Brer Oswald
Well-Known Member
He’s currently petting his cat on his rolling chair, amused at his brilliant decision to pull out right before the shutdowns hit.
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On layoffs, very bad attendance, and Iger's legacy being one of disgrace
- Thread starter pheneix
- Start date
mikejs78
Well-Known Member
Of course they do. Layoffs cut costs and increase profitability. It's short term thinking usually, but it's how they tend to think.
Simple is good and your reply was appreciated.
BaconPancakes
Well-Known Member
Someone’s probably frantically editing/rewriting a certain posting that was supposed to go live after the earnings call right about now. 
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
This is what they say every earnings call. They did before the pandemic, and they will continue to do so.
Earning Calls exist to tell investors what they want to hear and drum up media attention. It's mostly PR/marketing fluff.
What was trending on twitter after the call? Mulan's Disney+ release.
They don't want you thinking about hard numbers. Or the long term impact of this recession. Just what's new at DIS.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
As usual, the truth will be somewhere between the OP’s doom and gloom and a pixie duster’s alternate reality.
For the parks, as I’ve said before, they announced there were reopening, bookings were fine, then COVID cases spiked and travel restrictions appeared, causing many cancellations. They briefly considered reclosing until COVID numbers started improving. Now, with the state and local government’s blessing, they are no longer entertaining reclosure, so we are in a phase of mitigating losses. They will continue pushing off resorts reopening until they are needed, will perhaps (probably) cut hours in September, and use this to show improvement in the next quarter. Pushing off current projects a quarter or two, trimming excessive details in Epcot projects, and employing a number of CMs appropriate to guest levels is prudent. Bookings are healthy in 2021.
In the end, the BRAND is strong. People want to go. And they will. The company will survive.
Universal has a slightly more perilous situation but will also be fine. They opened earlier and suffered more as COVID spiked. Now, more locals are going to WDW because they’ve “been there, done that” with masks at Universal. WDW is more novel. And if there was ever any doubt, Central Florida vacationers come, first and foremost, to Walt Disney World. There’s more nostalgia. So for those who want to get a vacation away from COVID, most are choosing WDW.
Sometimes, you have to say, “does this pass the smell test?” Someone makes it out like the parks are closing up shop the same week as Disney recommences construction on multiple major projects that are underway. If you are ready to close up shop, do you send workers back to Ratatouille, Guardians, Play, other Epcot projects, Tron, Grand pathway, Toy Story restaurant, etc.? Do you still open your largest moderate resort? Do you work to bring new entertainment to DHS? Do you unveil new product lines? C’mon.
With that said, I do think they need to wake up and start offering discounts to help promote more bookings. No brainer. A $5000 vacation that has been discounted is better for the company than a $6000 vacation that people don’t book.
For the parks, as I’ve said before, they announced there were reopening, bookings were fine, then COVID cases spiked and travel restrictions appeared, causing many cancellations. They briefly considered reclosing until COVID numbers started improving. Now, with the state and local government’s blessing, they are no longer entertaining reclosure, so we are in a phase of mitigating losses. They will continue pushing off resorts reopening until they are needed, will perhaps (probably) cut hours in September, and use this to show improvement in the next quarter. Pushing off current projects a quarter or two, trimming excessive details in Epcot projects, and employing a number of CMs appropriate to guest levels is prudent. Bookings are healthy in 2021.
In the end, the BRAND is strong. People want to go. And they will. The company will survive.
Universal has a slightly more perilous situation but will also be fine. They opened earlier and suffered more as COVID spiked. Now, more locals are going to WDW because they’ve “been there, done that” with masks at Universal. WDW is more novel. And if there was ever any doubt, Central Florida vacationers come, first and foremost, to Walt Disney World. There’s more nostalgia. So for those who want to get a vacation away from COVID, most are choosing WDW.
Sometimes, you have to say, “does this pass the smell test?” Someone makes it out like the parks are closing up shop the same week as Disney recommences construction on multiple major projects that are underway. If you are ready to close up shop, do you send workers back to Ratatouille, Guardians, Play, other Epcot projects, Tron, Grand pathway, Toy Story restaurant, etc.? Do you still open your largest moderate resort? Do you work to bring new entertainment to DHS? Do you unveil new product lines? C’mon.
With that said, I do think they need to wake up and start offering discounts to help promote more bookings. No brainer. A $5000 vacation that has been discounted is better for the company than a $6000 vacation that people don’t book.
Worth nothing that these two positive items I highlighted in a post last night were indeed the headlines of the day that saved their report.
But please, keep telling me how I got it all wrong.
BaconPancakes
Well-Known Member
To be fair my last post was only a joke. I still appreciate any insider information that can be shared. 
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Layoffs at Walt Disney Imagineering and Universal Creative are not necessarily something that would be reported because they could get rid of people who are not “employees” or not extend contracts. Recall the post-Shanghai Disneyland layoffs at Walt Disney Imagineering where the workforce was reduced more than those laid off because of these contractors and project hires.
BurnyMcBurnerface
Member
If you say so - same post:But please, keep telling me how I got it all wrong.
You just hedged across the board with a bunch of what ifs that didn't also come true.
TOTAL STOCK COLLAPSE
Reality: up 4.5% after hours, will probably close down from that tomorrow.
I thought Disney did very well managing the Q3. Here is what I heard and saw in the numbers and what it means:
ESPN didn't pay anyone yet. NBA and MLB have to play to get the pay. Disney kept the revenue and didn't pay it out. MLB and NBA are in the area of $3B I believe. This means ESPN will pay next quarter and maybe have ad revenue to help. A decent business strategy here but spreads the pain into the future.
Television studios were shut down and no one was paid. (I'm sure someone was but in general...) Disney charged more for ABC from the stations but didn't create any new content. Going forward they will be more judicious about the content they create. A sound strategy but again pushes cost into the future. Ad revenue was not off a dramatic amount.
The parks are wounded but look at the strength of the consumer products! That was surprising to me. Overall it is what it is and a partial opening of the parks begins to help turn the corner. Nothing wrong in this strategy. They are taking their lumps.
Disney will now explore Disney+ as a new movie release vehicle. Trolls World Tour must have been a real eye opener. Kudos here. You only need half the revenue if you don't need to share half the admission receipts with movie theaters.
Accounts receivable got squeezed for $2.5B. Good job Luca Brasi.
What was the $5B impairment in international channels operations? Something big was written off overseas. Something happened. Best to write it off now.
Overall Disney did a good job stopping the bleeding. They did add $16B in new debt but have $23B in cash. There is definitely room to breath. Am I seeing things correctly?
ESPN didn't pay anyone yet. NBA and MLB have to play to get the pay. Disney kept the revenue and didn't pay it out. MLB and NBA are in the area of $3B I believe. This means ESPN will pay next quarter and maybe have ad revenue to help. A decent business strategy here but spreads the pain into the future.
Television studios were shut down and no one was paid. (I'm sure someone was but in general...) Disney charged more for ABC from the stations but didn't create any new content. Going forward they will be more judicious about the content they create. A sound strategy but again pushes cost into the future. Ad revenue was not off a dramatic amount.
The parks are wounded but look at the strength of the consumer products! That was surprising to me. Overall it is what it is and a partial opening of the parks begins to help turn the corner. Nothing wrong in this strategy. They are taking their lumps.
Disney will now explore Disney+ as a new movie release vehicle. Trolls World Tour must have been a real eye opener. Kudos here. You only need half the revenue if you don't need to share half the admission receipts with movie theaters.
Accounts receivable got squeezed for $2.5B. Good job Luca Brasi.
What was the $5B impairment in international channels operations? Something big was written off overseas. Something happened. Best to write it off now.
Overall Disney did a good job stopping the bleeding. They did add $16B in new debt but have $23B in cash. There is definitely room to breath. Am I seeing things correctly?
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George
Liker of Things
They haven’t checked the safe in a few days. I did leave them a few Hamiltons. Figured it would help them feel better.
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
I'm not making this post in an accusatory way. Particularly because as Animaniac93-98 said, earnings reports are glorified PR stunts intended to paint as ideal of a picture as legally possible to pitch to existing and potential investors. So I didn't expect your bolder comments to be represented in the report (i'd have been surprised if they had been in fact). That said, i do want to know if anything in the report caused you to change your mind about any of your previous comments. Particularly the following (and if you have further clarifying details or can say if/when we would have heard about these things officially)-Worth nothing that these two positive items I highlighted in a post last night were indeed the headlines of the day that saved their report.
But please, keep telling me how I got it all wrong.
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Right, but, by your mentioning them as common knowledge, that's an example of layoffs that were not secret, but well known.
We're being told such no-longer-hirings have just happened and are not only not announced, but kept secret... by NDAs.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
mikejs78
Well-Known Member
This strikes me as exactly right. It's not all pixie dust and princesses right now, but it's not all doom and gloom either. Disney did a decent job navigating a disaster of epic proportions. There are more challenges ahead and it will be a long time before they come out of this, but they positioned themselves decently, have plenty of cash, etc...
100% stand by every word. The timing of it all around earnings brings it the highest level of scrutiny, and that’s fine.
Corporate earnings reports are getting about as credible as TEA attendance estimates. But they are the only agreed upon starting points to even talk about a firms financials. So you have today where Disney pulled every accounting trick in the book and ppl act like it’s a giant reset button. Lol, it’s not.
Brer Oswald
Well-Known Member
Layoffs haven’t happened yet (according to him), Iger was a no show, and Splash (or any theme park additions/changes) weren’t discussed. The only reason for his opinion to change would be based on what his sources tell him. Not on the earnings report.
donaldtoo
Well-Known Member
Worth nothing that these two positive items I highlighted in a post last night were indeed the headlines of the day that saved their report.
But please, keep telling me how I got it all wrong.
After all these years, how do you not know that’s SOP for TWDC...?!?!?!
That caveat should have been included in your OP on July 28th.