When it was announced that Disney CEO Bob Iger would stay with the company through 2026, Iger admitted that the “challenges were bigger than he expected.” And he wasn’t wrong. Iger has returned to Disney’s “crumbling castle” and now needs more time to try and fix the more significant issues facing the Walt Disney Company.
Wall Street was giddy when Iger’s return was announced, but now reality has started to set in, and Disney’s stock has lost nearly three percent since the announcement. It seems that Wall Street analysts realized what most Disney fans have known for some time: the Walt Disney Company has some serious issues.
Rich Greenfield, a partner with Lightshe,d told Marketwatch:
Disney’s biggest challenge is that its IP/content creation has been underwhelming over the past few years — especially its animated content. Pixar and Disney Animation have not had a breakout hit that impacted children’s play patterns and both Marvel and Lucasfilm feel increasingly tired from overuse. Disney may not have a single $1 billion global box-office film released in calendar 2023.
Besides the issues with its movie business, Disney is also facing problems in television. In an interview with CNBC, Bob Iger said that Disney would consider selling ABC and its other television assets and moving ESPN to a direct-to-consumer model. Iger also has to deal with decreased attendance at Walt Disney World. Over the past month, reports have circulated that attendance at Disney World has been down.
Iger counted that argument by saying that attendance is down at all Theme Parks in the area and tourism, in general, is down in Florida. If all that weren’t enough, Iger has to find a new chief financial officer and diversity officer.
TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz told Marketwatch:
With the recent exit of CFO Christine McCarthy, Disney was facing two senior executive searches. Pushing out Iger’s departure date makes even more sense in that context. Disney’s challenges are structural in nature and not easily solved.
With all those problems facing Iger and an August 8 call with Wall Street investors coming, it seemed like 18 months wasn’t enough time to solve all of Disney’s problems. Will another two years be the magic timeframe to help Bob Iger fix Disney’s issues? Walt Street doesn’t seem to think Disney stock will recover, but we’ll have to wait and see.
We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.
