Disney’s Mickey Mouse Business

by
Maria A CONTRIBUTOR
Disney Mickey Mouse Business

Amid the turmoil and ongoing struggle at Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), world-renowned Robert Iger returns as CEO after Bob Chapek’s short two-and-a-half-year stint as CEO of the company; with little success. With the company stock plummeting in recent years and corporate revenue struggling, Disney sees one of its biggest share price declines ever, falling 55% since the start of March 2021.

Disney’s decision to bring back Bob Iger seems to be out of necessity, hoping to turn things around for the company. Bob Iger brought Disney success during his initial 15-year tenure; will his return be the turning point for Disney’s recovery?

As 2023 passes and the Walt Disney entertainment factory is celebrating 100 years, with the number of people attending the parks dwindling. Bob Iger has been quick to notice this; acting quickly to implement changes that improve the guest experience, offering benefits for all ages, free parking and even the ability to skip the lines for the rides, allowing people to enter first at select attractions. Small details that make a difference.

 The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) has described Disney as an “entertainment colossus” and its downfall is highly unlikely, however does this description still fit the Disney that everyone knows?

Bob Iger’s biggest bet in his first term back as CEO was to boost streaming platforms. Disney recently suffered a loss of subscriptions – close to 10 million users lost. Now, if you read between the lines you’ll see that the majority of the drop in the subscription service came from India. This was due to the country’s massive use of the Disney+ Hotstar service that had its broadcast contract expire for the Cricket Indian Premier League. With the loss of this contract for Disney, many Indian subscribers lost interest in the service that no longer streamed the country’s beloved sport – which make up more than one third of the global subscribers, with 50.1 million as of April 2nd.

Bob Iger is trying to offset these declines with a series of measures to make more profit; eliminating nearly 7,000 jobs, saving some $5.5 billion, while increasing the cost of subscriptions to its streaming platforms in North American countries; ideally translating into higher revenue. Doing this can adjust the basic profit equation of any company, earning more by spending less.

Will the incorporation of the CEO who led Disney to the top (2005-2020) into its roster, be enough to maintain the charm for investors? Under his command Disney’s stock price experienced growth of more than 550%. This magic is hard to replicate, but he may have an ace up his sleeve, and within his slew of reforms, he plans to reinstate the dividend payout by the end of 2023, with its last dividend payout being December 4, 2019.Without a doubt, Walt Disney Co. is an entertainment colossus who’s always dreamt big. Iger is working energetically to put it where it belongs, back at the top.