Were These 2025 Disney Predictions Correct?

Every year, some of the top analysts in the world offer their opinions about your favorite company.

These alleged experts make bold predictions about the future of The Walt Disney Company.

MickeyBlog always lets you know what they are so that we can laugh about them later.

Well, it’s later. So, were these Disney predictions for 2025 correct?

This year, the answer is actually yes to one! And Disney wishes it had done another. Allow me to explain.

About the Predictions

Each year, CNBC asks some of its favorite analysts to participate in a fun thought experiment.

While I always mock it incessantly, I’m also hopelessly addicted to reading it.

Nobody ever expects these things to be right. They’re just harmless discussion fodder.

So, in late December each year, CNBC compiles a list of the most interesting predictions.

Here’s a link to last year’s wild guesses – let’s be honest about what these predictions are – most of which were laughably wrong.

We’ll focus on the Disney-related ones today, although most of these guesses were trash.

For example, one person predicted that Comcast would win the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery.

In reality, Comcast finished a distant third in a three-way fight. Not exactly a bingo.

Another said that Fox would win WBD, and they didn’t even bid. So, that prediction is even worse.

Dana Walden Will Leave Disney

Before we begin, here’s my post about these predictions from early January.

I led with the prediction that struck me as the most plausible, but I’ll point to my quote at the end.

“Personally, I don’t buy this one for a second.” That should tell you how much faith I had in any of these predictions.

The idea with this prognostication was that Dana Walden would leave Disney by the end of the year.

Now, I should add that we still have a few days left in 2025. Ergo, I’m calling this one a bit early.

Still, the rationale for why this might happen was utterly ridiculous.

According to the so-called expert, an outsider would usurp Walden as a candidate for Disney CEO.

“NBCUniversal Entertainment and Studios chairman Donna Langley will be considered for” for that role.

Who’s Donna Langley, you may wonder? Well, I just told you the executive’s job title.

As the Chairman at NBCU, Langley is basically the Dana Walden of Comcast.

There’s been no connection between her and Disney at any point during the three-year battle for succession.

So, I don’t know whether that person got a bad tip or just tried to will this into being.

What I will say is that Walden remains the co-favorite to become Disney CEO.

Even should she lose, all the signs point to Disney doing everything it can to keep her.

Walden is one of current CEO Bob Iger’s favorite proteges ever. He doesn’t want to lose her.

For her part, Walden has noted at least a marginal amount of job dissatisfaction lately.

She doesn’t like being “pit (sic) against colleagues” in the CEO race, which is fair.

Still, all signs currently point to her being at Disney for the long haul. So, this one’s a bad miss.

Kathleen Kennedy Will Leave Lucasfilm

As the header suggests, that’s the prediction. Someone believed Kathleen Kennedy would retire.

This one has been a strange story to cover in 2025, as a respected reporter apparently got it wrong.

Matthew Belloni, who got his own story in the New York Times last month, just missed this one.

Well, I say that, but again, the year isn’t technically over yet. So, this one remains a possibility.

There’s a chance that on the final day of 2025, Kathleen Kennedy quietly finishes her illustrious career.

The executive has led the company since 2012 and is now 72 years old. So, she has earned a break.

The catch is that she doesn’t appear to be ready to go, even though Belloni keeps trying to push her out.

In February, Puck ran with this story and has yet to retract after ten months.

However, Kennedy firmly pushed back, indicating that she will remain in the Star Wars orbit for years to come.

As I mentioned at the time, that’s not quite the same as denying that she’ll retire as the leader of Lucasfilm.

Even so, this prediction appears to be inaccurate, albeit reasonable.

The Puck report, on the other hand, appears misguided at best and potentially intentionally mean-spirited at worst.

Still, an interpretation of Kennedy’s words suggests that 2026 may be her last year as President of Lucasfilm.

So, I don’t perceive this particular prediction as horrible, just a bit early.

Venu Sports Never Launches

On my media podcast, Streaming into the Void, I have been saying this since the day Disney announced Venu Sports.

This idea never should have gotten out of the boardroom, as it had regulatory concerns aplenty.

One of the potentially impacted competitors, Fubo, promptly sued, putting the pressure on Disney.

Ultimately, executives at the Mouse House realized the cheapest strategy was to buy Fubo off.

So, Disney now owns that entity. Meanwhile, Venu Sports failed to launch.

While this is technically an accurate prediction, it’s like saying the LA Dodgers will win a lot of games.

Everyone knows it, which doesn’t exactly make it an impressive prediction.

This is the CNBC equivalent of a psychic telling you that you’ll meet someone with an R in their name.

Someone tried to be more specific by adding that after the collapse of Venu TV, Fox would license its sports to Disney.

This one isn’t correct either, as Fox created its own streaming service instead.

You can bundle that service with Disney+, but I’m still not giving the predictor any credit here.

They thought Fox would trust Disney with all its sports streaming needs, and that didn’t happen.

Disney Will Buy Its Affiliates

Here’s the one that Disney wishes it had done, although that would have opened another can of worms.

According to the prediction, the Trump administration would relax longstanding broadcast regulations.

In that scenario, network affiliates, struggling under crushing financial burdens, would sell.

Specifically, they would sell to the network owners themselves, including Disney/ABC.

Anyone who kept up with the Jimmy Kimmel kerfuffle knows the deal here.

If anything, affiliates like Nexstar and Sinclair are acting more entitled than ever.

While their finances remain an absolute disaster, these companies attempted to bully Disney.

Should consolidation occur among network affiliates, which appears likely, the problem will grow more pronounced.

To date, Disney has shown zero inclination to purchase more of its affiliates, even if the laws change, which they haven’t (yet?).

However, a LOT of headaches could have been avoided if Disney had lobbied for this possibility.

So, I suspect that even if Disney hadn’t considered it before, it’s definitely doing so now.

Iger has stated that Disney remains committed to broadcast television.

As long as that’s the case, affiliates will remain problematic.

The easiest solution is for Disney to buy more control.

For the time being, the company appears more likely to lobby against consolidation, though.

On December 17^th, The Hollywood Reporter indicated that it’s Disney’s current plan.

Someone Buys EA

Finally, I’ll mention a gutsy prediction that someone got right in last year’s CNBC column.

“After flirting with both Comcast and Disney in past years, Electronic Arts will sell in 2025 to a big tech company such as Netflix, Alphabet, Apple or Amazon, said this executive.”

I posted it in full as a sign of admiration, as that one IS a bingo and an impressive one at that.

In terms of prognostications, it’s the equivalent of the Ted Lasso “Barbecue Sauce” scene.

As you have probably heard, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, PIF, swallowed EA whole.

At a price of $55 billion, I doubt Disney ever seriously considered this move, as it would have cost almost as much as Fox.

Still, I mentioned it last year, and that was definitely an exceptional prediction.

Will CNBC offer any similarly prophetic ones for 2026? We’ll find out in a week or two.

These articles usually go live before/after Christmas Day.

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Feature photo: DIsney