A Spirited Valentine ...

[ford91exploder]

We can agree to disagree then. If the attention to detail on Star Wars Land "fails" like Pandora and FLE I will be quite happy

FLE hard to fail there as it's the worlds largest stroller parking lot.

 

[Kman101]

NFL for one,

Cant rate pandora as have not been there but if the picture thats been up is any example of the level of detail im not impressed as SyFy channel has better SFX in their cheap thrillers

Oh come on ...

 

[njDizFan]

I don't think it's quite that easy anymore. The SEC could try to close the loophole and change the safe harbor requirements or simply change requirements to make open market buybacks illegal, but that could be too restrictive. Stock buybacks are not always a bad thing or a bad economic decision for a company. It's the volume and frequency or buybacks that's the problem. I still think they need to tackle the stock compensation issue in conjunction with limiting buybacks. Right now both management and Wall Street love stock buy backs because the short term gains benefit stock compensation and short term stock prices. If management didn't benefit so greatly they would have a lot more incentive to find additional, more creative ways to use excess cash.

I think stock repurchases are so incredibly bad for the economy it is the single greatest threat to our future. Just imagine the 100s of billions of dollars spent by the top 1000 companies in the country that could be spent on innovation and project development not to mention the salaries for their employees. Take for example Amazon which has not bought a single share since 2012, they have been doing pretty well for themselves lately.... Investing in your company by growing the business organically not through manipulation. You want to talk about creating jobs, this is the way it is done, new revenue streams creating higher salaries and more employment. More jobs equals more tax revenue.

 

[Cesar R M]

The hardcore fans will be very critical if there are any details in the land that don't follow canon

But, isnt it going to be a missions that noone has seen in a planet that has not been published in a place that noone has?
the only comparisons would be the general Empire/First Order soldiers, the Falcon and perhaps the main character CMs.

 

[Cesar R M]

With FLE and Pandora at WDW we have some of the most detailed and elaborate queues with extreme attention to detail.

Thats something that seems a trend now. OK rides with insanely detailed queues. Reminds me of The Little Mermaid at MK.
Its like they expect you now to sit down a 1+ hour in queue on average, for a 5 minute ride.

On this specific point, I do see where old Exploder is coming from. FLE and Pandora both have a ton of rock work, as have several recent Disney theme park projects. They are clearly experts at rock work and natural settings. And while I find them both to be beautiful, it would be nice to see an expansion that's a different style. Like the highly-detailed Potter lands at UNI. (No I don't want to starts a UNI v. WDW debate, just an example of a different style)

Obviously it seems most new attractions will be IP based, so there hands are a little tied when it comes to the setting of an attraction or land.

Hopefully Star Wars land will deviate in the rockword dependency and show us very impressive city escapes.

Good stuff.

The problem can really only be solved through regulation. Even if a CEO like Iger tried to buck this trend (which he wouldn't since he's directly profiting from it) he'd likely be replaced pretty quickly anyway. Wall Street is just as addicted to the stock buy backs as executives. IMHO I don't think we have the leaders in Congress (from either party) with enough stones to actually enact legislation to change things and prevent this behavior. I'm usually not a fan of unnecessary, restrictive or overly complicated regulations enacted by the government (like Dodd Frank) but in this case it's the only way I see this practice slowing down.

And considering the lobbyist culture (and the love for businessmen instead of politicians) will probably make things worse now.

 

[Cesar R M]

It was the most important brands in the US for 14 and under.

Wasnt there some surprising numbers there? I remember that TMNT was last on the list, and there was also Star Wars too.
But what else?
Paw Patrol?

 

[GoofGoof]

But, isnt it going to be a missions that noone has seen in a planet that has not been published in a place that noone has?
the only comparisons would be the general Empire/First Order soldiers, the Falcon and perhaps the main character CMs.

Yes. That's the genius of the WDI plan. If they built Tatooine and the Mos Eisley Cantina fanboys would riot if it didn't look identical. Now they can build a "Cantina" on a random planet that has some details that resemble Mos Eisley without being held to the layout and look of that specific movie set. The Falcon may actually be a problem with Fanboys, they know every detail of that ship. It almost certainly won't match 100% but the vast majority of people who aren't hard core fans will still know it and love it.

 

[GoofGoof]

Thats something that seems a trend now. OK rides with insanely detailed queues. Reminds me of The Little Mermaid at MK.
Its like they expect you now to sit down a 1+ hour in queue on average, for a 5 minute ride.

Agreed. I'm not saying it's a good trend either. @ford91exploder said he felt the recent additions to WDW lacked details. My point is that they do have tons of details and elaborate rockwork and queues. The lands look fantastic but what they really lack is blockbuster rides (up until FoP).

 

[GoofGoof]

I think stock repurchases are so incredibly bad for the economy it is the single greatest threat to our future. Just imagine the 100s of billions of dollars spent by the top 1000 companies in the country that could be spent on innovation and project development not to mention the salaries for their employees. Take for example Amazon which has not bought a single share since 2012, they have been doing pretty well for themselves lately.... Investing in your company by growing the business organically not through manipulation. You want to talk about creating jobs, this is the way it is done, new revenue streams creating higher salaries and more employment. More jobs equals more tax revenue.

I could not agree more. It's a major problem and it's going to have a long term impact that many people don't even realize. I don't think corporate execs and their Wall Street backers will work to resolve the problem on their own. We need government regulation. Unfortunately, I have no faith in our government (either party) to tackle the issue. Nobody wants to do anything to hurt the stock market. It's political suicide right now. We have an administration currently that ran on a platform of reducing regulations for businesses not increasing them. The only positive is the current administration seems to have no problem reversing course and changing their mind so maybe they would consider addressing the issue and adding more regulations. It should in theory lead to job growth even if it results in a short term stock market drop.

And considering the lobbyist culture (and the love for businessmen instead of politicians) will probably make things worse now.

^^^Yep

 

[GoofGoof]

FLE hard to fail there as it's the worlds largest stroller parking lot.

If strollers = fail then you don't need to see Pandora or SW Land, they are both failures too.

 

[JoeCamel]

I think stock repurchases are so incredibly bad for the economy it is the single greatest threat to our future. Just imagine the 100s of billions of dollars spent by the top 1000 companies in the country that could be spent on innovation and project development not to mention the salaries for their employees. Take for example Amazon which has not bought a single share since 2012, they have been doing pretty well for themselves lately.... Investing in your company by growing the business organically not through manipulation. You want to talk about creating jobs, this is the way it is done, new revenue streams creating higher salaries and more employment. More jobs equals more tax revenue.

Amazon has not made a lot of money either. They plow it back into expansion and maybe in the future they will be in a position to return investment to the people that gave them the money to grow in the first place. Maybe you need a different example
https://www.recode.net/2017/4/27/15451726/amazon-q1-2017-earnings-profits-net-income-cash-flow-chart

 

[ford91exploder]

I could not agree more. It's a major problem and it's going to have a long term impact that many people don't even realize. I don't think corporate execs and their Wall Street backers will work to resolve the problem on their own. We need government regulation. Unfortunately, I have no faith in our government (either party) to tackle the issue. Nobody wants to do anything to hurt the stock market. It's political suicide right now. We have an administration currently that ran on a platform of reducing regulations for businesses not increasing them. The only positive is the current administration seems to have no problem reversing course and changing their mind so maybe they would consider addressing the issue and adding more regulations. It should in theory lead to job growth even if it results in a short term stock market drop.

^^^Yep

Part of the regulation problem is we are regulating the wrong things in the wrong way which hurts small businesses.

Example osha running around with colorimeters making sure osha yellow is REALLY osha yellow and handing out 5 figure fines to small businesses Yeah that makes sense yes safety stuff should be bright yellow not red or orange in that case its the letter of the law. Where in reality this should be a 'spirit' of the law enforcement

Large scale stock manipulation meh 500 fine 'spirit of the law' fine

Problem today is regulatory enforcement priorities are backwards.

 

[njDizFan]

Amazon has not made a lot of money either. They plow it back into expansion and maybe in the future they will be in a position to return investment to the people that gave them the money to grow in the first place. Maybe you need a different example
https://www.recode.net/2017/4/27/15451726/amazon-q1-2017-earnings-profits-net-income-cash-flow-chart

I'm not sure if you are agreeing with my by posting that article or not? Their share price is up 56000% over 20 years, they have done great for their investors and now instead of buying back their own stock they have created one of the most dynamic companies in the world. Remember when they sold cheap books now they have 90% of the countries date on their cloud service. They have also reinvented the entire consumer landscape.
from the article "But to know Jeff Bezos’s priorities is to know that he cares more about cash flow than net income. That’s because Amazon isn’t looking to sit on the money that flows through its coffers — it’s looking to spend it on investments like new warehouses, more Alexa-powered gadgets and original video programming that will create the next moats separating it from the competition over the next decade."

 

[GoofGoof]

I'm not sure if you are agreeing with my by posting that article or not? Their share price is up 56000% over 20 years, they have done great for their investors and now instead of buying back their own stock they have created one of the most dynamic companies in the world. Remember when they sold cheap books now they have 90% of the countries date on their cloud service. They have also reinvented the entire consumer landscape.
from the article "But to know Jeff Bezos’s priorities is to know that he cares more about cash flow than net income. That’s because Amazon isn’t looking to sit on the money that flows through its coffers — it’s looking to spend it on investments like new warehouses, more Alexa-powered gadgets and original video programming that will create the next moats separating it from the competition over the next decade."

Yeah, it's a great textbook example of your point. Instead of taking the small amount of cash generated from selling cheap books at a low margin and buying shares back they actually reinvested the cash in other businesses and the company grew dramatically.

The one thing to consider is that Wall Street seems to have a lot more appetite for that kind of growth strategy from a tech company than from other industries. I work in the energy industry for a company that started down the road of being innovative and investing some of its free cash flows in growth initiatives instead of just buying shares back and the Street came down hard on us. The stock price dropped, the CEO was fired and now an activist investor bought a 10% stake and wants to chop up the business and sell off the parts. Even if management has better plans for the money it's not always easy to execute those plans, especially if they are going to take more than a year to show healthy profits. In the case of Disney if Iger attempted to cut the stock buybacks and invest more heavily in theme parks he could be pushed out. Not saying he shouldn't try, but he needs to have a compelling argument that what he's investing in will reap rewards in the not too distant future.

 

[GoofGoof]

Part of the regulation problem is we are regulating the wrong things in the wrong way which hurts small businesses.

Example osha running around with colorimeters making sure osha yellow is REALLY osha yellow and handing out 5 figure fines to small businesses Yeah that makes sense yes safety stuff should be bright yellow not red or orange in that case its the letter of the law. Where in reality this should be a 'spirit' of the law enforcement

Large scale stock manipulation meh 500 fine 'spirit of the law' fine

Problem today is regulatory enforcement priorities are backwards.

Safety regulations and financial regulations are really two separate things. I don't doubt that there are unnecessary or overly complicated OSHA requirements. The SEC could probably attempt to put some pressure on stock buybacks without Congress actually passing a law. The only problem is the SEC is currently run by a former Wall Street insider whose wife works for Goldman. I don't see the SEC having the appetite to go after share price manipulation through share buybacks at this time.

 

[njDizFan]

Yeah, it's a great textbook example of your point. Instead of taking the small amount of cash generated from selling cheap books at a low margin and buying shares back they actually reinvested the cash in other businesses and the company grew dramatically.

The one thing to consider is that Wall Street seems to have a lot more appetite for that kind of growth strategy from a tech company than from other industries. I work in the energy industry for a company that started down the road of being innovative and investing some of its free cash flows in growth initiatives instead of just buying shares back and the Street came down hard on us. The stock price dropped, the CEO was fired and now an activist investor bought a 10% stake and wants to chop up the business and sell off the parts. Even if management has better plans for the money it's not always easy to execute those plans, especially if they are going to take more than a year to show healthy profits. In the case of Disney if Iger attempted to cut the stock buybacks and invest more heavily in theme parks he could be pushed out. Not saying he shouldn't try, but he needs to have a compelling argument that what he's investing in will reap rewards in the not too distant future.

That's a shame, it's a hard time trying to be an innovator(especially non-tech) when investors want instant gratification in the form of quarter to quarter results.

Companies still have 5 year plans but like a sports team the fans do not want to be in last place or even .500 waiting for their prospects to come to fruition. Creating long range stability usually gets the manager and coach fired.

 

[GoofGoof]

That's a shame, it's a hard time trying to be an innovator(especially non-tech) when investors want instant gratification in the form of quarter to quarter results.

Companies still have 5 year plans but like a sports team the fans do not want to be in last place or even .500 waiting for their prospects to come to fruition. Creating long range stability usually gets the manager and coach fired.

It's a toxic environment right now for a lot of corporations. Sustained low interest rates makes it really easy for people to borrow money cheap and deploy it to strong arm companies for a quick short term gain. Whole Foods fell victim to a similar type of activist investor. Managment did not want to sell the company. They probably got lucky that Amazon bought them and it sounds like Amazon plans to continue to run the business pretty independently so they may not have as many jobs lost.

 

[ford91exploder]

Safety regulations and financial regulations are really two separate things. I don't doubt that there are unnecessary or overly complicated OSHA requirements. The SEC could probably attempt to put some pressure on stock buybacks without Congress actually passing a law. The only problem is the SEC is currently run by a former Wall Street insider whose wife works for Goldman. I don't see the SEC having the appetite to go after share price manipulation through share buybacks at this time.

True,

What I was trying to illustrate was the CULTURE of regulation, Small businesses are being choked with micromanagement in the form of oppressive regulation, Whereas Wall St is freed from even common sense regulation, Too bigh to fail etc.

I also agree that there is no appetite for increased regulation in the large financial sector yet Dodd Frank is choking off small business funding but risky investments are STILL being made in the TBTF (Too Big to Fail) sector.

 

[ford91exploder]

It's a toxic environment right now for a lot of corporations. Sustained low interest rates makes it really easy for people to borrow money cheap and deploy it to strong arm companies for a quick short term gain. Whole Foods fell victim to a similar type of activist investor. Managment did not want to sell the company. They probably got lucky that Amazon bought them and it sounds like Amazon plans to continue to run the business pretty independently so they may not have as many jobs lost.

The ONE thing that will really benefit Whole Foods is I imagine that Amazon will apply its skills in distribution and warehouse operations to Whole Foods distribution network.

 

[GoofGoof]

True,

What I was trying to illustrate was the CULTURE of regulation, Small businesses are being choked with micromanagement in the form of oppressive regulation, Whereas Wall St is freed from even common sense regulation, Too bigh to fail etc.

I also agree that there is no appetite for increased regulation in the large financial sector yet Dodd Frank is choking off small business funding but risky investments are STILL being made in the TBTF (Too Big to Fail) sector.

Dodd Frank was/is an abomination. It's an example of everything that is wrong with Congress (basically a bunch of lawyers) attempting to pretend they understand finance and economics. It's because of things like Dodd Frank that I'm reluctant to advocate for further government regulation. However, there have to be some regulations and things like the abuse of stock buybacks is a prime target in my opinion.

The ONE thing that will really benefit Whole Foods is I imagine that Amazon will apply its skills in distribution and warehouse operations to Whole Foods distribution network.

No doubt there's some good synergies to be gained and it's probably not a bad move for Whole Foods overall. The fact that they were pretty much forced to put themselves up for sale was a bad thing. In this case it looks like it will have a happy ending but it could have gone a lot worse.