In a newsmaking interview with CNBC on Thursday morning, Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger said the WGA strike and the imminent SAG-AFTRA strike are “very disturbing” and will have a “very, very damaging effect on the whole business.
“This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption,” Iger said, adding that he respects “their right and their desire” to be compensated fairly, but also that the unions “have to be realistic about the business environment and what this business can deliver” and that the strikes will cause “huge collateral damage.”
“We managed as an industry to negotiate a very good deal with the Directors Guild that reflects the value that the directors contribute to this great business,” Iger said. “We wanted to do the same thing with the writers, and we’d like to do the same thing with the actors. There’s a level of expectation that they have that is just not realistic, and they are adding to a set of challenges that this business is already facing, that is quite frankly, very disruptive.”
But Iger also addressed the future of Disney writ large, suggesting that the ABC broadcast network “may not be core” to the company and, perhaps most notably, that he had held discussions with potential “strategic partners” for ESPN that could help the sports giant move to a direct-to-consumer model.
“Whether it’s content value, whether it’s distribution value, whether it’s capital, whether it just helps the risk of the business to some extent — but that wouldn’t be the primary driver,” he elaborated. “If they come to the table with value that enables ESPN to make a transition to its direct-to-consumer offering, then we’re gonna be very open-minded about that.”
On ABC and its local stations, Iger said Disney has to be “open-minded and objective about the future of those businesses,” agreeing with interviewer David Faber that they “may not be core” to the company.
“There’s clearly creativity and content that they created that is core to Disney, but the distribution model, the business model that forms the underpinning of that business — and that has delivered great profits over the years — is definitely broken,” Iger added.
The interview with Iger came the day after Disney announced a contract extension with the executive, keeping him at the helm of the company through 2026. When he rejoined Disney last November, Iger agreed to a two-year term that ended next year, premised on him helping turn the company’s strategy around and finding a new successor.
However, the entertainment industry is going through a turbulent transformation amid declining linear TV revenues and an unprofitable streaming business, and finding a successor has long proven to be a challenge for Iger and Disney.
“I would say that in some cases, the challenges are greater than I had anticipated,” Iger said.
“While a lot of work has been accomplished in the seven or so months that I’ve been back, the board believed — and I agreed with them — that there was a lot more work to do, and the timetable that we had initially established — which was two years — seemed like it was putting an undue pressure on us, even though we’re getting at the work really quickly … to accomplish everything we want to accomplish,” he added.
Wall Street reacted positively to the new contract.
Iger also addressed his company’s feud with Florida governor and GOP presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis.
Iger said Disney was “within its right — even though I’m not sure it was handled very well — it was within its right to speak up on an issue” and that the “retaliation” from DeSantis violated its First Amendment rights.
He also pushed back against right-wing criticism of the company’s content, telling CNBC that “it’s not our goal to be involved in a culture war.
“Our goal is to continue to tell wonderful stories and have a positive impact on the world,” he added. “You know, we are a preeminent entertainer in the world, and we’re proud of our track record there. The notion that Disney is in any way sexualizing children, quite frankly, is preposterous and inaccurate.”
He also addressed the challenges facing the company’s film businesses, most notably at Marvel Studios and Pixar, saying that the shift to streaming may have been responsible for some of the issues.
“I think in our zeal to grow our content significantly to serve mostly our streaming offerings, we ended up taxing our people way beyond, in terms of their time and their focus, way beyond where they had been,” Iger said. “Marvel’s a great example of that. So, they had not been in the TV business at any significant level. Not only did they increase their movie output, but they ended up making a number of television series, and frankly, it diluted focus and attention. And I think you’re seeing that is more of the cause than anything else.”
As for Pixar, Iger acknowledged that debuting three Pixar films in a row on Disney+ “created an expectation” among consumers that Pixar movies would quickly go to streaming, though he added, “I think you’d have to agree that there were some creative misses, as well.”
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