Disney Realigns for Sustained Growth and Success

Not bad.

Not great, either.

Anytime you have a loss it’s never good. But not as bad as people expected for the Walt Disney Company, which announced quarterly earnings this past week.

Disney’s share price was down on 35 cent in the quarter, and was trading at almost $92 a share at the close of business on Friday. That continues a disturbing downward trend from when Disney stock was almost $202 per share, barely two years ago. Disney has had a rough time of it for the last year or so, with the pandemic, a feud with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a layoff of nearly 7,000 employees. And a full plate for CEO Bob Iger, who returned to the job last year. And now the entertainment giant, like other companies, is in the midst of a Hollywood writers strike.

“We’re pleased with our accomplishments this quarter, which were reflective of the strategic changes we’ve been making throughout our businesses. We’re also proud of what we continued to deliver for consumers from movies to television to sports news and our theme parks.” Iger said on the earnings call.

Overall, revenue was $21.81 billion, up 13 percent oner the same quarter last year. But any comparison is tempered by the fact that we were in the middle of a pandemic for two years. And Iger is somewhat concerned about the slumping theme park division. Walt Disney World theme park ticket have gone up, and some will say there are outrageous, but they were offset by increased attendance at Disneyland in California. The company did admit that growth and higher ticket prices at Disneyland Shanghai and Disneyland, Paris helped offset any losses.

Iger suggested that Disney will be fine, and it will continue to concentrate on its streaming business, and the advertising potential.

“I’ve been back in the company for almost six months, and in that time, we’ve embarked on a significant transformation to strategically realign Disney for sustained growth and success. I’m pleased to say that the strategy we detailed last quarter is working. Our new organizational structure is returning authority and accountability to our creative leaders, as well as allowing for a more efficient, coordinated, and streamlined approach to our operations,” Iger said. “The cost-cutting initiatives I announced last quarter are well underway, and we are on track to meet or exceed our target of $5.5 billion.”

There was little to no mention of the feud with DeSantis and Iger said the company is doing just fine. The case will likely end up in court, as both sides have filed lawsuits.

As for the Florida Governor and Disney’s potential move, which isn’t going to happen, Iger said that Disney World employs more than 75,000 people. They are not eager to move and hope to resolve the situation with a special district known as Reedy Creek. But he did increase the rhetoric.

“Since there’s been a lot said about special districts and the arrangement that we had, I want to set the record straight on that, too,” Iger said. “There are about 2,000 special districts in Florida, and most were established to foster investment and development where we were one of them. It basically made it easier for us and others, by the way, to do business in Florida.”

Could Disney Expand?
And speaking of doing business in Florida, could expansion be on the horizon? Or perhaps in California or elsewhere around the world?

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, Iger said, according to CinemaBlend: “Certainly in Florida, we have a lot of property. We have a lot of opportunity outside the United States. We actually have more opportunity in California than people are aware.”

We feel confident saying yes, Disney will continue to expand and create new magical excitements. However, the question remains when and by how much? The comment about California sure is interesting. It could be in reference to Disneyland Forward, which Disney teased has lands themed to “Frozen,” “Peter Pan,” “Tangled,” “Zootopia,” “Tron” and “Toy Story.” Disney needs Anaheim on board for that though.

But for all of the Disney parks, the rumors will continue to swirl year in and year out when it comes to anything Disney honestly. One thing’s for certain though, the House of Mouse will always be innovating. So eventually, they’ll build and create new attractions that will become new favorites for guests all over the globe. Do you see Disney slowing down anytime soon?