A Spirited Perfect Ten

[WDW1974]

The Huffington Post isn't a Tumble blog. This article wasn't posted through an automated system and an editors eyes read it before it was posted. Snyder took a shot across the bow about a month ago. This was a cannonball to the starboard side. The Igers returned fire with a clunky one sentence rebuttal. Which was not as media savvy and was also redacted. Why do all Disney CEOs think that with a big enough hammer, they can solve any problem.

My guess is Arianna is not happy to have her reputation sullied by two petty media families. But to be fair, the Sumners threw the first punch.

There IS a whole big batch of "why" here.

Agreed. Agreed. And agreed.

And off to dinner I go!

 

[Nubs70]

But what if that $800 million isn't going for even budget issues? What if it is going to individuals in the government to keep the project moving forward? Would that potentially be a catastrophic blow to Iger even keeping his job? Do you think IF Disney has to pay people off that maybe they should have thought the whole deal through better? Maybe had better intel? How do you think graft would play on Main Street (and not the one in the MK, although that one too)? You did read where I said people are being executed for this over there, right? (and you can read all about it ...)

Money going to government officials in return for favors is a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a federal criminal violation. If true, this is more than legacy. This would place Iger in the Corporate Hall of Fame alongside of Ley, Corzine, and Ebbers.

 

[asianway]

Money going to government officials in return for favors is a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a federal criminal violation. If true, this is more than legacy. This would place Iger in the Corporate Hall of Fame alongside of Ley, Corzine, and Ebbers.

We can only hope

 

[GoofGoof]

But what if that $800 million isn't going for even budget issues? What if it is going to individuals in the government to keep the project moving forward? Would that potentially be a catastrophic blow to Iger even keeping his job? Do you think IF Disney has to pay people off that maybe they should have thought the whole deal through better? Maybe had better intel? How do you think graft would play on Main Street (and not the one in the MK, although that one too)? You did read where I said people are being executed for this over there, right? (and you can read all about it ...)

I didn't get that from the article that was pulled. I'll have to go back and re-read it. Anything is possible and anyone doing business in China is going to deal with some level of corruption. $800M seems a bit excessive for bribing local officials. I'm not saying it's not a distinct possibility that some of the excess funds went to bribes, but I just think regular budget overruns seem a lot more likely of a scenario.

 

[tirian]

As long as Marvel and Star Wars print their own cash, nobody on Wall Street will ask Iger the questions that would have been demanded from any other company. He has successfully protected himself with purchased IPs while coasting off the Company's reputation built under Walt himself, Miller and Walker, and Eisner. (That would be the classics, WDW's establishment as a premier destination, and the Disney Renaissance, respectively.)

I don't get why no one in the legit media, let alone the Wall Street guys have asked and pressed on this. This isn't a price increase at theme park story by Soup & Salad Sandra (anyone tweet her about this whole story? Obviously, she is way too small time to smell blood in the water and pursue but ...) that was written a week ago and just waiting to drop in Disney's official statement.

$800 million dollars 'missing in Shanghai' on top of $2 billion plus blown on NGE here in the swamps ... and no one has to answer to/for this? Sorry, guys, but repeat after me : Disney IS a business ... a publicly traded one at that. They don't get the blessing of being able to blow off every serious question they don't want to answer.

 

[Lee]

I didn't get that from the article that was pulled. I'll have to go back and re-read it. Anything is possible and anyone doing business in China is going to deal with some level of corruption. $800M seems a bit excessive for bribing local officials. I'm not saying it's not a distinct possibility that some of the excess funds went to bribes, but I just think regular budget overruns seem a lot more likely of a scenario.

But..but...they promised it was for added attractions!
Did they...lie?!?!

 

[GoofGoof]

But..but...they promised it was for added attractions!
Did they...lie?!?!

Staggs also said NextGen wasn't over budget in an interview so it's not unprecedented.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Money going to government officials in return for favors is a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a federal criminal violation. If true, this is more than legacy. This would place Iger in the Corporate Hall of Fame alongside of Ley, Corzine, and Ebbers.

Sadly, there are ways for someone to insulate themselves from FCPA prosecution.

The Chinese government has come down hard on mostly low-level officials for taking bribes but the practice is widespread. We're talking about tens-of-thousands of Chinese officials being arrested for accepting bribes.

Perhaps the salient point is that senior-level government officials were once low-level government officials, and that low-level government officials become senior-level government officials by being particularly good at what they do.

Hypocrisy is not only practiced in the West.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Just a quick post to remind everyone who may have forgotten...

I don't post maybes. I don't post possiblys. I don't guess. I don't assume.

If I post it...I know it to be accurate.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Me, not so much. I'm more of a drive-by here is what I heard kind of guy.
I do usually have to hear it from 2 independent sources before I throw it out there. But I am not an insider. I may or may not know a few insiders.

 

[Phil12]

You will never have "facts" directly stating that Iger killed the story. Neither Iger or anyone at Disney is going to publicly make a statement about a story they wanted killed. They want it to go away, not make it a bigger story. From the Huffington Post side what could they gain by confirming publicly what happened? The only hope you have of further public discussion is if the writer comes out in a blog or another publication and tells his side. But, if that happens would you consider it established fact?

I don't expect direct facts. I fully understand the need for a reporter to protect their sources. However, who are you going to trust? When a respected reporter tells me that he has a protected source that has told him certain facts, I can trust that to the degree I have faith in the reporter. Yes, it really does come down to faith.

However, when an anonymous poster cites anonymous sources that have undisclosed access to highly private and personal information between a husband and wife with no explanation of how that information was obtained, that gives me pause. I must think more carefully and look for more plausible explanations.

I'm in no rush to solve this case. I have the luxury of time and I'm prepared to wait until this story fleshes out.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

After hearing about the filming of Sharknado 3 at Universal Orlando, I was hoping they'd convert Twister to a Sharknado attraction...ok, not really, but catering to the lowest common denominator, I wonder how popular it would be

Left Sharknado VS Dinocane. Starring Jimmy Fallon. With special guest Tina Fey. And Tonights musical guest, Katy Perry.

 

[WDWFigment]

Chinese visitors to WDW are about as common as American visitors to HKDL are (and I am double counting Mr. and Mrs. @WDWFigment !) It's slightly higher in Anaheim because California has a large Chinese-American population. Even DLP started putting out park maps in Russian last year, the first new language added since opening, because of the growing wealth there and those people traveling.

I'd venture to say that Disney is far more popular and known in Russia than it is in China. I wonder if Wall Street actually knows that and thinks about what that means for Disney.

I believe Disney can be very successful there. But it is going to be a very long haul and take a long time and there will be frustrations and situations that they've never had to deal with. And they can't even handle a barely critical Op-Ed in the HuffPo (that bastion of fine journalism) that suggests that. Yep, ugly times be ahead.

I haven't been to Mainland China, so I can't really comment on that, but you see a lot of Westerners (probably not Americans) in Hong Kong. In Macau, the only other area of China (still just a SAR) I've visited, it was decidedly more Eastern, but I'm guessing still with more of a Western flavor than the mainland. Even HKDL feels decidedly more Westernized than TDR. I know this has nothing to do with park demographics, maps, and all that, but figured I'd at least offer my 2 cents before asking about this HuffPo article...

This is the first I've heard of it. What I'm gleaning from this thread is that there was something critical of TWDC in Shanghai (I'm "shocked" by the way) in the HuffPo, and the article was "inexplicably" pulled? Anyone happen to save a copy or have a link to any sites that reposted it?

 

[Phil12]

If Snyder's for real, then he had to know what he was doing by publishing on HuffPo. He could easily have placed that almost anywhere he wanted, but he deliberately chose to put it out on Iger's wife's site. That's the part that make me think that the inevitable streisanding was part of the plan to begin with.

If it goes up on Bloomberg or Forbes or Motley Fool, and stays there, no one is talking about it come Monday.

Yes, it looks like some sort of deliberate setup. But if we are to believe the rumors, then Mr. Snyder played Mr. Iger like a Stradivarius. Or was the article being struck just collateral damage? And the article in question has now been purged from the Google cache.

 

[Phil12]

I'm don't necessarily disagree with you, but I am wondering to what end?

I really don't know the answer. But when I think too hard, my head hurts.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Just a correction, but the HuffPo isn't 'Iger's wife's site' ... I believe she is a co-founder and retains a role as a senior editor. But again, no matter the case, I can't believe you'd suggest that it's perfectly OK for her to use her power to help her husband's corporation. That isn't how journalism is supposed to work. And she's the head of the Annenberg School of Journalism at USC. She has to be above reproach by definition, in that role. No debating that.

If ABC News decides to do an investigation that shows WDW transportation is unsafe, should we expect them to kill it because ABC is part of TWDC? Would you say 'yes!'? That's a rabbit hole you really don't want to go down. And even that is an apples to oranges comparison because the HuffPo is independent of TWDC.

Our she could stand in front of the world and honestly say "...that is how corporate journalism works in a Plutocracy. You play by the rules of who pulls the strings." The question is, "Do you want to make it in journalism? Or do you want to be a journalist?". Two very different things in today's world.

 

[Phil12]

You might want to choose your words a tad more carefully… at last count there are at least four or five journalists who participate in this particular thread on a regular basis. Or more.

Thanks for the advice Dave, I appreciate your concern. I have no desire to offend anyone.

 

[Cesar R M]

The only way MM+ will make up for Shanghai's shortcomings, Is because of the price increase going into effect tomorrow! They need to recoup that 800 million somehow! I still can't believe MK will cost $105 for a single day ticket! It really is asinine!

wait.. what????

 

[thehowiet]

This is the first I've heard of it. What I'm gleaning from this thread is that there was something critical of TWDC in Shanghai (I'm "shocked" by the way) in the HuffPo, and the article was "inexplicably" pulled? Anyone happen to save a copy or have a link to any sites that reposted it?

The Google cached link doesn't appear to be working anymore either, but @Expo_Seeker40 copied the text:

Fortunately, I have a copy of the article Gary Snyder wrote because I believe in copying and pasting things just in case. Here it is below:


"Sorry Mickey, they're just not that into you. Minnie, you either.

For that matter, you can take the whole stable -- the "Fab Five" of Walt Disney's animated creations -- and, despite a media machine that churns a very different story, China has largely been a land where the fabled wishes, dreams and magic of the Walt Disney Company and its brand have virtually no connection with the consumer. As valued as that consumer is in the economic theater of globalism, the iconic brand synonymous with America has little appeal and less traction among the newly seated audience in the Chinese mainland.

To its 'vanilla on toothpaste' helmsman, Robert A. "Bob" Iger, who has shown himself to be an able cobbler of assets but a less than visionary leader of the media colossus that is the Walt Disney Company, this troubling if known and growing headwind threatens to undermine the content-heavy but culturally aloof purveyor of demographically unshackled product. For in his zeal to expand its library of content, Bob Iger has drop-kicked the Disney moniker to enter new and expanding marketplaces only to position a product that runs well afar of the expectation of the Disney bounce.

In so doing, the once unrivaled status of the Disney brand has become a catch-all for entertainment and its associated byproducts that are increasingly a strange and sometimes conflicted ragbag of franchised acquisitions presented as some sort of media mélange for all ages and all palates. Or, as John Dreyer, the longtime and immediate past head of corporate communications for the Walt Disney Company, said upon the publication of the column Disney CEO Readies Magic Carpet for Exit, "Disney losing its Disney way."

With the company making its grandest play for a market that dwarfs all others, Disney has found itself adrift in a crisis of identity that breaches the foundation of the castle upon which an empire was built. For as turrets were raised, wings were added and a moat of meticulously positioned whimsy was filled in to expand the Disney footprint, something that looks decidedly more pedestrian than the fantastical inspiration for one of the world's most coveted brands has emerged.

Leverage has become the arch of entry into the Disney-verse, while the brand has been marginalized into a holding vehicle for assets that are worth more separately than that vested in the castle itself.

As Mr. Iger said at the 2013 Fortune Global Forum held in Chengdu:

I think the first thing you have to do is you have to obviously be aware of what your most significant brand attributes are. What makes your brand your brand? Why is it great? You have to focus on quality and on those attributes that, again, created the value in the first place. You can't look to cut corners. You can't look to make something with your brand on it that's any cheaper simply because it's going into a market that may not be able to afford it the way another market may have. You can't compromise in that regard. So it starts with what I'll call quality and a respect for an allegiance to the very brand attributes that created the value in the first place.

Curiously though, the world beyond the berm is told the 330 million or so Chinese within a three-hour trip to the site on the other side of Shanghai's Pudong International Airport cannot wait to queue up for a boat ride on "It's a small world" or whatever Disney is offering up for its reported $5.5 billion marker. As, no, there will apparently be no attraction of that name at Shanghai Disneyland.

Not in China. Not in a country where Mickey, Minne and the rest of the gang are barely known. In a country where Disney might as well be Smith or Jones or Johnson. Well, maybe not that last one as Johnson & Johnson is actually a reasonably well-known brand throughout China.

The Walt Disney Company has a history of stumbling if not outright tumbling in its efforts to export Disney's brand of Americana. For reference, look no further than Euro Disney -- now known as Disneyland Paris -- and Hong Kong Disneyland. Of the latter, it is worth note that Disney has been known to Hongkongers from the early days of the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. Yet, to this day, with a direct link by MTR line to points throughout Hong Kong, Disney is barely able to keep up with the brand devoid, geographically hemmed in and animal exhibit heavy Ocean Park in Aberdeen.

Over lunch earlier this month at Neptune's in the Grand Aquarium, Ocean Park Hong Kong CEO Tom Mehrmann, who began his career as a street sweeper at Knott's Berry Farm just up the road from Walt's original Disneyland, said, "Disney still has to explain to some of its guests exactly what a 'Disney Park' is. We don't have that problem."

To further illustrate this point, visit Disney's outpost on Lantau, a parcel of reclaimed land near Hong Kong International Airport, and you will notice a different Disney. Some call it 'Disney-lite'. Others refer to it as 'McKingdom'. Regardless, there is a definite feel of a diminished product -- of a diminished brand -- on stage for the public's consumption.

For, on a spit of land with an audience topping seven million attached by subway line having a familiarity and a kinship with the West, sits the real experiment of Disney's entry into the Chinese market. And there, on a recent day, at a performance of The Lion King in a theater…"

 

[WildcatDen]

There is a reason conservatives make lousy journalists.

Nice generalization. I have conservative friends who are journalists and they have more integrity than most liberals I have had the 'pleasure' of dealing with.

 

[Cesar R M]

Left Sharknado VS Dinocane. Starring Jimmy Fallon. With special guest Tina Fey. And Tonights musical guest, Katy Perry.

LEFT SHARK IS BEST SHARK!