What a frigid and utterly bizarre day in the Disney UNIverse. Truly.
I know I said recently that I wasn't going to talk about China for a while, for personal reasons (nothing Disney related), but when Bob Iger uses his wife's position as a board member at the Huffington Post to get a story (an Op-Ed at that) pulled from the site because of ... well, I'll talk about my suspicions in a bit, I just have to pipe in.
Censorship makes me sick. You know how I get when Marcia takes away my fanboi jokes!
First, although I wouldn't claim the HuffPo is a great news outlet by any means, this is a prime example of how powerful people influence the media and what you get to read about and see. And it happens every day, all across this country.
Second, it was confirmed to me that Willow Bay, indeed, had the story pulled (thru an intermediary, naturally, as one must have a fall person). That is sickening beyond belief because not only does she have a Weatherman for a husband, but she is head of the prestigious USC Annenberg School of Journalism (where two nights ago she conducted a seminar with none other than her husband as the guest).
One must wonder what exactly was so damaging to Bob/Disney's dealings in China that he was willing to put his wife's reputation and position on the line and take on a member of the Redstone family to do it. People outside of the media may not understand, but the Redstone family controls/owns the majority of the Viacom and CBS corps. and will do so for the next two generations unless they decide to sell. Bob Iger is simply Disney's highest manager, a CEO who owns nothing but a chunk of stock to make sure his family will live lavishly for the next two generations. That's a big difference.
So, what exactly was it that Bob doesn't want you or, much more likely, Wall Street analysts to read so badly?
I have a few theories (not in any particular order):
1.) There's been a lot of talk about Viacom being acquired by other companies (again, this can not happen without Redstone family approval, no matter the wishes of stockholders, Wall Street or anyone else). What if Viacom is pursuing one of Disney's BRANDS? Recall all the talk when Disney was just looking into shopping a portion of P&R around. What if Viacom wants ESPN or Marvel?;
2.) The story deftly mentions the huge issue of graft and how the Communist Party is dealing with it (hint: lots of firing squads). It is on the news in China nightly and they have even gone after their own top companies and celebrities (the NYT had a story on this last week). Now, where did that $800 million dollars go because it sure didn't go into added attractions for SDL. Just to be clear: Iger is lying when he says so.;
3.) Disney isn't known much on the mainland and Bob doesn't want people to know back home that no one there is clamoring for Mickey Mouse or Buzz Lightyear or even The Sheep from Mary Poppins (yes, Disney announced a little bit about SDL's Garden of the 12 Friends last Friday and completely buried it in the USA).;
4.) Is it just a matter of Bob's pride being hurt because Disney, as the author pointed out, may have been in Hong Kong longer than the company has had theme parks, yet Viacom properties like Spongebob and Dora are far more widely seen on children and their clothing, toys etc. That's in an area that was a British colony when plans for HKDL started. An area where Disney has been very much in the public eye. The biggest film at the box office in the mainland last year? Not Frozen. Not a Disney release. Not a Chinese film. But Paramount's Transformers (again, owned by Viacom). It was also No. 1 in HK, by the way. I believe it is the top grossing film of all-time in the mainland, but I'm too lazy to check right now;
5.)Is it just CEO jealousy and pettiness? Viacom was the first western media company to gain a foothold in the mainland when China began opening itself up. The Chinese love characters like Sumner Redstone. They don't like tightly wound American business suits like Bob Iger. (I know a bit more about this subject because I have worked and lived over there).
I don't know why the column was pulled. My source doesn't either. Something really bothered Bob (which puts a huge smile on my face because any discomfort brought to that man sorta makes me happy!) I've read it over a few times and really am not sure what exactly it was because, frankly, there is so much more to Disney's dealings over there that could be said and wasn't.
But if I were Bob, I sure as hell wouldn't get into a urinating contest with a member of that family, let alone while using his wife's position to do so. Stuff like that is just asking for trouble. If I were one of the kewl kids here, I might put a popcorn chomping smiley up. But I'm not. But I think something big started today. Very big.
