, at least not directly. If you have $100 in your pocket and $100 in a bank, you are worth $200. If you take $50 out of the bank you are still worth $200. What really determines stock prices is what an investor thinks about current/future earnings and what that might do to the price.
• The $5B line of credit is not uncommon in businesses. Well, maybe the size is, but its a standard business practice to have revolving lines of credit that handle day-to-day cash flow needs.
• Disney has adjusted executive pay during the current health crisis. However, for the top executives (probably only ~10 people) a major portion of their compensation is not base salary, but bonus compensation based on performance which is granted in both stock and cash assuming they meet certain goals.

Disclaimer, I am not a market financial analyst nor do I play one on TV

 

[Chuck S]

• Dividends do not determine stock prices. Well, at least not directly. If you have $100 in your pocket and $100 in a bank, you are worth $200. If you take $50 out of the bank you are still worth $200. What really determines stock prices is what an investor thinks about current/future earnings and what that might do to the price.

True, but in a volatile market, rumors and innuendo also affect price,and if a company cut their dividend, it makes investors and fund managers skittish, in turn, dropping the price.

 

[OSUZorba]

Dividends will always be based on shares because shares equal how much of the company you own. If a company has 100 shares and decides to give a dividend of 1M then a person with 10 shares should get 100K (10% of that). How much money is passed as divideds is always the question but once a dividend is made it is always going to be based on how many shares somebody owns.

That wasn't my point. It's that the amount given to dividends is not a percentage of profit, but a fixed dollar amount regardless to profit or loss. Of course, dividends to employees (i.e. bonuses) are almost a percentage of profit or cash flow.

 

[OSUZorba]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cedar-fair-outlines-measures-taken-200500921.html
For all those that say Disney has to do this how come Cedar Fair, another major theme park company, can defer quarterly dividend payments.

Wow, I don't think they ever suspended them in the 2009 crash and they were on the brink of bankruptcy. They pay a crazy high dividend too.

I haven't followed their stock recently, so really don't know what kind of state they're in.

 

[JohnnyG]

Disney pays a semi-annual dividend; January and July. 2019 annualized payout was $1.76 with $.88
paid on 1/10/19 and $.88 on 7/25/19. This years January payment of $.88 was paid on 1/16/20.

I stand corrected. Apologies.

 

[DisneyPigFan]

Dividend cuts are often perceived as a show of underlying weaknesses. Slashing or eliminating it would likely result in further decline in the stock price and loss of confidence in the company. See what just happened to Ford.

Also -- a few people here have already said they own shares of Disney. So do I. I like dividends. I want them to continue. I'm an ordinary person and so are the others here. Normal, regular people own stocks -- both individually, and within mutual funds. Perhaps even most of us own a bit of Disney through our retirement accounts (they'd be part of the assets of many funds, like an S&P 500 fund).

For the company to thrive, it's pretty darn beneficial for the stock price to keep growing. Don't we all love Disney here?

They are also continuing to pay health benefits for those they've furloughed. And as others have pointed out, some are even getting paid more on unemployment than they did while working -- which is great during a crisis such as this! Hopefully things are back to normal as soon as they can, with cast members healthy and back at work, and dividends still rolling in

 

[Dutch Inn '76]

The New Braunfels park was the first Schlitterbahn, their parent company (New Braunfels General Store, Inc.) was owned by the Henry family, and they likely would still be in that position if it weren't for a tragic accident on a water ride "Verrückt " (insane in German) in their park in Kansas City in 2016, the tallest water slide in the world. The owner decided to open the ride in 2014 even though the test dummies were coming back in bad shape, at least those that didn't fly off, even when the ride was in early testing. To rectify the flying off, they put a cover over the ride hill, it didn't work. Tragically a 10 year old son of a state representative lost his life during a State Elected Official preview event. Most of the Schlitterbahn parks have been sold, except, I think, Padre Island park, which was owned by a different branch of the Henry family, and has been renamed Beach Park.

Jeff Henry, Schlitterbahn’s co-owner, and John Schooley, the ride’s lead designer, are facing second degree murder charges, as they knew of the safety issues with the ride. The Kansas City park is permanently closed. There were 11 accidents on the ride prior to fatality during its operating life of 2014 to 2016, including spinal cord injuries.

I saw a program on television a few years ago about that incident at the KC Schlitterbahn. Tragic, and ill-advised! I don't know what those guys were thinking...

The New Braunfels park is old school. There are no attractions there that push the boundaries like the ones at the KC park; but it is so incredible. It's hard to describe. I'm sorry that the family has had problems to force them to sell out, but judging by what I saw in that program, they asked for it.

 

[elleherself]

Just wanted to say I too have been impressed with how Universal has handled this. I was a Disney die hard until a few years ago, when I noticed the price was increasing beyond what was warranted and often for a lesser experience-- things that would have been included became paid events, MNSSHP stretching into August, etc. It started with adding a day at Universal on my Disney trips, and after Diagon Alley opened in 2014 things really switched. I still took a Disney trip or two after that with discount tickets, but I've had annual passes to Universal some time now. I have been so impressed with them the last few years, their annual passholder benefits are really top tier, and now with this situation they have gone above and beyond for their employees, and been communicative with guests during the closure. If you haven't been to Universal in a few years I highly recommend giving them a shot (once it is very safe to do so of course), they've really changed for the better in the years I've been going.

 

[The Jackal]

I don’t work for Disney and never have. Execs have taken pay cuts too by the way.

Yes they have, but when you give up 20% of 2 million and are scheduled to get millions in bonuses. I don't feel sorry for Disney execs, sorry I just can't. There should be no bonuses and no dividend payments till Disney is back up and running and has fully recovered from this pandemic.

 

[Lilsia]

I don't think that those higher up should be getting any kind of bonus or dividends when so many of their employees are out of work. That money can go into other things. But as far as your point that Universal is paying their employees 80%, it depends on how much they are making. If they are on the lower end, they would probably make more on unemployment with that extra boost the Feds are giving. On a side note, the greed from the higher up executives and shareholders is astounding. How many millions of dollars do you need while those on the bottom line, that make your company, can't afford to feed themselves. They seem to forget that without all of the "little" people at the bottom, they would not have a company.

 

[wallawallakids]

Not sure if you saw... and I’m not sure I am allowed to link it, but Abigail Disney publicly slammed Disney for this on Twitter and there is an article about it on CNN. I know she has been outspoken about how the company has been run before. I am not going to pretend I know anything about the business aspect of this, but I agree with the OP that it just looks bad. I know Chepek is taking a 50% pay cut, but he did make 47.5 million last year in total compensation. Not saying he shouldn’t be commended for taking the cut, I am just trying to show that the average person reading all of it together might have a hard time seeing it in a positive light. That being said, most people probably won’t care to read or notice all this unless they are a Disney fan already but I thought it was interesting it was on CNN today.

 

[CastAStone]

Politicians will squeeze it for all it is worth. As will Abigail Disney I'm sure when she goes on her next tirade.

Not sure if you saw... and I’m not sure I am allowed to link it, but Abigail Disney publicly slammed Disney for this on Twitter

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Hiitsme]

And Fox. Plus the're still selling their merch online. I want to believe that the shareholders and such would be willing to forgo payments this quarter in order to keep the company as a whole running for the long term. Whatever and whenever the new normal returns people will return to the parks and sporting events. When that happens Disney will need employees.

 

[J-BOY]

Not sure if you saw... and I’m not sure I am allowed to link it, but Abigail Disney publicly slammed Disney for this on Twitter and there is an article about it on CNN. I know she has been outspoken about how the company has been run before. I am not going to pretend I know anything about the business aspect of this, but I agree with the OP that it just looks bad. I know Chepek is taking a 50% pay cut, but he did make 47.5 million last year in total compensation. Not saying he shouldn’t be commended for taking the cut, I am just trying to show that the average person reading all of it together might have a hard time seeing it in a positive light. That being said, most people probably won’t care to read or notice all this unless they are a Disney fan already but I thought it was interesting it was on CNN today.

Abigail Disney will appear in the news nearly monthly, solely because she heavily criticizes Disney's operations and wage disparity. She will take any news related to the company and make a statement about it. The only reason it's ever news is because she has the Disney name. Disney receives a ton of criticism from a lot of people, but she's the only one outside of politicians that actually gets publicized. Funnily enough, she also has a net worth of $120 million herself, according to Wikipedia.

Not saying that she's in the wrong here, but it's not a surprise that she piped up about it. Disney has certainly taken a lot of PR flak regarding the furlough, however. I think it was an apt decision for both the company and the employees, personally - the company is able to save money so that they will be in a better position once the world reopens, and the employees will be able to receive unemployment and federal assistance that might end up being more than they were paid previously, all while keeping their health insurance. It seems like a win/win.

 

[boBQuincy]

Iger will not take a salary this year but that is only $3M out of his $45M total.

 

[OKW Lover]

Iger will not take a salary this year but that is only $3M out of his $45M total.

The $45M total was last year. Most of that was performance based incentives. Doubt they will meet any of their performance goals this year.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I don't think that those higher up should be getting any kind of bonus or dividends when so many of their employees are out of work. That money can go into other things. But as far as your point that Universal is paying their employees 80%, it depends on how much they are making. If they are on the lower end, they would probably make more on unemployment with that extra boost the Feds are giving. On a side note, the greed from the higher up executives and shareholders is astounding. How many millions of dollars do you need while those on the bottom line, that make your company, can't afford to feed themselves. They seem to forget that without all of the "little" people at the bottom, they would not have a company.

The thing with furloughing their CMs is that part of it is so they collect unemployment - which is paid into by an employee and /or employ. So being able to do this is part of what they were paying into the unemployment system - and with the stimulus extra some CMs are making more now than they were when working so might be better off than get 80% of their pay

Also, wasn't just the tippy top executives that took a pay cut, all VPs and up too at least a 20% pay cut - they are not millionaires or anything

I do think if they wind up paying out bonuses that is a really bad look (the Financial Times article just says what the "potential" is - though, Disney hasn't said they definitely won't pay it either) and doing share buybacks now would be a bad look - as would an extra dividend. I don't have an issue with a regular dividend as it helps prop up the stock and thus the long term health of the company as a whole

 

[jimim]

I don’t work for Disney and never have. Execs have taken pay cuts too by the way.

When executives take pay cuts it doesn’t affect thier lives. If ur making millions a year taking even a huge cut doesn’t matter with all the other liquid you should have unless u live like a pig and at that point I don’t feel sorry for you.