TWDC Q2 Earnings & Conference Call

[ParentsOf4]

Yes. He bought 18% of the company and brought in Eisner. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney#1972.E2.80.931984:_Theatrical_malaise_and_new_leadership

Sid Bass pushed Eisner pretty hard to develop WDW. He saw its huge land holdings as a phenomenal investment opportunity.

And he was right.

Arguably, perhaps more than any person other than Roy & Walt Disney, fans of WDW should thank Sid Bass.

 

[Darth Sidious]

Sid Bass pushed Eisner pretty hard to develop WDW. He saw its huge land holdings as a phenomenal investment opportunity.

And he was right.

Arguably, perhaps more than any person other than Roy & Walt Disney, fans of WDW should thank Sid Bass.

I was going to post this but you beat me to it. Sid did in fact push hard to develop the WDW property.

 

[The Crafty Veteran]

Reading through this so far has made me come to some conclusions.

MM+ as it is now, and from what I have read about it outside of the forums in an unbiased light, will never make Disney money unless they liscense the technology as they perfect it, but that in itself would be futile as MM+ should be something constantly evolving as its needs for the consumer keeps growing. Its nothing but a money sink and always will be because it has to be.

Iger. People keep ripping the guy as being short sighted when if you look at his purchases, he has set the company up a quite well for the long haul. The Lucas purchase by itself cements that. Disney has been producing a massive flop from the film division each year and Wall St can care less. People keep bringing up how the old school leadership was better than Iger now but those people were in charge during simpler times. A simpler society with simpler values. There were no video games, Imax theatres, internets, etc, back in 1980, those things now can to some offer the same visual and mental stimulation us Disney fans get from the parks. Its much to easy to nitpick and point fingers and live in the past, but for what we have and what modern business now demands, Iger has been stellar.

End of rant.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Reading through this so far has made me come to some conclusions.

MM+ as it is now, and from what I have read about it outside of the forums in an unbiased light, will never make Disney money unless they liscense the technology as they perfect it, but that in itself would be futile as MM+ should be something constantly evolving as its needs for the consumer keeps growing. Its nothing but a money sink and always will be because it has to be.

Iger. People keep ripping the guy as being short sighted when if you look at his purchases, he has set the company up a quite well for the long haul. The Lucas purchase by itself cements that. Disney has been producing a massive flop from the film division each year and Wall St can care less. People keep bringing up how the old school leadership was better than Iger now but those people were in charge during simpler times. A simpler society with simpler values. There were no video games, Imax theatres, internets, etc, back in 1980, those things now can to some offer the same visual and mental stimulation us Disney fans get from the parks. Its much to easy to nitpick and point fingers and live in the past, but for what we have and what modern business now demands, Iger has been stellar.

End of rant.

Yea! Iger is great at buying stuff and producing profit by cutting quality and raising prices.

You have to be a real Disney Fanboi to applaud Iger for cutting quality and raising prices.

 

[BigTxEars]

Yea! Iger is great at buying stuff and producing profit by cutting quality and raising prices.

You have to be a real Disney Fanboi to applaud Iger for cutting quality and raising prices.

But what stuff he has bought! Great great buys for the long term.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

But what stuff he has bought! Great great buys for the long term.

I agree. As long as they don't kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Marvel is great, but I am afraid that they are gonna "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" it. Like right now there are 2 Marvel films in the theaters (Capt. Am. 2 and Spider-man 2). Thor 2 just left theaters. X-Men is in a couple of weeks closely followed by Guardians of the Galaxy.

I personally won't be seeing any Marvel films until Avengers 2. I am pretty much superhero maxed out.

 

[The Crafty Veteran]

Yea! Iger is great at buying stuff and producing profit by cutting quality and raising prices.

You have to be a real Disney Fanboi to applaud Iger for cutting quality and raising prices.

What is your definition of quality and to what part of the company?

ESPN is a quality product and worth whatever I have to pay for it. I absolutely love the Marvel films Disney produces and find them to be of extremely high quality. Disney has done an amazing fan servuce to Star Wars fans by getting the original cast together for the new films, that's a quality move if you ask me and I doubt that would have happened without Iger opening the vault because Star Wars films will sell without them.

Or were you just lamenting the parks? WDW in particular? To which I offer, if the parks were not a quality product or to expensive, wouldn't they be empty or wouldn't attendance be noticibly going down? What do the quarterly reports say?

There is more to the company than just the parks and resorts, and the parks and resorts, among other media, are making significant revenue. I doubt any other Disney CEO ever has made the financial impact Iger is putting together, that's not being a fanboi, that's fact.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Reading through this so far has made me come to some conclusions.

MM+ as it is now, and from what I have read about it outside of the forums in an unbiased light, will never make Disney money unless they liscense the technology as they perfect it, but that in itself would be futile as MM+ should be something constantly evolving as its needs for the consumer keeps growing. Its nothing but a money sink and always will be because it has to be.

Iger. People keep ripping the guy as being short sighted when if you look at his purchases, he has set the company up a quite well for the long haul. The Lucas purchase by itself cements that. Disney has been producing a massive flop from the film division each year and Wall St can care less. People keep bringing up how the old school leadership was better than Iger now but those people were in charge during simpler times. A simpler society with simpler values. There were no video games, Imax theatres, internets, etc, back in 1980, those things now can to some offer the same visual and mental stimulation us Disney fans get from the parks. Its much to easy to nitpick and point fingers and live in the past, but for what we have and what modern business now demands, Iger has been stellar.

End of rant.

Criticizing current management for not growing the parks through reinvestment and organic growth is not nit-picking.

Taking umbrage with their strategy of discounts, promotions and price increases to create growth is where I take issue because it's not sustainable.

I take umbrage with his acquiescence of WDW's market share in Orlando.

I commend him for the acquisitions he has made. And in business parlance, it's time to leverage some of this intellectual property to create a resurgence in theme parks in Orlando.

In short, you want the parks full? You want the hotels full? You have to give guests a reason to come.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

What is your definition of quality and to what part of the company?

ESPN is a quality product and worth whatever I have to pay for it. I absolutely love the Marvel films Disney produces and find them to be of extremely high quality. Disney has done an amazing fan servuce to Star Wars fans by getting the original cast together for the new films, that's a quality move if you ask me and I doubt that would have happened without Iger opening the vault because Star Wars films will sell without them.

Or were you just lamenting the parks? WDW in particular? To which I offer, if the parks were not a quality product or to expensive, wouldn't they be empty or wouldn't attendance be noticibly going down? What do the quarterly reports say?

There is more to the company than just the parks and resorts, and the parks and resorts, among other media, are making significant revenue. I doubt any other Disney CEO ever has made the financial impact Iger is putting together, that's not being a fanboi, that's fact.

We'll see how good those financials look when they get around to paying the piper. Iger is hoping that the duck tape will hold the WDW monorail fleet together long enough to get his golden parachute. And that is just one of multiple billion $$$ problems at WDW now.

 

[PhotoDave219]

There is more to the company than just the parks and resorts, and the parks and resorts, among other media, are making significant revenue. I doubt any other Disney CEO ever has made the financial impact Iger is putting together, that's not being a fanboi, that's fact.

Oh that's hilarious. You have a very narrow view of Disney corporate history....

Can you do the required reading first and then get back to us?

Because dare I say, eisner's acquisition of abc/capital cities in addition to the expansion into consumer products far outweighs anything Iger did.

To be fair, Iger came in and cleaned up the Pixar mess.

And who cares about fan service?

 

[The Crafty Veteran]

Oh that's hilarious. You have a very narrow view of Disney corporate history....

Can you do the required reading first and then get back to us?

Because dare I say, eisner's acquisition of abc/capital cities in addition to the expansion into consumer products far outweighs anything Iger did.

To be fair, Iger came in and cleaned up the Pixar mess.

And who cares about fan service?

I remember when Eisner purchased ABC and he was universally ripped for overpaying for it. The business insider media made him look like a moron. How does he look now with thst purchase.

In Disneys hands look what they have done with Marvel in such a short amount of time, what do you think they will do with Star Wars? I'm no seer but long term they make far more money with what Iger has done than anyone else, including Eisner and ESPN.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I remember when Eisner purchased ABC and he was universally ripped for overpaying for it. The business insider media made him look like a moron. How does he look now with thst purchase.

In Disneys hands look what they have done with Marvel in such a short amount of time, what do you think they will do with Star Wars? I'm no seer but long term they make far more money with what Iger has done than anyone else, including Eisner and ESPN.

Kill it. Just like they are Marvel. I guess Disney doesn't believe in the philosophy of "leave them wanting more."

 

[PhotoDave219]

I remember when Eisner purchased ABC and he was universally ripped for overpaying for it. The business insider media made him look like a moron. How does he look now with thst purchase.

In Disneys hands look what they have done with Marvel in such a short amount of time, what do you think they will do with Star Wars? I'm no seer but long term they make far more money with what Iger has done than anyone else, including Eisner and ESPN.

You're wrong and I don't have the time to explain to you why you're wrong. Others will have to explain it to you because I simply don't have the patience.

 

[baymenxpac]

I'm having to re-read this first paragraph over and over...I think MNF is the contract that I was under the impression that makes ESPN what it is, MNF=Monday Night Football. Even with all these other contracts, do you think ESPN would be what it is without MNF? I'm deducing you are saying all these other contracts are enough to make ESPN a profitable company for TWDC, with or without Monday Night Football.

sorry, yes. MNF = monday night football. and yes, ESPN is obscenely profitable, even without monday night football (which they did not have until 2006 -- it was an ABC product when it launched in 1970 until 2005. most of those years were before ABC was under the disney banner). as @TeddyinMO eloquently put it, ESPN packs an incredible punch across the board.

Well if the tipping point is being reached then that will help resolve the over crowding issues posted earlier in this thread

I think the Frozen M&G shows the awesome brand loyalty of Disney, people willing to pay $100 a head and then wait 3 hours in line for a picture? That kinda of brand loyalty is what other major companies would kill for.

If I was the burger shop owner and I could sell $4 burgers instead of $2 burgers and at the end of the day make the same revenue I think I would be fine with making the same money for half the work

you seem...enthusiastic, so that's cool. just don't take this the wrong way, but i wouldn't be hiring you to run a business i owned. once you do "half the work," you lose what made you attractive to people in the first place. although you did nicely put what disney has spent the majority of the last 20 years doing to their product into nice, simple terms.

 

[BigTxEars]

I agree. As long as they don't kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Marvel is great, but I am afraid that they are gonna "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" it. Like right now there are 2 Marvel films in the theaters (Capt. Am. 2 and Spider-man 2). Thor 2 just left theaters. X-Men is in a couple of weeks closely followed by Guardians of the Galaxy.

I personally won't be seeing any Marvel films until Avengers 2. I am pretty much superhero maxed out.

They could certainly overproduce Marvel films. They have no turkeys (since the the newest Marvel film era kickoff) yet so they seem to being doing well so far. Still lots of untapped potential in the Marvel Universe.

And Star Wars is a money making machine.

Outside of Potter I can not think of two licenses that they could have bought that have more potential.

 

[BigTxEars]

sorry, yes. MNF = monday night football. and yes, ESPN is obscenely profitable, even without monday night football (which they did not have until 2006 -- it was an ABC product when it launched in 1970 until 2005. most of those years were before ABC was under the disney banner). as @TeddyinMO eloquently put it, ESPN packs an incredible punch across the board.



you seem...enthusiastic, so that's cool. just don't take this the wrong way, but i wouldn't be hiring you to run a business i owned. once you do "half the work," you lose what made you attractive to people in the first place. although you did nicely put what disney has spent the majority of the last 20 years doing to their product into nice, simple terms.

Ahh come on I work cheap!

 

[danlb_2000]

They could certainly overproduce Marvel films. They have no turkeys (since the the newest Marvel film era kickoff) yet so they seem to being doing well so far. Still lots of untapped potential in the Marvel Universe.

And Star Wars is a money making machine.

Outside of Potter I can not think of two licenses that they could have bought that have more potential.

I have always wondered how long interest in the Marvel films can last. If they keep making good movies will people keep going to see them, or will people eventually tire of them?

 

[BigTxEars]

I have always wondered how long interest in the Marvel films can last. If they keep making good movies will people keep going to see them, or will people eventually tire of them?

Good question. But the Marvel universe is deep. It has been kicking along for decades in comic form. It's a pretty rich pool of stories and characters to draw from. So far they have hit the biggies that everyone knows. With GotG coming it will be interesting to see how the public reacts to those characters.

Disney has their finger deep in the movie pie. They strike out a lot but man they have some power to hit homers as well. I can only imagine what a well done Start Wars movie would do in ticket sales.

Highest-grossing films[11]
RankTitleWorldwide grossYearRef
1Avatar$2,782,275,1722009[# 1]
2Titanic$2,186,772,3021997[# 2]
3Marvel's The Avengers$1,518,594,9102012[# 3]
4Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2$1,341,511,2192011[# 4]
5Iron Man 3$1,215,439,9942013[# 5]
6Frozen

$1,169,244,8582013[# 6]
7Transformers: Dark of the Moon$1,123,794,0792011[# 7]
8The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King$1,119,929,5212003[# 8]
9Skyfall$1,108,561,0132012[# 9]
10The Dark Knight Rises$1,084,439,0992012[# 10]
11Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest$1,066,179,7252006[# 11]
12Toy Story 3$1,063,171,9112010[# 12]
13Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides$1,045,713,8022011[# 13]
14Jurassic Park$1,029,153,8821993[# 14]
15Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace$1,027,044,6771999[# 15]
16Alice in Wonderland$1,024,299,9042010[# 16]
17The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey$1,017,003,5682012[# 17]
18The Dark Knight$1,004,558,4442008[# 18]
19The Lion King$987,483,7771994[# 19]
20Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone$974,755,3712001[# 20

 

[danlb_2000]

To bad Disney does not hire some othe brain trust on here to run the parks and the company, then maybe


Good question. But the Marvel universe is deep. It has been kicking along for decades in comic form. It's a pretty rich pool of stories and characters to draw from. So far they have hit the biggies that everyone knows. With GotG coming it will be interesting to see how the public reacts to those characters.

Disney has their finger deep in the movie pie. They strike out a lot but man they have some power to hit homers as well. I can only imagine what a well done Start Wars movie would do in ticket sales.

Highest-grossing films[11]
RankTitleWorldwide grossYearRef
1Avatar$2,782,275,1722009[# 1]
2Titanic$2,186,772,3021997[# 2]
3Marvel's The Avengers$1,518,594,9102012[# 3]
4Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2$1,341,511,2192011[# 4]
5Iron Man 3$1,215,439,9942013[# 5]
6Frozen

$1,169,244,8582013[# 6]
7Transformers: Dark of the Moon$1,123,794,0792011[# 7]
8The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King$1,119,929,5212003[# 8]
9Skyfall$1,108,561,0132012[# 9]
10The Dark Knight Rises$1,084,439,0992012[# 10]
11Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest$1,066,179,7252006[# 11]
12Toy Story 3$1,063,171,9112010[# 12]
13Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides$1,045,713,8022011[# 13]
14Jurassic Park$1,029,153,8821993[# 14]
15Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace$1,027,044,6771999[# 15]
16Alice in Wonderland$1,024,299,9042010[# 16]
17The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey$1,017,003,5682012[# 17]
18The Dark Knight$1,004,558,4442008[# 18]
19The Lion King$987,483,7771994[# 19]
20Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone$974,755,3712001[# 20

Yeah, SW VII should hit $1B worldwide without even breaking a sweat.

 

[BigTxEars]

Yeah, SW VII should hit $1B worldwide without even breaking a sweat.

Agree and then the toys, clothing, happy meals, DVD sales etc will just be crazy.