Disney CEO Bob Iger said his company is not interested in sending messages in its movies and TV shows. <\/p>\n
In an interview with CNBC on Thursday morning, Iger said Disney\u2019s No. 1 mission is to capture broad \u2014 if increasingly diverse \u2014 audiences. <\/p>\n
\u2018Infusing messaging is not what we\u2019re up to,\u2019 he said. \u2018We need to be entertaining.\u2019<\/p>\n
Iger was speaking one day after his leadership received a vote of confidence from stakeholders in the face of an aggressive activist shareholder campaign led by billionaire Nelson Peltz, who had taken the company to task for its lackluster stock performance in recent years.<\/p>\n
Peltz had also hit out at the company in an interview with the Financial Times for having dabbled in \u2018woke\u2019 commentary. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do I have to have a Marvel that\u2019s all women?\u2019 Peltz asked. \u2018Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that? Why can\u2019t I have Marvels that are both?\u2019 In comments Peltz made about the blockbuster Marvel film, \u2018Black Panther,\u2019 he asked, \u2018Why do I need an all-Black cast?\u201d <\/p>\n
That sentiment has also been echoed by Elon Musk, who joked on April Fool\u2019s Day that he had been appointed head of diversity, equity and inclusion at the company. In the run-up to Wednesday\u2019s shareholder vote, Musk also endorsed Peltz.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Iger told CNBC\u2019s David Faber that he \u2018ignore[s]\u2019 Musk.<\/p>\n
Musk\u2019s comments \u2018have no relevance to the Walt Disney Company,\u2019 Iger said. <\/p>\n
The Disney chief executive viewed the episode as little more than a \u2018distraction\u2019 given that the company was already focused on strategic priorities like making the Disney+ streaming platform profitable and nailing down the company\u2019s succession plan. <\/p>\n
Peltz, Iger said, \u2018didn\u2019t have any new ideas.\u2019 <\/p>\n
The interview came a day after Iger won a key battle against a group of outside investors who\u2019d sought to bring a slate of new board members tasked explicitly with increasing shareholder value. <\/p>\n
Even with that victory, Iger still faces the daunting task of returning Disney to sustained growth after a decade of lackluster performance, at least when measured by its share price, which at about $119, has not changed much from the levels seen 10 years ago. <\/p>\n
Among the company\u2019s other priorities: integrating Hulu into Disney+; breathing new life into flagship properties like Marvel and Star Wars; transitioning ESPN into the new, streaming-and-gambling focused sports consumption era after decades of cable TV dominance; and navigating the complex culture war politics that continue to wrack America.<\/p>\n
\u2018This activist move could wake Disney up and force it to spread its wings,\u2019 said Brian Stutland, chief investment officer at Equity Armor Investments. He said Disney has tended to focus on creating media properties with strong tie-ins to its parks, but said that could now change. <\/p>\n
\u2018It could force them into becoming more \u2018Hollywood\u2019 than just Star Wars and superheroes,\u2019 Stutland said. \u2018If they can accomplish that, then the stock and the company are going to be in good shape.\u2019<\/p>\n
Disney has a host of other media and studio resources at its disposal through its acquisitions of ESPN and 21st Century Fox, Stutland said \u2014 properties that should make it one of the dominant streaming players going forward.<\/p>\n
\u2018They can become a lower cost way for people to get entertainment,\u2019 Stutland said. While some additional initial spending may be required, Disney+ is already near profitability, so it shouldn\u2019t be a problem, he said. <\/p>\n
In the CNBC interview, Iger said Disney\u2019s streaming business needs to increase user engagement, reduce marketing costs, \u201cprogram more smartly\u201d outside the U.S. market and crack down on password-sharing, among other initiatives.<\/p>\n
Separately, the 73-year-old Iger has also faced questions about who will succeed him \u2014 especially in light of the failed tenure of Bob Chapek, who Disney named as its CEO in 2020 only to see Iger return two years later. CNBC\u2019s Alex Sherman reported that Dana Walden, co-chair of Disney Entertainment, the arm of the company in charge of movies and TV shows, is a strong contender for the top job. She would be the company\u2019s first female CEO and one of the few among America\u2019s 50 largest companies. <\/p>\n
\u2018She comes from a Hollywood background,\u2019 Stutland said. \u2018That\u2019s what they need to do, is to focus on that.\u2019<\/p>\n
Iger began his career running errands for productions at ABC. He moved to Disney in 1995 after its acquisition of ABC, and has served as an executive there ever since.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Disney CEO Bob Iger said his company is not interested in sending messages in its movies and TV shows. In an interview with CNBC on Thursday morning, Iger said Disney\u2019s No. 1 mission is to capture broad \u2014 if increasingly diverse \u2014 audiences. \u2018Infusing messaging is not what we\u2019re up to,\u2019 he said. \u2018We need […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}