Disney CEO Bob Iger Calls Apple Sales ‘Pure Speculation’
Bog Iger returned to lead the Walt Disney Company last week under a two-year contract, hoping to lead the entertainment giant to growth. The CEO hosted his first company-wide meeting with employees, answering questions about the potential resolution, as well as the hiring of former CEO Bob Chapek, following Disney’s recent quarterly earnings shortfall. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Iger intends to support that practice, calling it “a smart move given the industry’s challenges,” as he continues to find ways to return Disney to profitability. But the biggest comment the returning CEO made was to dismiss the idea of Apple acquiring Disney as “pure speculation,” and added that he won’t be leading any acquisitions during his tenure.
Chapek’s firing has many on Wall Street and media circles speculating about the idea of a Disney buyout, “including a buyout to use a reported 5.5 billion (about Rs. 44,950 crore) in debt, or an outright sale to the tech monolith.” It’s an apple.” Variety notes that workers are “disturbed” by Iger’s new mandate, telling people to go back to the office. “I might believe that in creative businesses, there’s a lot of benefit in working in the same environment,” he told Disney employees (via. The Hollywood Reporter“It’s empowering, it’s very empowering to be creative … I’m not making any announcements but I think that’s very important.”
Iger, who was responsible for the launch of Disney’s flagship streaming service Disney+ – which operates as Disney + Hotstar in India – said the company should prioritize revenue growth over subscriber numbers. “Instead of rushing [subscribers] with aggressive marketing and aggressive spending on content, we have to start chasing profits,” Iger said during a town hall meeting (via Reuters, “To achieve that, we have to look very hard at our cost structure in all our businesses.” A report earlier this month suggested that Disney + added more than 12 million subscribers this quarter, for a total of 235 million this year. Of that, Disney + Hotstar accounted for less than 3 million.
The CEO also spoke about Disney’s stance on LGBTQ+ inclusion, regarding the company’s response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prevented teachers from discussing such topics in schools. In accordance with IGNDisney was caught up in the issue when it was revealed that it had donated nearly $200,000 (about Rs. 1.6 crore) to politicians in Florida, who supported the law. Since the company operates the Disney World theme park in the state, it was natural for them to get involved in its political side. After days criticism To internal staff and the general public on all social media platforms, Chapek sent a letter acknowledging how painful his silence was and apologizing for the incident.
Regarding the studio’s stance on the matter now, Iger said, “One of the most important principles of our storytelling is inclusion, acceptance and tolerance. And we can’t lose that, we can’t lose that… how we actually change the world for good has to go on. We can’t please everyone all the time, and we don’t [going to] Try to. We will never compromise our core values to make everyone happy all the time. “
