Is disney parks and resorts for sale?

[bstiles]

The thing is you're not going to hear anything. Did we hear anything when they aquired Pixar or Marvel no. No one even knew about it. So to think the company would come out and say oh by the way to all you disney fans out there parks and resorts are too much for us so we will be selling them but don't worry because it will still be disney.

 

[Kamikaze]

The thing is you're not going to hear anything. Did we hear anything when they aquired Pixar or Marvel no. No one even knew about it. So to think the company would come out and say oh by the way to all you disney fans out there parks and resorts are too much for us so we will be selling them but don't worry because it will still be disney.

Yes and Yes, to both of those. Marvel only started breaking the day before, but Pixar took a very long time and many attempts (and a switch from Eisner to Iger) to get the deal done.

This is also the opposite way. This is the major company - Disney - selling off something to someone else, not Disney gobbling up a smaller company.

 

[Lee]

For instance - if Lee and spirit of 74 can get sources to talk about it, then someone like the Wall Street Journal should be able to as well. Why would their sources be giving them misinformation? I don't know, but that happens.

To be clear...
I don't have any sources telling me that the division is being sold. I have personally only been told that :
a) The idea is not new, and has been discussed at high levels for a couple of years.
b) Rumors about it are all over the water coolers in Burbank and Glendale, and to a lesser degree Orlando. It can't be that big a secret if it's getting that much exposure inside Disney walls.
c) The board meeting in Orlando was not a regular meeting. Heard that from more than one person. I don't know what was discussed and what wasn't. I only know that it was a rather quickly put together, top-secret (they wish) meeting.

That's it. My sources are nowhere near the level of Spirit's. He can reach as high as the executive levels of the Seven Dwarf Building, I can't.

 

[Krack]

To be clear...
I don't have any sources telling me that the division is being sold. I have personally only been told that :
a) The idea is not new, and has been discussed at high levels for a couple of years.
b) Rumors about it are all over the water coolers in Burbank and Glendale, and to a lesser degree Orlando. It can't be that big a secret if it's getting that much exposure inside Disney walls.
c) The board meeting in Orlando was not a regular meeting. Heard that from more than one person. I don't know what was discussed and what wasn't. I only know that it was a rather quickly put together, top-secret (they wish) meeting.

That's it. My sources are nowhere near the level of Spirit's. He can reach as high as the executive levels of the Seven Dwarf Building, I can't.

Just a thought, could the emergency meeting have been called because of concerns about the safety (and structural integrity) of the WDW monorail system? We know from the other thread that there was a mini-rebellion by the transportation workers and, legally speaking, that is incredibly significant for liability purposes. First, it may have honestly been the first time the Board became aware that there were reasonable safety concerns that the track itself. And second, if there were a section of that track to fall off and hit a pedestrian or (in a worse case scenario) part of the track were to collapse under the weight of a train, management can no longer claim they were unaware of the severity of the safety issues involved.

It would seem to me that major decisions regarding the WDW monorail system (as a whole) could be made over TDO's head (especially if someone in upper management was saying "Listen, we need to consider shutting the whole system down for weeks in order to adequately make repairs" or "We need a major influx of cash immediately to replace large sections of this track"). The EMH shutdown may have been a compromise result.

 

[Lee]

Nah. The monorail situation is not significant enough to require an emergengy board meeting. I can't imagine Jobs flying across the country for something like that.:lol:

Anything that needs to be done to improve the monorail service can be handled within the P&R division.

 

[devoy1701]

Just a thought, could the emergency meeting have been called because of concerns about the safety (and structural integrity) of the WDW monorail system? We know from the other thread that there was a mini-rebellion by the transportation workers and, legally speaking, that is incredibly significant for liability purposes. First, it may have honestly been the first time the Board became aware that there were reasonable safety concerns that the track itself. And second, if there were a section of that track to fall off and hit a pedestrian or (in a worse case scenario) part of the track were to collapse under the weight of a train, management can no longer claim they were unaware of the severity of the safety issues involved.

It would seem to me that major decisions regarding the WDW monorail system (as a whole) could be made over TDO's head (especially if someone in upper management was saying "Listen, we need to consider shutting the whole system down for weeks in order to adequately make repairs" or "We need a major influx of cash immediately to replace large sections of this track"). The EMH shutdown may have been a compromise result.

Nah. The monorail situation is not significant enough to require an emergengy board meeting. I can't imagine Jobs flying across the country for something like that.:lol:

Anything that needs to be done to improve the monorail service can be handled within the P&R division.

Correct. The BoD of a company does not come together to discuss operations related topics of that nature. The monorail would not be of concern to them.

The purpose of a BoD is usually restricted to very broad topics of company policy, issues directly related to the CEO himself, major financial issues of the company (not usually just one division), and to address shareholder related issues. Operations issues that for whatever reason need to go over the head of TDO would be handled by the Executive committee of TWDC, not the BoD. So it's farily safe to say that whatever the meeting was about concerned a topic that would impact the entirety of TWDC, not just WDW...though I guess selling off a stake in WDW would qualify here.

 

[AndyLL]

Nah. The monorail situation is not significant enough to require an emergengy board meeting. I can't imagine Jobs flying across the country for something like that.:lol:

And it doesn't make sense that Jobs ( and the others ) would fly across country for a embergency board meeting about selling the parks. That could be done anywhere.

It would seem that if it required the board to be at WDW then the topic was probably specific to WDW.

Since Al-Waleed bin Talal was also there it is more likely it had something to do with the four seasons.

Or if folks want to get excited maybe they are looking at a DCA type of investment into WDW since the Disneyland expansion is wrapping up within a year and Potterland's popularity seemed to surprise them.


As far as the Parks being sold... I expect it has been talked about in the past and will be talked about in the future.

A spin off of the Parks or the entire Disney brand makes more sense to me as opposed to just selling the Parks to a 3rd party.

Andy

 

[AndyLL]

Also in the last month Hulu decided to sell and Iger just announced it last week.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303544604576429600635737270.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

 

[JustInTime]

So now the word on the street is that the restructure of the parks is to make the R&R division more "marketable". "Disney Parks" aka "One World" would be easier to sell with the company showcasing how easy it is to run them as a whole.

 

[njDizFan]

So now the word on the street is that the restructure of the parks is to make the R&R division more "marketable". "Disney Parks" aka "One World" would be easier to sell with the company showcasing how easy it is to run them as a whole.

Wow that actually makes sense. It's the first time I heard any real tie-ins to the restructuring and the possible sell off. If Disney can show that just one person can run the division ,who is just a glorified paper pusher (with health issues BTW) can actually make a profit quarter after quarter, then the P&R division might look more appealing.

 

[JustInTime]

Wow that actually makes sense. It's the first time I heard any real tie-ins to the restructuring and the possible sell off. If Disney can show that just one person can run the division ,who is just a glorified paper pusher (with health issues BTW) can actually make a profit quarter after quarter, then the P&R division might look more appealing.

Exactly. I can't believe I didn't link the two together before. But now it is all starting to make sense. And we are about to see a lot more "Disney Parks" branding.

 

[Kamikaze]

Also in the last month Hulu decided to sell and Iger just announced it last week.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303544604576429600635737270.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Disney doesn't own Hulu. This is just Iger commenting saying that he thinks it will be sold.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Disney doesn't own Hulu. This is just Iger commenting saying that he thinks it will be sold.

Hulu is a joint venture of which The Walt Disney Company is an owner.

 

[njDizFan]

Hulu was a joint venture between Disney, News Corp and NBC/Universal

 

[AndyLL]

Disney doesn't own Hulu. This is just Iger commenting saying that he thinks it will be sold.

Someone didn't read the article.

Not only does Disney have an ownership stake in Hulu but Iger announced that Hulu's board agreed to sell it.

I wonder if Disney has any ideas to buy all of it... that would give them more distribution methods for their content.

 

[flavious27]

It's not completely outside the bounds of possibility that Disney would look at selling off parks and resorts, but it seems unlikely to me and even more unlikely that just one Internet source apparently with some attachment to WDI knows about it and apparently no-one else does.

More than anything, it seems to me Disney's brand is too tied up with the parks to ever seriously consider selling them off. They've also put a lot of effort in recent years into building up the parks brand, cultivating the fan market and expanding its various businesses such as the cruise line, DVC and parks (with the mega-DCA redo), and a lot of those expensive projects are still the the process of being completed which meant anyone who bought the division would also be buying into some pretty pricey construction projects. It certainly doesn't look like Disney has been preparing the division as an attractive package that they could sell and virtually walk away from.

BTW, have the board ever met at a Disney resort before? Doesn't seem that odd to me. They have to meet somewhere from time to time, don't they?

If the only source is tied to WDI and a single fan site, any rumors could be a way of disney co flushing out leaks.

I don't see a reason that would prevent the disney board from not meeting together and or at a disney property.

Nah. The monorail situation is not significant enough to require an emergengy board meeting. I can't imagine Jobs flying across the country for something like that.:lol:

Anything that needs to be done to improve the monorail service can be handled within the P&R division.

Hmm, emergency meeting with jobs involved, could it involve his health degrading and the board looking for a buyer?