News Walt Disney Company plans to spend $17 billion at Walt Disney World over the next ten years

Chi84

Premium Member
No, it’s SHILL companies. The definition of a Shill Company is a company that publicly helps or gives credibility to a person or organization without disclosing their actual close relationship with said person or organization. Disney created many Shill companies (or front companies) to buy land without it getting out that they were the real purchasers. I know, you feel embarrassed. I would, too.
Can you cite some support for your definition of a “shill company?” It seems you’re describing shell corporations but replacing the word “shell” with “shill.”
 

WDWFanRay

Well-Known Member
And how exactly were those companies giving credibility to Disney?
By hiding the land purchases behind shill companies, Disney was not known as the true buyer. This secrecy benefited Disney in a couple of ways. 1) They were able to buy land at a low price 2) They were able to buy land from people who might not have normally dealt with an out of state California based corporation. Why else would Disney have done this?
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
By hiding the land purchases behind shill companies, Disney was not known as the true buyer. This secrecy benefited Disney in a couple of ways. 1) They were able to buy land at a low price 2) They were able to buy land from people who might not have normally dealt with an out of state California based corporation. Why else would Disney have done this?

You missed the point.

That's not what a shill is -- in fact, read your own definition. The point of a shill is to promote something.

A shill, e.g., could be someone who writes a bunch of positive reviews for a product without disclosing that they are being paid for those reviews.

What you are describing is not a shill.
 

Chi84

Premium Member
By hiding the land purchases behind shill companies, Disney was not known as the true buyer. This secrecy benefited Disney in a couple of ways. 1) They were able to buy land at a low price 2) They were able to buy land from people who might not have normally dealt with an out of state California based corporation. Why else would Disney have done this?
Yes, but that’s description of a shell corporation. Where did you get the idea that the correct word is “shill?”
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
Putting aside that you seem to have conflated shell companies and corporate shills into one entity, this still doesn't make sense.

How exactly were those companies giving credibility to Disney? No one was selling land to them while thinking, "Huh, this makes me like Disney more!"

You are misinterpreting the definition.

It gave credibility to the buyer, who was secretly walt Disney.

This is why the person planted in an audience such as in Pete's Dragon that gives the Snake Oil Salesman credibility would be called a shill.

It is Shill.

A Shell company is a different term.

Some people never took the MGM Studios Backlot Tour and it shows. ;P
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
You are misinterpreting the definition.

It gave credibility to the buyer, who was secretly walt Disney.

This is why the person planted in an audience such as in Pete's Dragon that gives the Snake Oil Salesman credibility would be called a shill.

It is Shill.

A Shell company is a different term.

This is baffling. How is it possible that you understand what a shill is in the Pete's Dragon example but so wildly misapply it to the other situation? They are not remotely the same thing.
 

James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
Why else would Disney have done this?
Literally stated six posts before this. They didn't want buyers to know that a wealthy company was looking to purchase their land because the sellers would then artificially inflate the prices beyond their actual value to fish for a payday. There is nothing illegal about this, and it's done frequently. Furthermore, no one else who has ever done this in the state of Florida has been the subject of targeted legislation from the governor.
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
See above. It's not a good look to dig yourself deeper and deeper into a hole.
Go ahead and share the definition of Shell Corporation or company. I will be happy to do this for you if you put in the effort. It is similar to what I do with my students. But if you won't show listening to reason I am not going to help you.

I don't feel embarrassed at all, so unless you want to keep passively calling me and others ignorant. You can let that go.
 

James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
Go ahead and share the definition of Shell Corporation or company. I will be happy to do this for you if you put in the effort. It is similar to what I do with my students. But if you won't show listening to reason I am not going to help you.

I don't feel embarrassed at all, so unless you want to keep passively calling me and others ignorant. You can let that go.
In a similar vein, I would encourage you to present prominent examples where "shill" is used as a noun adjunct. While I can see the argument that the company in question is a shill, the phrase "shill corporation" is not anything that appears in common parlance, and "shill" is generally used as a noun or verb. The phrasing is awkward at best and obviously confusing because of its similarity to an actual turn of phrase in "shell corporation".
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
There is a difference between a “corporate shill” and a “shell corporation.” Please give me a cite to a credible source that uses “shill corporation” the way it’s being used here. And please no condescending comments about google or mansplaining.
Sure. I teach language so you will not hear me use the terms Mansplaining or telling someone aggressively they do not use Google. I do get snappy when people tell me I should be embarrassed or attempt other digs

Yes, a corporate shill is not a term I used. A corporate shill is different to these two terms being debated.

A Shill company is what helped buy Disney's land. You could also call it a proxy buyer. The name of the buyer was a role played. A shill. A ruse.

If you look up any credible source to define Shell Company:
Shell Corporation or Shell Company is a company that is used to avoid taxes or governmental dues and holds no assets. Not for buying or swiping land from sellers. It can be borderline illegal depending on the law of the land. It is a real term, but different than what Walt did. They typically have no legitimate assets.
 

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