Watch: Disney CEO Talks Potential Fire Sale of Major Assets Amid Devastating Financial Outlook
In November 2021, Disney fired CEO Bob Chapek, opting to replace him with his predecessor, Bob Iger, who ran the company for a decade and a half before Chapek’s appointment.
Under Chapek’s leadership, the entertainment giant had begun to crumble, in part because of the pandemic, questionable leadership decisions and a series of social controversies, according to NBC News.
In the first few years since Iger’s return, things have not gotten much better. According to The Wall Street Journal’s Disney beat reporter Robbie Whelan, Iger has been “having a hard time” in the eight months since his return as CEO.
This is likely due to the fact that Disney parks, major motion pictures and streaming platforms have all faced serious financial struggles in recent months. At least one financial analyst estimates the company’s losses may have reached a staggering $1 billion between June 2022 and June of this year.
Perhaps that’s why Iger is looking to sell off many of the company’s biggest assets.
According to a report published in February, the studio was planning to cut 7,000 jobs and a whopping $5.5 billion in costs.
“It’s time for another transformation,” Iger said at the time.
Based on a recent interview, we now have a good idea of what this “transformation” is going to be.
“The transformative work of course is making sure that our cost structure reflects the economic realities of the business,” Iger said in a July 13 interview with CNBC
This includes, according to Iger, “dealing with businesses that are no-growth businesses and what to do about them.”
When asked if this would involve selling off major linear television assets like ABC, FX, National Geographic and others, Iger responded that he would be “open-minded and objective about the future of those businesses.”
The only non-core asset owned by Disney that Iger seemed to take off the table was ESPN.
“If you look at today’s media landscape, sports stands very, very tall in terms of its ability to convene millions and millions of people all at once,” Iger said. “There’s almost a guarantee that that occurs.
“It’s an advertiser’s dream. It’s a great demographic. It lends itself to technology in many ways, both in terms of coverage, distribution and consumption. And our position in that business is very unique. We have a great brand. We’ve had a great business.
“And we want to stay in that business.”
That doesn’t, however, mean that ESPN will remain in its current form forever.
“That said, we’re going to be open-minded there too, not necessarily about spinning ESPN off, but about looking for strategic partners that could either help us with distribution or content, but we want to stay in the sports business,” Iger said.
According to Axios media reporter Tim Baysinger, Iger’s message during the interview couldn’t have been clearer.
Bob Iger basically put a giant “FOR SALE” sign on Disney’s linear TV assets except for ESPN
— Tim Baysinger (@tim_bays) July 13, 2023
“Bob Iger basically put a giant ‘FOR SALE’ sign on Disney’s linear TV assets except for ESPN,” Baysinger wrote in a Twitter post.
Iger is saddled in to see his plans through. According to CBS News, in mid-July, less than a year into Iger’s second tenure, Disney renewed his contract for another two years.
He will now remain Disney’s CEO until the end of 2026.
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