Disney, particularly its CEO, Bob Iger, has been pushed into damage control mode thanks to some unusually candid comments he made during an interview with CNBC. Particularly, he announced in a somewhat offhand way that Disney is considering selling some of its more famous properties, such as ABC and National Geographic.
A source, speaking to the New York Post about the situation that resulted from that, noted that Disney’s recently returned CEO Bob Iger had to take a step back and meet with the leaders of those segments he described as potentially not being “core” to Disney’s fortunes.
The source said that “Iger met with senior leaders of the television group and reaffirmed his commitment to the value of the business and also ABC News,” meetings which occurred because he was doing “damage control” and “reverting back to the previous talking points.” That is, he was backing off his comments about selling them, for now, at least.
The New York Post added that “The source said Iger’s ‘undisciplined, off-message’ remarks last Thursday sent ‘shock waves’ through Disney, which along with ABC and ESPN also owns FX and National Geographic.” Thus the need for the meetings to reassure those segments.
Regardless of what he says now, Iger said during the interview that the business has been hit by changing aspects of the business and “self-inflicted” issues, saying, “I came back to the company at the request of the board as a company that I started working at in 1974, 49 years ago when it was ABC and we became part of Disney. And I obviously have deep passion for the company and in the business. I care a lot about the people. And after coming back, realize that the company was facing a number of challenges, some self-inflicted, some caused by changes in the business, large scale disruption of certain parts of the business.”
Clarifying some of that later, particularly what businesses he was referring to, Iger said, “They may not be core to Disney. Yeah, there’s clearly creativity and content that they create that is core to Disney, but the distribution model, the business model that forms the underpinning of that business, and that is delivered great profits over the years is definitely broken. And we have to call it like it is and that’s part of the transformative work we’re doing.”
So, though he’s trying now to assuage the concerned heads and employees of those businesses, it does appear that they are on the chopping block as he looks to drag Disney back toward being successful and away from dismal days in the red.
Cutting cable from the business line up would, in such a situation, make sense, as many Americans are now “cutting the chord” of cable, as streaming services offer a better lineup, no or fewer commercials, and are less expensive. So, leaning into Disney+ and away from cable would make sense, particularly if Disney retreats from wokeness and starts making well-liked content again.
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