What would a disney buyout mean for Disney parks?

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
I'd say it would ruin a lot of Disney efficiency, tarnish the brand, hurt the parks future annnnnnd make me verrrry upset.

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gsimpson

Well-Known Member
There are a lot of investment bankers that are trying to talk the world into believing that Disney is going to bought hoping it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and they can "facilitate" the acquisition and a few hundred million along the way. Sadly it is possible for some much smaller entity to 'buy' Disney by putting together a group of backers who then commit to putting Disney assets (I.E. 48000 acres of land in Florida) up for sale as soon as they own in and leveraging Disney's other assets. This is how K-Mart the just out of bankruptcy and at deaths door retailer bought Sears (then a fairly healthy retailer) after which they went on a binge selling Sears assets and stripped the company so badly it fell into the toilet. Unfortunately most of your big investment houses (I.E. JP Morgan, B of A, etc) don't care one scintilla about the company's long term health, just can they make a few bucks and move on after the company has been gutted and a couple hundred thousand people's lives have been ruined.
 

Rumrunner

Well-Known Member
Disney is losing customers on the Disney Channel and ESPN. The reasons are obvious to many and choose to leave those reasons unsaid on this thread.
Eventually those loses and other Iger moves are going to cost Disney a core of people that support the parks. That will be the end and without new leadership it will come sooner rather than later to Disney.
 

LAKid53

Official Member of the Girly Girl Fan Club
Premium Member
According to the NY Post article, Verizon was also rumored to be looking at purchasing CBS or Comcast. As @Phonedave said, it's all about content. AT&T's recent acquisition of Time Warner has changed the playing field for Verizon.

btw, the NY Post article resulted in a slight uptick in Disney stock.
 

ElvisMickey

Well-Known Member
I work for Verizon and used to work part time for Disney. I'd love to have my discounts back again without having to actually go back and work for Disney :geek:.
 

LAKid53

Official Member of the Girly Girl Fan Club
Premium Member
The Iger family?

No, the Disney Family. But after the battle between Sharon's children after her death, I'm not sure Walt's or Roy's heirs could agree on anything. And either separately or combined, they'd have to have a position significant enough to block any proposed merger or acquisition. None of the family were listed in the top 5 shareholders in 2016.
 

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
I work for Verizon and used to work part time for Disney. I'd love to have my discounts back again without having to actually go back and work for Disney :geek:.

I would just be happy to see VZ sponsor an attraction so I can have access to a corporate lounge. Although, park ticket discounts, above what we get through tickets at work, would be nice.
 

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
According to the NY Post article, Verizon was also rumored to be looking at purchasing CBS or Comcast. As @Phonedave said, it's all about content. AT&T's recent acquisition of Time Warner has changed the playing field for Verizon.

btw, the NY Post article resulted in a slight uptick in Disney stock.

Yeah, Verizon has been historically acquiring less well known content, I guess in the hope that it tags onto something that eventually blows up in the "milennial" market. TWDC has a lot of other "stuff" that Verizon may not want to deal with, in addition to its content. I would not be suprised to see some sort of deal betweent the two for content provision and delivery. It would not be the first time VZ and DIS worked together on a project.

-dave
 

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
I always thought that Verizon would be a perfect sponsor for Spaceship Earth.

You could do so much more with SSE, including adding more "future" - They already mention the old manual switch boards, thow in an electro-mechanical switch, then a digital switch, add some copper then fiber, mention microwave and earth stations. Maybe show a little of the current situation with some edge routers, RODAMS, and wave services. They could make it "simple" for every person to grasp the concept, and still convey just how much communications, and what happens when you "pick up the phone" has changed in 20-30 years. Heck, I'm not that old, and when I started, we were still training people on copper party lines - not that we were installing any, but there were still a few grandfathered ones out there. Things have changed quickly.
 

thomas998

Well-Known Member
If Verizon bought them the CMs would all have to be re-trained to provide s****y customer service.
Of course given the typical Apple store I can only assume the parks would be filled with clueless employees that simply regurgitated a few scripted lines... Of course you would no longer be able to enter the parks without first calling ahead and making an appointment.
 

thomas998

Well-Known Member
If Disney sold the parks, Disney would be over. It is as simple as that. The family would never allow it to happen. Disney is in no way hurting for money, in need of selling or anything else. They could shave off the money drains like ESPN.
How exactly would the family stop it? Institutional investors hold over 60% of Disney shares so if they smell a big increase in value from selling to Apple or any other company you might imagine they will be the ones deciding whether the family wants to or not.
 

rob0519

Well-Known Member
No, the Disney Family. But after the battle between Sharon's children after her death, I'm not sure Walt's or Roy's heirs could agree on anything. And either separately or combined, they'd have to have a position significant enough to block any proposed merger or acquisition. None of the family were listed in the top 5 shareholders in 2016.

I was being sarcastic knowing the Disney Family does not have the shares nor seats on the board to influence such a transaction. Iger, on the other hand, is the largest single shareholder at over 1.2 million shares would certainly carry some influence.
 

LAKid53

Official Member of the Girly Girl Fan Club
Premium Member
I was being sarcastic knowing the Disney Family does not have the shares nor seats on the board to influence such a transaction. Iger, on the other hand, is the largest single shareholder at over 1.2 million shares would certainly carry some influence.

Must have missed the sarcasm font..... ;)

The top 5 shareholders, as of October 2016, in descending order are:

Bob Iger
Alan Braverman (General Counsel)
Tom Staffs
Christine McCarthy (CFO)
James Rasulo
 

thomas998

Well-Known Member
I was being sarcastic knowing the Disney Family does not have the shares nor seats on the board to influence such a transaction. Iger, on the other hand, is the largest single shareholder at over 1.2 million shares would certainly carry some influence.
And Steve Job's widow held over 130 million shares as of last year... I think if Apple were to decide they wanted the mouse we can all safely assumed those 130 million shares aren't voting against Apple.

The trouble with your number is that it is based on SEC filings and they listed him as the largest single shareholder of record. Other large shareholders such as Steve Job's widow have the shares in a trust that they control so it doesn't show up on the lists as being a individual even though it is basically voted and decided by one individual.
 

Smiley/OCD

Well-Known Member
You guys have to stop reading the National Enquirer and Weekly World News of the business world... Don't you realize that these stories are started by the same people who have JUST ONE interest in mind....to move the stock prices of either company to increase THEIR profits...IT'S JUST NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Disney is just too big for a Verizon to come along without assistance or a partnership with other entities to make that work. Apple, on the other hand, DOES have the $$$ to make it happen in a heartbeat, but Apple doesn't want parks, movies, etc...they are looking for content and delivery systems. Jim Kramer has been begging Apple for a few years now to buy Sirius/XM...THAT would be a great fit for both...(and since I own Sirius/XM, I would LOVE that LOL)... Now, I COULD see a potential sale of their TV divisions, i.e. ABC and ESPN. That would be the type of content that could appeal to either company.

Bottom line, just RELAX, enjoy WDW and your vacations...IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
 

rob0519

Well-Known Member
And Steve Job's widow held over 130 million shares as of last year... I think if Apple were to decide they wanted the mouse we can all safely assumed those 130 million shares aren't voting against Apple.

The trouble with your number is that it is based on SEC filings and they listed him as the largest single shareholder of record. Other large shareholders such as Steve Job's widow have the shares in a trust that they control so it doesn't show up on the lists as being a individual even though it is basically voted and decided by one individual.

The Jobs family sold over halve their shares.
http://thedisneyblog.com/2017/02/01...ger-largest-shareholder-disney-selling-stock/
 

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