{"id":11588,"date":"2023-11-09T10:43:50","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T10:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/business\/disney-is-in-trouble-bob-iger-has-5-big-problems-to-solve\/"},"modified":"2023-11-09T10:43:51","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T10:43:51","slug":"disney-is-in-trouble-bob-iger-has-5-big-problems-to-solve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588","title":{"rendered":"Disney is in trouble. Bob Iger has 5 big problems to solve"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n The magic has been missing this year for Disney.\n <\/p>\n

\n Last month, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary \u2013 and there was much to commemorate. Over the last century, the company has grown into one of the largest publicly traded media and entertainment companies in the world, with a market cap of more than $150 billion.\n <\/p>\n

\n But the future of the House of Mouse hangs in the balance as the company contends with a still-unprofitable streaming business, an ongoing actors strike, declining attendance at Disney World Resort in central Florida, legal battles with Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and uncertainty surrounding a CEO succession plan.\n <\/p>\n

\n Disney\u2019s stock, at about $84 per share, is at its lowest level in nearly ten years. It is down 8% since CEO Bob Iger returned as CEO last November, and it\u2019s down 3% since the start of the year. Compare that to some of Disney\u2019s rivals: <\/strong>Comcast\u2019s stock is up more than 18% this year, and Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN, is up 22%.\n <\/p>\n

\n Like its competitors, Disney faces an uncertain media environment as viewers increasingly tune out linear TV in favor of entertainment sources Big Media doesn\u2019t control, including TikTok and YouTube. But Disney has been hit particularly hard by some big misses at the box office and questions about how it will replace its fading cash cow, ESPN, among other issues.\n <\/p>\n

\n The company reported its quarterly earnings on Wednesday afternoon and slightly missed expectations on sales but reported better-than-expected earnings. The company added 7 million core Disney+ subscribers and narrowed its streaming losses. But Iger announced more severe cost cuts at the company.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Monday, Disney announced that Hugh Johnston, the chief financial officer at PepsiCo, would take over as Disney\u2019s CFO, filling the role vacated by longtime Disney executive Christine McCarthy in May. Disney, which is in a quiet period in the lead-up to its earnings announcement, did not respond to a request for comment.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s no secret that the linear TV business is struggling, and Disney\u2019s problems with traditional TV also affect nearly all other US legacy media companies.\n <\/p>\n

\n Last quarter, Disney\u2019s linear television revenue continued to slip, declining 7% compared to the same quarter last year.\n <\/p>\n

\n But Iger has hinted at a plan to generate cash for Disney\u2019s linear assets, which include ABC, Disney Channel, FX and National Geographic, through a potential sale.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhile linear remains highly profitable for Disney today, the trends being fueled by cord-cutting are unmistakable,\u201d Iger said in August. \u201cAs I\u2019ve stated before, we\u2019re thinking expansively and considering a variety of strategic options.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n ESPN remains a bright spot in Disney\u2019s traditional media portfolio, continuing to attract sports fans to cable TV. In a recent note to clients, Bank of America\u2019s Jessica Reif Ehrlich called ESPN \u201cthe glue enabling the cable bundle to maintain its profitability.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But viewership is down as cord cutting grows. That\u2019s why Ehrlich also said ESPN should accelerate its transition to streaming as fewer people pay for traditional TV and sports licensing costs continue to go up.\n <\/p>\n

\n Disney\u2019s plan to transition its business to a new age of streaming has had uneven results.\n <\/p>\n

\n In October, Disney hiked the price of its ad-free Disney+ subscription to $13.99 per month while keeping the price of its advertising tier steady at $7.99 per month.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe advertising marketplace for streaming is picking up. It\u2019s more healthy than the advertising marketplace for linear television,\u201d Iger said in August on Disney\u2019s third quarter earnings call.\n <\/p>\n

\n The price hike comes as Disney\u2019s streaming service continues to burn cash, though the company has indicated that it believes Disney+ will begin generating profits by the end of 2024.\n <\/p>\n

\n One potential hiccup to Disney\u2019s plan: Disney lost streaming subscribers in the US and Canada last quarter, though international signups grew by 2%.\n <\/p>\n

\n Jason Bazinet, a media analyst at Citigroup, said investors will be watching closely this quarter to see if Disney\u2019s recent streaming price hikes will result in even more subscription cancellations or if the pace of drop-offs slowed.\n <\/p>\n

\n Though Disney may potentially have another plan to gin up revenue for the streaming service: Following in Netflix\u2019s footsteps, Disney has hinted that it will expand a password-sharing crackdown on Disney+, which company executives could shed light on during Wednesday\u2019s earnings call.\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n \"\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n However, Disney isn\u2019t staking its entire streaming future on Disney+.\n <\/p>\n

\n Earlier this month, Disney announced it would acquire Comcast\u2019s one-third stake in Hulu for $8.61 billion, meaning that Disney will now own 100% of the streaming service.\n <\/p>\n

\n Changing consumer tastes may also pose a risk to Disney\u2019s financial health. Several of Disney\u2019s high-profile movie bets were a bust at the box office this year, including \u201cIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny\u201d and \u201cAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Evercore\u2019s Disney analyst Vijay Jayant wrote in a note last week that he expects Disney to \u201cmodestly underperform\u201d fourth-quarter estimates due to weaker linear advertising and Indiana Jones\u2019 underperformance at the box office. The latest installment of Indiana Jones was released in the US on June 30.\n <\/p>\n

\n Questions about Disney\u2019s content slate come as Hollywood productions have largely been shut down for more than 6 months after writers went on strike from May until September, and an actors\u2019 strike is ongoing. <\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

\n It may not be all bad news for Disney, though.\n <\/p>\n

\n Last quarter, the company\u2019s parks division was a highlight, with revenue jumping 13% to $8.3 billion.\n <\/p>\n

\n Disney said most of its growth was fueled by international parks like Shanghai Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.\n <\/p>\n

\n In September, Disney announced it would lean more heavily into its theme park business, doubling capital expenditures over the next 10 years to roughly $60 billion. The company plans to use that money to expand its domestic and international parks and cruise line capacity.\n <\/p>\n

\n However, Disney World Resort in Florida has struggled with declining attendance in recent months. Over the summer, Disney World parkgoers experienced shorter-than-expected ride wait times and fewer crowds.\n <\/p>\n

\n Iger has attributed the recent declines to an overall slump in Central Florida tourism, though Wednesday\u2019s earnings will show how greatly the summer slowdown impacted park revenue since the financial results cover Disney\u2019s fiscal fourth quarter, which began in July and ended in October of this year.\n <\/p>\n

\n And an ongoing legal battle with Florida over control of the district that contains Disney World has led to an unwanted spotlight on the company\u2019s politics and debate over its position in the culture wars.\n <\/p>\n

\n The uncertainty faced by Disney comes at a time of upheaval at the company\u2019s corporate offices.\n <\/p>\n

\n Earlier this year, Iger announced that the media giant would axe roughly 7,000 employees from its global workforce in three waves.\n <\/p>\n

\n Shakeups at the company have not precluded the C-suite, either. Nearly one year ago, Iger unexpectedly came out of retirement to take over the role of Disney CEO once again after the board unexpectedly fired his successor, Bob Chapek.\n <\/p>\n

\n More <\/strong>recently, Disney\u2019s longtime CFO, Christine McCarthy, left her position in June. This week, Johnston was announced as her replacement.\n <\/p>\n

\n Iger has promised that in his second act as CEO, he is \u201cintensely focused\u201d on finding a viable CEO to take his place when his contract expires at the end of 2026, though it\u2019s unclear whether the search for a new CEO has yielded any results so far.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The magic has been missing this year for Disney. Last month, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary \u2013 and there was much…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\nDisney is in trouble. Bob Iger has 5 big problems to solve | inFundPros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The magic has been missing this year for Disney. Last month, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary \u2013 and there was much to commemorate. Over the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Disney is in trouble. Bob Iger has 5 big problems to solve | inFundPros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The magic has been missing this year for Disney. Last month, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary \u2013 and there was much to commemorate. Over the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"inFundPros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-09T10:43:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-09T10:43:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/gettyimages-1727488926.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Press Room\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Press Room\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Press Room\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/87f7e632b195ea95c91503d9281f5eff\"},\"headline\":\"Disney is in trouble. Bob Iger has 5 big problems to solve\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-09T10:43:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-09T10:43:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588\"},\"wordCount\":1242,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588\",\"name\":\"Disney is in trouble. Bob Iger has 5 big problems to solve | inFundPros\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-09T10:43:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-09T10:43:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"The magic has been missing this year for Disney. Last month, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary \u2013 and there was much to commemorate. Over the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Disney is in trouble. Bob Iger has 5 big problems to solve\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/\",\"name\":\"Fintech Advance\",\"description\":\"Latest Finance and Tech News and Updates\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Fintech Advance\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-logo.png\",\"width\":409,\"height\":70,\"caption\":\"Fintech Advance\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/87f7e632b195ea95c91503d9281f5eff\",\"name\":\"Press Room\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/avatar_user_1_1697230663-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/avatar_user_1_1697230663-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Press Room\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Disney is in trouble. Bob Iger has 5 big problems to solve | inFundPros","description":"The magic has been missing this year for Disney. Last month, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary \u2013 and there was much to commemorate. Over the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Disney is in trouble. Bob Iger has 5 big problems to solve | inFundPros","og_description":"The magic has been missing this year for Disney. Last month, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary \u2013 and there was much to commemorate. Over the","og_url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588","og_site_name":"inFundPros","article_published_time":"2023-11-09T10:43:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-09T10:43:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/gettyimages-1727488926.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Press Room","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Press Room","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588"},"author":{"name":"Press Room","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/87f7e632b195ea95c91503d9281f5eff"},"headline":"Disney is in trouble. Bob Iger has 5 big problems to solve","datePublished":"2023-11-09T10:43:50+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-09T10:43:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588"},"wordCount":1242,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588","name":"Disney is in trouble. Bob Iger has 5 big problems to solve | inFundPros","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-09T10:43:50+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-09T10:43:51+00:00","description":"The magic has been missing this year for Disney. Last month, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary \u2013 and there was much to commemorate. Over the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11588#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Disney is in trouble. Bob Iger has 5 big problems to solve"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/","name":"Fintech Advance","description":"Latest Finance and Tech News and Updates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization","name":"Fintech Advance","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-logo.png","width":409,"height":70,"caption":"Fintech Advance"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/87f7e632b195ea95c91503d9281f5eff","name":"Press Room","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/avatar_user_1_1697230663-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/avatar_user_1_1697230663-96x96.png","caption":"Press Room"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/infundpros.com"],"url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?author=1"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11590,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11588\/revisions\/11590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}