Bob Iger Talks Shop – Here’s Everything You Need to Know
Bob Iger just appeared on CNBC to talk shop regarding several aspects of The Walt Disney Company.
Frankly, Iger needed to show up to explain Disney’s latest endeavor, a joint venture with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery.
Bob Iger Talks Shop
People quickly started calling this project Sports Hulu, which is the best way to describe the new skinny bundle.
CNBC posted this summary earlier, and it includes a delightful conversation with sports broadcasting legend Mike Tirico.
Iger appeared, and I expected him to provide context on how this new entity should work.
While Disney’s leader certainly did that, the tenor of the conversation changed before his face had even appeared.
Disney released a series of notes to Julia Boorstin, the reporter interviewing Iger.
In a matter of three minutes, Boorstin revealed that Disney:
- was on track to meet or exceed its estimated $7.5 billion in cost-cutting
- expected full-year EPS to increase by at least 20 percent to $4.60
- announced a new share repurchasing program of $3 billion (a direct shot at Nelson Peltz)
- declared a $0.45 per share cash dividend payable in July, which is 50 percent more than the January dividend
- confirmed streaming profitability remains on pace by the fiscal fourth quarter of 2024 (which covers July through September 2024)
- shared that operating losses in the Direct-to-Consumer division had shrunk to $216 million, arguably its best performance to date
- lost 1.3 million subscribers but somehow expected 5.5-6 million new subscribers during the current quarter for…reasons
Believe it or not, literally none of that qualified as the big topic that Iger would discuss.
Disney’s CEO knew he needed to put on a show for investors to ensure that Nelson Peltz didn’t earn a seat on Disney’s Board of Directors.
Well, this conversation definitely demonstrated that Iger possesses a plan for restoring the magic at Disney on his own.
Iger’s Big Reveal
When Bob Iger appeared on camera, he looked confident and in command, just as he should given everything he knew was about to happen.
After briefly discussing Disney’s financials and Disney’s upcoming movie slate, Iger dropped a bombshell.
The previously announced Moana television series on Disney+ proved so good that Disney has turned it into Moana 2, a theatrical release.
In a way, Disney history has repeated itself here. This turn of events mirrors what happened with the development of Toy Story 2.
Iger would later confirm that people watched one billion minutes of Moana on Disney+.
I’m pretty sure he meant that fans have watched the film a billion times because the number was already at 775 million, according to Nielsen.
Somehow, the news of a Moana sequel debuting in theaters in November wasn’t the bombshell announcement, either.
The Real Bombshell
Disney will invest $1.5 billion to gain an equity stake in Epic Games.
Simultaneously, Disney has confirmed that Epic would create a side universe on Fortnite. Here’s the groundbreaking reveal:
As a gamer, I think I saw the face of God while watching this.
We’d previously covered Disney’s hope for the Metaverse under Bob Chapek. Those plans died screaming.
This week’s reveals of the Apple Vision Pro and the Fortnite integration underscore Disney’s evolving opinion on gaming.
Disney believes it can earn more money by licensing its content to others and thereby reduce its aggravation in running gaming frameworks.
That’s the smarter, safer approach, and Wall Street reacted accordingly, causing Disney stock to soar in after-hours trading.
On Wall Street, investors didn’t miss the vital part of the trailer. Here, look at the picture:
Disney isn’t even hiding its intent here. It views digital shopping in the Fortnite space as a license to print money.
Epic Games currently has a valuation of $31.5 billion, which means Disney just acquired about a five-percent stake in the company.
In the process, Bob Iger just committed Disney to its short-term digital future, which the trailer indicates is coming “soon(ish).”
Oh, and Bob Iger was so busy wrecking Nelson Peltz that he forgot to mention this during the interview: