News The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors Extends Robert A. Iger’s Contract as CEO Through 2026

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This is incorrect. I don't understand why the presumption everyone has it that they've closed a 6 billion dollar annual deficit in essentially 4-5 quarters will suddenly halt. They will continue to improve margins.

Critically, I think they need to actually commit to future guidance so that everyone stops belabouring this. But they have continued to meet their original guidance, one that Iger committed to even before Capek changed the model.

D+ is an in house built service. Is it 10+ billion in the hole? You bet.

But the alternative is Hulu, which required 20+ billion in acquisition costs (with them also already pre-owning a third). D+ was actually a pretty cheap start up cost all things considered. The service is already worth way more than they've sunk into it. Which, technically, is the break even point on its existence.

Even if they continue to “close margins”…it will be nowhere near filling the void left by the demise of the golden age of cable.

Linear used to account for over 50% of their revenue and profits. Steam has zero chance at that.

There’s no “there” there.

Why has cable man Bob been so feckless? That’s the one thing he should be good at. It’s just not there.

They’ve already said they have to slash production costs…and they don’t have nearly enough content now.

It’s quicksand.

 

[BrianLo]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that wouldn't even be reflected in D+ since their revenue is derived from the acquisition of content from other Disney Divisions like Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar for example. The strike required a lot of content schedules to be shifted which resulted in changes to how and when the programing was going to be shown which directly affected expenses with D+.

Indirectly. It is anticipated to be reflected in Disney+ as the content pipeline slows down. But it still hasn't not fully manifested yet. From the movie lens there was still a robust 2023 pipeline, which was in part released on D+ in 2024, when it starts amortizing its piece of those series.

Basically, because this years movie slate is so lean, D+ will have less content spend starting kind of now through 2025. Similarly with series. The D+ content pipeline also seems to be slowing now from the strike gap as series are spread out.

Just pointing out that the profitability gap was not actually closed by content spend reductions *yet*. D+ content spend is still higher than it was when Iger announced that as a planned strategy. It takes a long time to realize the difference. The profitability gap was pretty much all closed by price hikes and ad-tiering (which is another hidden form of a price hike).

 

[Disstevefan1]

I'm trying to measure Disney's domestic park CapEx from 1981 to today, to see how much each CEO invested in those parks. I've downloaded all of the company's annual reports since 1981 (Dropbox link).

Here's what I've got so far. I'd appreciate it if folks could take a look and let me know where I'm off.

View attachment 796444

A couple of things:

• I'm missing the 1986 and 1990 annual reports. But the 1987 and 1991 reports show YoY numbers.
• It looks like Disney didn't break out international park CapEx until 2004?
• This time period includes the building of Disney-MGM, Animal Kingdom, and DCA version 1.0 and 2.0.
• I'm using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' CPI calculator for inflation, comparing January of each year.

Unless the imperial data confirms my opinion that Iger is the worst CEO in the history of TWDC, I will not accept the results and demand a recount

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

View attachment 796480

Not my work, but Ahsoka comes out ahead over its average. The uptick on Andor episode 12 is likely a bit over-representative of people catching up on old episodes in the final week of data.

We don't have Neilsen data quite yet on Acolyte. It's hard for me to say where Luminate slots in because we are comping two different sources, I really have not followed them historically. Not that I have a problem with Luminate, I just haven't paid attention to their data.

Disney's presser would have episode 1 only with 477 million minutes streamed, we won't have the complete picture from Nielsen until this next week, which will represent 1/2.

However, I very much will acknowledge if the series drops off a cliff as the Luminate data suggests. But really the point I wanted to make originally was that Ahsoka was not the lowest viewership, it was Andor. Especially in light of its longer episodes.

That series is 2 episodes from dead right now.

Don’t think they have enough sauce to turn it back upward.

Limited series just don’t work for Disney

 

[BrianLo]

Even if they continue to “close margins”…it will be nowhere near filling the void left by the demise of the golden age of cable.

I do agree and disagree. The whole pie of the streaming market Is smaller. But direct consumer allows Disney to consume a much larger portion of the pie than before. By cutting out the cable company. I think very similar margins can be realized for Disney to linear. But not for Comcast, they are the ones set to lose in the double whammy.

I say this because Netflix has hit levels already no linear individual company ever did. It's up to Disney to get there. We have proof streaming isn't a complete dead end now, one company has done so very successfully.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Unless the imperial data confirms my opinion that Iger is the worst CEO in the history of TWDC, I will not accept the results and demand a recount

I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet…but I’m sure it’s more fantastic work from our data scientist.

That being said…anything that doesn’t show Eisner gains pummeling tech Bob…is not gonna be accurate

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I do agree and disagree. The whole pie of the streaming market Is smaller. But direct consumer allows Disney to consume a much larger portion of the pie than before. By cutting out the cable company. I think very similar margins can be realized for Disney to linear. But not for Comcast, they are the ones set to lose in the double whammy.

I say this because Netflix has hit levels already no linear individual company ever did. It's up to Disney to get there. We have proof streaming isn't a complete dead end now, one company has done so very successfully.

The sub fees and ad revenue for espn from 1996-2010 far exceeds the most rosey predictions for stream.

It paid for bobs yacht. And ever since the ebb started they’ve dumped 90% of the costs.

The math is not there.

Here’s where we can disagree: the longterm profitability of streaming is tbd

But where we can’t is mono’s assertion that these Hollywood CEOs pumping it as a gold mine were never realistic. It isn’t the captive audience cable was and that was a huge chunk of the value to carriers and advertisers.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet…but I’m sure it’s more fantastic work from our data scientist.

That being said…anything that doesn’t show Eisner gains pummeling tech Bob…is not gonna be accurate

Well the good thing is, everyone in the forums can agree @lentesta is an excellent data scientist and the KING of theme park data

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Well the good thing is, everyone in the forums can agree @lentesta is an excellent data scientist and the KING of theme park data

Fools come on here and embarrass themselves at every turn disputing him.

Because Disney never has a hiccup to the faithful.

Get ready…it’s gonna happen again here too

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I have all Disney annual reports going back to 1971. Some of what these show:

From Fiscal Year 1985, Bob Eisner's first full year as CEO:

View attachment 796469

Going back further, but running to only 2016 and only looking at theme parks:

View attachment 796471

The tricky part in the second chart is taking into account DCL investments, which I removed from the second chart since these are unrelated to what's happening at WDW and DLR.

Anyone else notice the gigantic HOLE that caused all the problems?

 

[JoeCamel]

Anyone else notice the gigantic HOLE that caused all the problems?

Does it start with A ?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

These are great, as always.

My one slight criticism with your second chart. While you normalize the expenditure per theme park, that misconstrues what is going on under the hood. Because the majority of those spending fluxes were quite literally on "new/other" theme parks and cruise ships.

I know you are trying to paint a picture that they spend less on each individual park, but that isn't exactly what is going on there per-say. At least not in that extreme.

You read the chart wrong..

There are two things going on here:

1. They are spending vastly less on parks in the last 20 years as they did the 20 prior…
2. They are getting way less for the money they spent in the latter of the two time periods over the former

 

[Nubs70]

I'm trying to measure Disney's domestic park CapEx from 1981 to today, to see how much each CEO invested in those parks. I've downloaded all of the company's annual reports since 1981 (Dropbox link).

Here's what I've got so far. I'd appreciate it if folks could take a look and let me know where I'm off.

View attachment 796444

A couple of things:

• I'm missing the 1986 and 1990 annual reports. But the 1987 and 1991 reports show YoY numbers.
• It looks like Disney didn't break out international park CapEx until 2004?
• This time period includes the building of Disney-MGM, Animal Kingdom, and DCA version 1.0 and 2.0.
• I'm using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' CPI calculator for inflation, comparing January of each year.

If you can add a parks revenue column, you could extrapolate a ROCE (return on capital expended). This will give an estimation on how well/wisely the capital was spent. Possibly offset revenue by 1 year.

 

[mysto]

And the Chinese Government owns the rest, has significant control, and can takeover Disney's share at their complete discretion.

Bob is way more powerful than the Chinese Government. Everyone knows that! The last hostile takeover guy learned it the hard way.

 

[Dranth]

That was only announced this year and is a radical departure from the initial model of ESPN+.

ESPN+ was an interesting dip into streaming that started before Disney+ even came out. It was never going to be successful because it didn't include the live events people will pay to see. Being able to get the full channel lineup and every game that airs on their networks is a completely different thing and will be much more successful.

Park Pass, Genie, Price Increases, not restoring pre pandemic level service, shall I go on? Oh yeah and how could I forget, the treating of AP holders like scum.

We agree on most of this but this isn't what we were talking about. My original response to you was this:

Squeezing the guests is a problem, the rest is an unfortunate side effect of whiny people these days not able to handle anything but their own point of view without dissolving into hysterics.

Everything you mentioned falls under squeezing the guest to me. I was talking about the outside issues which have calmed down significantly under Iger.

Having a foreseeable future of breaking even or eeking out a meager profit after dumping tens of billions of dollars into D+ was not in the cards. It will be many, many, many years before they could possibly recoup their losses.

We obviously aren't going to agree on this one but let me just say this, if you think streaming can not be successful then I believe you are wrong. If your belief is Disney management will make too many mistakes so not be able to make streaming successful, I don't agree but at least see how that could happen.

 

[Dranth]

The leagues will go DTC…unless they can extort desperate carriers into sweet heart deals. Which many…like the nba and sec…already have. It’s no risk for them.

And the fox/wb/espn is pretty obvious…three struggling things trying to throw their noodles on the wall and see if they’ll stick?
They won’t

Personally, I believe the NFL is likely the only league that can pull off a DTC model.

As for the Fox/WB/ESPN thing, if they do what they are claiming they are going to do it could very well work. If not it will backfire and fall flat on it's face.

The reason they haven’t gone “full in” is they are desperately clinging to what’s left of their sub fees and ads from broadcast. They’re not in a position to take more losses.

They are still going to get the sub fees as they aren't pulling ESPN from cable. What they will do is replace the sub fees from people who only subscribed to cable long enough to watch their team for a season with direct subscription money.

Are you serious?
1. He never left. We can’t have a genuine discussion with that disingenuous premise.
2. What HAS worked? Nothing in the parks…honeslty.

1. Yes, I know you think he had full control over everything the entire time. We have covered that ground. I disagree and in the past have pointed out multiple instances where we KNOW for a fact that Chapek made decisions Iger did not want to go through.

2. I agree with the with parks part and have mentioned my problems with Iger on that front many times, but that is not what was being discussed.

The difference between us when it comes to Iger and the parks is I am willing to give him time to get Imagineering going again to actually implement some updates and expansion. I have always said my limit for him is this D23. That is two years to rebuild and put together solid plans. If they don't deliver and start on some of that immediately then he has failed on that front. I do NOT give him a pass continuing to raise prices or for failing to improve the other areas of the parks like merch or maintenance.

5 years ago you couldn’t even suggest D+ wasn’t gonna be a smash without being brow beaten off this board.

I am sure someone exists who was like that and sure, many thought it would be successful long term, but that is not the same as being a "panacea of profits" as was implied by Monothingie.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Personally, I believe the NFL is likely the only league that can pull off a DTC model.

As for the Fox/WB/ESPN thing, if they do what they are claiming they are going to do it could very well work. If not it will backfire and fall flat on it's face.


They are still going to get the sub fees as they aren't pulling ESPN from cable. What they will do is replace the sub fees from people who only subscribed to cable long enough to watch their team for a season with direct subscription money.


1. Yes, I know you think he had full control over everything the entire time. We have covered that ground. I disagree and in the past have pointed out multiple instances where we KNOW for a fact that Chapek made decisions Iger did not want to go through.

2. I agree with the with parks part and have mentioned my problems with Iger on that front many times, but that is not what was being discussed.

The difference between us when it comes to Iger and the parks is I am willing to give him time to get Imagineering going again to actually implement some updates and expansion. I have always said my limit for him is this D23. That is two years to rebuild and put together solid plans. If they don't deliver and start on some of that immediately then he has failed on that front. I do NOT give him a pass continuing to raise prices or for failing to improve the other areas of the parks like merch or maintenance.


I am sure someone exists who was like that and sure, many thought it would be successful long term, but that is not the same as being a "panacea of profits" as was implied by Monothingie.

I can’t really help you if you’ve convinced yourself “bob needs time”

He’s been squatting for 20 years and nothing much has changed on the day to day.

His epitaph will be he was incredibly lucky…right place at the right time…and should have left when he left or prior

 

[Dranth]

I can’t really help you if you’ve convinced yourself “bob needs time”

He’s been squatting for 20 years and nothing much has changed on the day to day.

His epitaph will be he was incredibly lucky…right place at the right time…and should have left when he left or prior

See, this is where we differ. You let your feelings about Iger color everything he does.

Reality is that he has actually done some good things as CEO just like he has done some bad. It also includes the fact that he had finally admitted the parks needed attention and was spending and building before he left. He is back and hasn't changed his mind. The time needed is to replenish the staff and design these things as Imagineering was GUTTED under Chapek with people leaving in droves.

You saw that 2022 D23, it was a disaster and needed to be scrapped and redone. That takes a while and frankly it is entirely unrealistic to expect them to hire up and start building left and right with no plans and no staff.

Again, where he doesn't get a pass is on the rest of the issues I see with the parks.

 

[Nubs70]

As CEO, he is fiduciarily obligated to the shareholders (fractional owners) of $DIS. Based on the valuation of $DIS, how has he performed?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

As CEO, he is fiduciarily obligated to the shareholders (fractional owners) of $DIS. Based on the valuation of $DIS, how has he performed?

Here’s the past 10 years….