Sentinel reports that MyMagic+ executive vice president Nick Franklin will be leaving in July

[Animaniac93-98]

Let the conspiracy theories begin.

 

[wannab@dis]

You do realize corporations can review, shift and alter budgets for projects all the time without telling everyone, right? You think everything Disney has ever put out stayed on budget from conception to completion?

It's entierly possible that Disney realized this project cost more than expected, determined a new budget, and adjusted funding accordingly. Not of that would be considered "illegal" or worth pursing by media outlets. It would only be of interest to them if the stock price or employee base dropped significantly.

Of course they can change the budgets. I just gave an example of them updating investors about the Shanghai budget changing. But, they can't just hide billions in budget changes and expect the investor community to not find out or ask questions. A recent (last month or so) article in the NYT included the discussions of the $1B budget with an executive laughing and saying the over budget concerns of bloggers was not accurate. If that was not accurate, the financials will show it at some point in the future and Disney would have some hard questions to answer about misleading investors.

I've seen posts about $1B over budget that was probably not true either, but this $4B is just laughable.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

but this $4B is just laughable.

Where did you get $3 or $4 billion from? Someone said 4 times, not $4 billion. I believe hyperbole was also used in that post to some extent to go with the sarcasm.

 

[wannab@dis]

There are ways around the "over budget" classification. If they needed more time and lots more money, they simply could have approved another piece(s) to the project, and then technically it's not "over budget" in corporate speak, and they don't have to say anything, except list it as a new project piece in progress.

Very true. But where are those new projects listed? Where are these billions being hidden in the PnL's? These are not operating budgets of millions... we're talking billion dollars plus. They just can't hide those kind of numbers from the institutional investors.

 

[CDavid]

My guess is that he actually is leaving voluntarily. Disney is still denying that NGE is over budget, and he isn't leaving until July. If he were being fired, it seems like they would have put a little effort into making him the fall guy.

I'll bet he sees the writing on the wall, knows he would have been made the fall guy for this in a few months (or whenever), and isn't giving them the chance.

My point was more that, had the face of NGE been fired, now would have been a pretty good time to say it's due to his "poor stewardship of the program, which has gone overbudget with him at the helm."

At some point, they have to concede that it has cost more than anticipated. It seems like the announcement of Franklin's exit would have been the ideal time for that...

Placing too much emphasis on anyone being the fall guy for the MM+ project, or otherwise being forced out of the company, could be tantamount to an admission that NGE is the abomination we already know it to be. And that wouldn't be good for the stock price, and potentially even makes Iger look like a fool for avoiding questions on the programs implementation.

 

[wannab@dis]

Where did you get $3 or $4 billion from? Someone said 4 times, not $4 billion.

The original budget was $1B. I'm not up to date on the new and improved math, but 4 times $1B = $4B on most calculators.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

The original budget was $1B.

And where did you get that figure from? A reliable news source, or *gasp* an insider?!

 

[CDavid]

The original budget was $1B. I'm not up to date on the new and improved math, but 4 times $1B = $4B on most calculators.

The highest numbers I've seen reported in these boards, from reliable posters, are between $2 and $2.5 billion.

 

[wannab@dis]

And where did you get that figure from? A reliable news source, or *gasp* an insider?!

Just a couple of posts up, you'll see that I referenced a NYT article about the $1B budget.

 

[devoy1701]

what about the guy who says "raising prices will mean more $$"? Can we get him to voluntarily step down as well?

 

[wannab@dis]

The highest numbers I've seen reported in these boards, from reliable posters, are between $2 and $2.5 billion.

My original post in this thread was quoting someone making up the 4x over budget.

For the 2 to 2.5 Billion, where are the reliable NEWS sources? My bet is they don't exists at all.

 

[Victor Kelly]

From the article:

"The company says that guests who plan more of their trip schedules in advance ultimately spend more time and money at Disney World, rather than visiting rival attractions. The project, which includes enhanced data collection, is also designed to make purchases easier and to give Disney more personal information about its guests, ultimately leading to more spending on food, souvenirs and other items."

This is basically the data mining many have been warning about. This whole upgrade was a huge waste of money. It is geared to not make things easier but to grab more cash from visitors. At least they finally admitted it.

 

[freediverdude]

Project listings are usually buried deep within the filings, and they could always break it up into a number of different projects, so that no one single project looks like a billion dollars, like have magicband implementation be one project, fastpass+ external contractor software implementation be another project, purchase and installation of the kiosks be another project, etc.

 

[PhotoDave219]

My original post in this thread was quoting someone making up the 4x over budget.

For the 2 to 2.5 Billion, where are the reliable NEWS sources? My bet is they don't exists at all.

Trying to get people in a budget office to actually talk, even off the record? Horribly difficult.

 

[wannab@dis]

From the article:

"The company says that guests who plan more of their trip schedules in advance ultimately spend more time and money at Disney World, rather than visiting rival attractions. The project, which includes enhanced data collection, is also designed to make purchases easier and to give Disney more personal information about its guests, ultimately leading to more spending on food, souvenirs and other items."

This is basically the data mining many have been warning about. This whole upgrade was a huge waste of money. It is geared to not make things easier but to grab more cash from visitors. At least they finally admitted it.

You do realize that retail businesses have been doing this for years. Do you have a Kroger card? Best Buy rewards card? Both are "data mining" the information and using that information to drive increased sales.

 

[Arty Cordova]

Where did you get $3 or $4 billion from? Someone said 4 times, not $4 billion. I believe hyperbole was also used in that post to some extent to go with the sarcasm.

The original budget was $1 billion.

 

[marni1971]

My original post in this thread was quoting someone making up the 4x over budget.

For the 2 to 2.5 Billion, where are the reliable NEWS sources? My bet is they don't exists at all.

They don't.

 

[wannab@dis]

And where did you get that figure from? A reliable news source, or *gasp* an insider?!

I went and dug it up for you. And, no, I said reliable news source, not an "insider."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/b...celet-is-key-to-magical-kingdom.html?src=recg

Still, investors have been keenly waiting for financial evidence that the $1 billion investment is paying off. Disney’s parks business has lately been a good one — operating profit climbed 17 percent last year, to $2.33 billion — but the company’s spending on the project has dented margins at its flagship property here. Underscoring its importance to the company, analysts have peppered Disney executives with questions about the system in recent conference calls.

“We have a positive view of the project, and technology this complex always takes longer than you expect to roll out,” said Michael Nathanson, an analyst at the research firm Moffett Nathanson. “But we’re still trying to figure out how to measure the return on what is a rather large investment. That’s where the frustration is.”

Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, has encouraged patience. “This is still a very new product, so we are not even close to being able to quantify it,” he told analysts in February.

The dearth of information has allowed rumors to flourish. Coursing through the many blogs that track Disney’s parks are reports that the new system is overbudget. Some armchair analysts have speculated that Jack Dorsey, a Twitter co-founder and chief executive of Square, the mobile payments company, recently joined the Disney board to offer MagicBand help.

Seated in his office at Disney headquarters in Burbank, Calif., a smiling Mr. Staggs dismissed such chatter. He said that the initiative had stayed within budget. He also said that a faster-than-expected consumer shift to mobile devices had actually saved Disney money; most guests are using their smartphones to gain access to the system while inside the parks, reducing the need for Disney to install costly kiosks.

 

[wannab@dis]

They don't.

Well, maybe they do and I haven't seen them yet. I would love for someone to point them out if they do. Otherwise, maybe we can get over the whole MM+ over budget nonsense.

 

[Mike S]

Remember when Disney World grabbed for cash by building an amazing new ride? I remember back around when Everest opened I couldn't wait to go and ride it, and I imagine other people did too. Disney even had a billboard for it around where I lived, which I always thought was weird cause I'm 3 hours away from the resort. That first time riding it was the one and only time I saw the working Yeti in person. I still continue to go but I really miss that feeling of going because a big new ride just opened.