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Bob Iger Confirms the Return of Disney Shareholder Dividend

Disney Shareholder dividend

After three years, the Disney Dividend is going to return!

In 2020, The Walt Disney Company, under the fresh command of now-former CEO Bob Chapek announced a suspension of the decades-long payout of a shareholder dividend. Each shareholder received a small distribution which was proportional to the number of shares they owned. The last payout just before the suspension shows the dividend at $0.88/share.

Bob Iger CEO Return Statement

Disney CEO Bob Iger with Mickey Mouse/Courtesy of Disney

The dividend was a key incentive to buy stock in The Walt Disney Company, and while its suspension arguably made sense as the Covid-19 pandemic was just beginning, investors have been asking when it will come back. In fact, it is one of the key points made by activist investor Nelson Peltz.

“They eliminated the dividend that has been in effect for fifty-seven years,” Peltz recently told CNBC. “Fifty-seven years of a dividend and now it’s gone. And now they want to tell us that everything is going to be great again. We think that we can help. We have a record of helping.”

Nelson Peltz Disney

Related: Enemy or Friend? Nelson Peltz’s Fight for Disney’s Future

But today, at the Q1 2023 financial earnings webcast, the newly reappointed CEO Bob Iger and Disney CFO Christine McCarthy announced their plans to finally reinstate the dividend for its investors. They declared that they expect a “modest” dividend to return by the end of this calendar year, and set the expectation that it will most likely be a small fraction of what shareholders were receiving in pre-covid days. But both executives expressed utmost confidence that payout will regrow as the Company grows.

The return of the dividend is just one part of Iger’s massive restructuring plan for The Walt Disney Company that will optimize spending on creative projects in a way that puts the creative storytellers back in charge and held accountable for what they produce, and will unfortunately also mean the loss of 7,000 jobs.

bob Iger disney restructuring

Read More: End of Chapek Era: Iger Announces Massive Company Transformation

“After a solid first quarter, we are embarking on a significant transformation, one that will maximize the potential of our world-class creative teams and our unparalleled brands and franchises,” said Robert A. Iger, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. “We believe the work we are doing to reshape our company around creativity, while reducing expenses, will lead to sustained growth and profitability for our streaming business, better position us to weather future disruption and global economic challenges, and deliver value for our shareholders.”

About T.K. Bosacki

Born and raised in Tampa, Florida, TK Bosacki is a professional writer, amateur adventurer, and lifelong Disney Fanatic. His Disney Park days include Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Nomad Lounge. He believes in starting at the Canada pavilion (IYKYK), and the Monorail is superior to all Ferry Boats.

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