Orlando Becoming East Coast Headquarters for Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products

[Fordlover]

Oh stop it. They are in no danger of anything except future expectations. "not in good shape"? They are over 3billion NET profit per quarter. They have over 10 BILLION in cash. Their fixed assets are considered to be over 200 BILLION. Their equity to debt ratio is normal.

Financially they are just fine. The topics of where they are going for growth have nothing to do with undermining their financial shape.


They do - it's how they remain healthy - by ADAPTING instead of running it into the ground and then going 'uhh, what happened? who turned off the lights?'

I don’t disagree with you, however the stock isn’t looking super healthy, and it can only keep on like this for so long before us shareholders get agitated.

 

[monothingie]

Oh stop it. They are in no danger of anything except future expectations. "not in good shape"? They are over 3billion NET profit per quarter. They have over 10 BILLION in cash. Their fixed assets are considered to be over 200 BILLION. Their equity to debt ratio is normal.

Financially they are just fine. The topics of where they are going for growth have nothing to do with undermining their financial shape.


They do - it's how they remain healthy - by ADAPTING instead of running it into the ground and then going 'uhh, what happened? who turned off the lights?'

Lol how can you even type that with a straight face?

 

[flynnibus]

So the most important thing is to be next to the airport?

You may want to re-read the post again... I didn't praise it for being near an airport.

Not the biggest concentration of Theme parks and theme hotels in the world?
I'm guessing you never been to Lake Nona? Its literally 15 minutes from 7th busiest airport in the United States. Orlando has More theme park creative companies and employees then any other city on the planet. (Including Sea World and Universal Creative) Not counting UCF, the Disney College Program headquarters (Intern labor!), video game studios, large defense industries and NASA. Plus it just makes sense for Imagineering to be way more immersed in their largest resort, the Flagship and moneymaker.

Imagineering doesn't run the resort - they design and build things for them... including for 4 other worldwide resorts and countless other endevours. You can't be close to them all. WDW already has its own local resources too.

 

[Disone]

Thats my point. I consider this part of the problem. WDW with all the resorts and DVC make ALL the money. You can fit everything at Disneyland into the parking lot at MK at WDW... But Disneyland gets all the love. I agree 100% that WDW is an afterthought with Imagineering, it's obvious and that's not good.

That's an old saying that honestly is no longer accurate. The magic kingdom parking lot is approximately 125 acres in size. The Disneyland resort comes in the approximately 500 acres in size. So no Disneyland the resort cannot fit inside of the Magic kingdom's parking lot. Disneyland the park can, but honestly so can the Magic Kingdom park.

Still Yes, Walt Disney World, is much much larger than Disneyland there's no denying that.

 

[flynnibus]

I don’t disagree with you, however the stock isn’t looking super healthy, and it can only keep on like this for so long before us shareholders get agitated.

Current trading performance is not about health. The fundamentals of the business are fine. The stock is where it's at based on outlook and uncertainty in key segments like DTC. Just like ESPN and other linear networks have been a cloud of uncertainty over the company for over a decade. These are pressures about future performance - not concerns about financial heath.

If the health of the company is such a concern, why are all the 12m targets for the price $107-140+?

 

[flynnibus]

Lol how can you even type that with a straight face?

Tell me you don't understand without telling me...

 

[Disone]

Healthy companies don't cut billions in expense and layoff thousands of employees.

Disagree. Healthy companies make cuts all the time. Heck Disney does it every single time they build a new attraction Even when they're rolling in it.

Maybe healthy companies shouldn't cut billions and expenses and layoff employees, but just because they shouldn't doesn't mean they don't. They absolutely do. Corporate greed at its finest.

 

[MrPromey]

I spoke with several WDI staff who specifically cited DeSantis' policies as a reason they would not be moving. I know for a fact that specific issue was known in management.

Was it more important than having to get a 7% mortgage on a new house when they were paying 2.6% on their current home? No. And it was lower in priority than "My family is all in California" too.

But it was absolutely a major roadblock for a large number of staff.

But that pre-dated the whole RCID debacle, no?

I mean, these were already known issues when the company was still saying the move was happening, weren't they?

I'm in the camp that thinks the optics were right to pull the plug on something they wanted to anyway but were kind of backed into a corner about.

I think they found a way to make the sweetest lemonade they could, here.

If that's the case, I also don't blame them. Sometimes the opportunity you need falls into your lap in the most unexpected ways.

 

[Calmdownnow]

Except for the fact that only UC Berkeley and UCLA outrank UF (it is #5) in the US News Rankings. And GT is #15. Those two schools are absolutely in the same caliber as the UC System (and I say this as a higher Ed administrator in a major SEC school that isn’t UF).

We aren’t talking about USF or Auburn here. Florida and GT are AAU institutions as well.

They wouldn’t be hurting for talent. UVA, UF, UNC Chapel Hill, UT-Austin, William and Mary, GT, and UGA all in the top-16 and all in the southern US.

There is "talent", and then there are people who have graduated. If you have already recruited proven talent, why would you want to cut ties when they don't want to relocate to what they may perceive as a regressive, backward-looking locality. And why would you think it beneficial to hire local replacement graduates who are comfortable working in a State that bans books?

 

[Fordlover]

Current trading performance is not about health. The fundamentals of the business are fine. The stock is where it's at based on outlook and uncertainty in key segments like DTC. Just like ESPN and other linear networks have been a cloud of uncertainty over the company for over a decade. These are pressures about future performance - not concerns about financial heath.

If the health of the company is such a concern, why are all the 12m targets for the price $107-140+?

probably because the stock is down 8% over the last 5 years. Eventually it has to go back up right? And hopefully a real, no fooling, non pathetic dividend payout by 2024? I won’t hold my breath though.

 

[Lilofan]

Blue chip companies like Disney can recruit from wherever they want and relocate people.

"Want to move to a warm weather low-tax state and have Disney on your resume?"

One thing some who move to FL can be in for rude awakening is the rising price of home insurance and if you can find a company that will write you a policy and if you can even make all the repairs after failing the 4 point inspection to get a policy.

 

[flynnibus]

But that pre-dated the whole RCID debacle, no?

I mean, these were already known issues when the company was still saying the move was happening, weren't they?

Difference between believing they can weather such headwinds... vs the year plus later realizing maybe it's too much. Plus, you have a new CEO now working to re-org major parts of the business. Even when asked about it early on, Iger was non-commital.

I'm in the camp that thinks the optics were right to pull the plug on something they wanted, to anyway but were kind of backed into a corner about.

I think they found a way to make the sweetest lemonade they could, here.

The FL GOP certainly gave Disney more reason to kill it. Would they have soldiered on through all the discontent otherwise? Probably in some limited form... but it could also just be the sum of a thousand cuts too.

 

[flynnibus]

probably because the stock is down 8% over the last 5 years. Eventually it has to go back up right? And hopefully a real, no fooling, non pathetic dividend payout by 2024? I won’t hold my breath though.

Well hey, some posters here feel dividends are scams for the bankers anyway.. so I should probably stop trying to correct misconceptions about fundamentals anyway

 

[MrPromey]

Difference between believing they can weather such headwinds... vs the year plus later realizing maybe it's too much. Plus, you have a new CEO now working to re-org major parts of the business. Even when asked about it early on, Iger was non-commital.



The FL GOP certainly gave Disney more reason to kill it. Would they have soldiered on through all the discontent otherwise? Probably in some limited form... but it could also just be the sum of a thousand cuts too.

Cards on the table - as a resident of FL, I want to believe they were already looking for a way to reverses what was already an unpopular decision and that they are shrewdly implying it's our government's fault.

With no insider knowledge, it seems at least possible.

I'd like that to be the case. (and I hope it's effective all the way around if it is)

I'd rather not think that the guy who will be gone from FL within a decade, one way or another, didn't actually just permanently kill a segment of job growth in our state.

Easier to sleep with the belief deep down that we were never really going to get it, anyway.

With that in mind, can you just humor me, a little?

 

[MrPromey]

Well hey, some posters here feel dividends are scams for the bankers anyway.. so I should probably stop trying to correct misconceptions about fundamentals anyway

I wouldn't call Disney's dividends a scam but it's not like I was living large on the checks I was getting back in the day so I'm not sure what kind of payout Fordlover has in mind.

 

[Lilofan]

Come on at least try a little bit.

Disney is not in good shape financially.

Healthy companies don't cut billions in expense and layoff thousands of employees.

Stock Price hasn't been that great either....

I've worked in healthy companies as you described it. Every quarter we were always directed to look for creative ways to run more efficient operations which included restructuring. I wasn't part of the group but execs I reported to got rewarded handsomely for performance including this matter.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I still think Iger should/could have stopped this from ever getting this far (back and forth with DeSantis) as soon as he took office.

Regardless I don’t think this project was ever going to happen anyways. Both sides are just using it against the other

 

[Calmdownnow]

Important to recognize that taking Ron out of the Florida picture when/if he announces a Presidential run, does not alter the fact that a lot of the policies that are "unappealing" to Disney and other investors are grounded within the Florida legislative bodies. His departure for a national platform won't alter the perception of the regressive laws being put on the books by others in the State.

 

[flynnibus]

Cards on the table - as a resident of FL, I want to believe they were already looking for a way to reverses what was already an unpopular decision and that they are shrewdly implying it's our government's fault.

With no insider knowledge, it seems at least possible.

I think it's more about tipping the scales. Not so much 'its this or that' but the sum of it all. The move was never popular from the start for employees. We all saw it as a way for the company to move to a cheaper landscape and thin the herd. This was always a long game for Disney... take the lumps now, bet on the future. Disney management would have no disillusion at all about the popularity of this move. But they were willing to do it for the net outcome.

But since we have it from those posting from within the company it wasn't just unpopular, but basically untenable for most of the high profile imagineers. That makes it hard on the company. Then you get all the culture wars heating up... and lets face reality.. Disney's demographics skew to the at-risk category there. More headwinds. Then you get the CEO change and restructuring.. more headwinds. Now you get the Gov battle direct with the company?

I think at some point, you just stop trying to push the rock up the hill and they stop trying to make Finch happen.

It was always unpopular. We don't know how much internally new leadership and alignment impacted it. But it certainly seems like a mercy killing at this point. Nuke it and move on.

 

[Figgy1]

Important to recognize that taking Ron out of the Florida picture when/if he announces a Presidential run, does not alter the fact that a lot of the policies that are "unappealing" to Disney and other investors are grounded within the Florida legislative bodies. His departure for a national platform won't alter the perception of the regressive laws being put on the books by others in the State.

He's not resigning unless he wins