When addressing the situation in Florida with Governor DeSantis, Reedy Creek Improvement District, and Disney, CEO Bob Iger noted that The Walt Disney Company will be investing billions in Walt Disney World over the next 10 years.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/Shutterstock (10507025y)
Disney CEO Robert Iger arrives at the world premiere of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”, in Los Angeles
World Premiere of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” – Arrivals, Los Angeles, USA – 16 Dec 2019
Iger stated that they are planning on investing $17 billion in Walt Disney World over the next 10 years. They will be creating 13,000 new jobs, leading to thousands more indirect jobs, as well as attracting more tourists.
Iger cited the 75,000 employees they have in Florida and 50 million visitors they have brought in this year alone, including 8 million internationally. He pointed out that Disney is the largest taxpayer in the state.
Thursday will go down as a very dark day for ABC as Disney’s forecasted layoffs reached the network’s news division, making employees keenly aware of the fact that no one working under the Disney name is safe from CEO Bob Iger’s job cuts. And we mean no one.
Shock and disbelief rushed through the doors, down the corridors, and into the offices and studios at ABC News on Thursday as Disney’s massive layoff initiative became painfully personal for many employees at the Disney-owned news division. The wave of cuts reached as far as the senior executive level at the news organization, setting into motion a massive newsroom restructuring while an even broader downsizing rained down in other parts of the Disney Company universe.
The cuts are part of a widespread effort to reduce salaries and purge Disney of “useless” employees on the way to saving The Walt Disney Company more than $5.5 billion.
“Throughout the company, teams are being impacted by the downsizing that was announced several weeks ago, including our own ABC News family,” ABC News President Kim Godwin said to staffers via interoffice memo. “While these actions are never easy, they are a necessary step to ensure we’re on solid footing for the years ahead as we chart a sustainable, growth-oriented path forward for the entire organization.”
Among those dismissed on Thursday were senior vice president of newsgathering Wendy Fisher, Galen Gordon, senior vice president of talent, Mary Noonan, vice president of talent, Los Angeles bureau chief David Herndon, vice president of communications Alison Rudnick, senior executive producer Chris Vlasto; and executive editorial producer Heather Riley.
Those closest to the matter say staffers were shocked by the laying off of so many high-level execs at ABC News.
“There’s a ton of shock that’s gone through the newsroom,” one ABC News staffer said. “So many people with institutional knowledge are gone.”
The cuts reportedly totaled 50 across the ABC News organization, including some roles that were open and not yet filled.
“While this is a difficult time for all of us – particularly those directly affected by these tough decisions – it’s important to remember that together, we are resilient, and will emerge from this period of transition stronger than before,” Godwin continued in her memo to staff members.
On Thursday, Godwin said she promoted Katie den Daas, London bureau chief, to the role of vice president of newsgathering. She also said that Derek Medina, executive vice president, will now be in charge of talent strategy. Stacia Deshishku, executive editor and senior vice president of news at ABC, will now oversee investigating and enterprise units.
“In the coming days and weeks, we will share additional information about these teams and our plans,” Godwin said.
The latest executive to be cut in the first round of Disney layoffs is Marvel Entertainment Chairman Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter, according to the New York Times.
“Mr. Perlmutter, 80, was told by phone on Wednesday that Marvel Entertainment, a small division centered on consumer products and run separately from Marvel Studios, was redundant and would be folded into larger Disney business units,” reports the New York Times.
Perlmutter was among those pushing for Nelson Peltz to join the board.
Nelson Peltz of Trian Group had been pushing for a spot on the Disney board, but finally dropped the fight. “Our filings indicate that both Ike and Nelson were working together to try to encourage the board or convince the board to put Nelson on the board,” Iger told CNBC. “They have a relationship that dates back quite some time. We bought Marvel in 2009. I promised Ike the job that he would continue to run Marvel after that. Not forever, necessarily. But after that.”
He also infamously almost fired Kevin Feige, but was stopped by Bob Iger.
Perlmutter, whose position was shifted to chairman in 2017, was “intent on firing Kevin Feige” in 2015, Iger said. This would have been around the same time that Feige was in talks to switch to DC because of frustrations with Perlmutter. Feige is now Chief Creative Officer at Marvel.
“I thought that was a mistake,” Iger continued in regards to Perlmutter firing Feige, “and stepped in to prevent that from happening. I think Kevin is an incredibly, incredibly talented executive that you know, the Marvel track record speaks for itself. And so I moved the moviemaking operation of Marvel out from under Ike into the movie studio under Alan Horn.” Horn was chairman of Walt Disney Studios at the time.
CNBC’s David Faber asked if there was animosity left after this decision, and Iger said, “You’d have to ask Ike about that. But let’s put it this way. He was not happy about it. And I think that unhappiness exists today. And you know, what the link is between that and [Nelson Peltz], his relationship. I think that’s something that you can speculate about. I won’t.”
Perlmutter came to Disney with the purchase of Marvel in 2009.
Marvel Entertainment co-president Rob Steffens and chief counsel John Turitzin were also laid off.
Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer Alicia Schwarz has been laid off from The Walt Disney Company amid the first of three rounds of company-wide layoffs.
Schwarz’s role will be absorbed by the office of Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez. According to Deadline, she joined the company in 2014 as principal counsel, later serving as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, as well as Global Deputy Chief Compliance Counsel.
The work she was responsible for included ensuring compliance with Disney’s global ethics and standards of business conduct. She was also in charge of managing regulatory compliance with anti-corruption and trade law. These duties will reportedly be taken over by the office of Gutierrez.
Executives at The Walt Disney Company were asked by CEO Bob Iger to identify thousands of potential layoff candidates in an effort to cut nearly $5.5 billion in costs. Iger is reportedly on “a push for profitability.”
Disney is in the midst of an estimated 7,000 job cuts. These are expected to occur across Disney Entertainment; Parks, Experiences, and Products; and ESPN. CEO Bob Iger is under pressure from investors to increase financial stability due to Disney’s stocks currently standing at roughly half the value they were at during summer 2021. Reducing staff is believed to be a way to possibly help their finances in the short term.
News of the layoffs and significant restructuring of The Walt Disney Company was announced in February. At the time, investors seemed sated; however, Disney’s stock has fallen again in recent weeks. Shares have only seen about a 2% increase in 2023 to date.
The Chief Compliance Officer is not the only high-level corporate role terminated in the current round of layoffs.
Amid massive layoffs and restructuring, Disney is cleaning house. Heads have been rolling at the Walt Disney Company since November with the sudden (and not entirely unwelcome) firing of former CEO Bob Chapek. No one knows who will be next on the chopping block as Disney looks to trim the fat.
One recently ousted exec, former President of Physical and Post Production, Visual Effects, and Animation of Marcel Studios Victoria Alonso, isn’t going to take her firing lightly. In fact, she’s got a lot to say about it and intends to say it in court. The Oscar-nominated producer has lawyered up and, according to Deadline, has retained the services of Patty Glaser. Law Dragon refers to Glaser as “Quite simply the go-to litigator in Los Angeles for business litigation and other high-profile cases.”
Glaser, a senior partner at Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro LLP, has experience tangling with Disney and is currently suing the House of Mouse over the firing of Karyn McCarthy from Star Wars TV series The Acolyte.
Alonso and her attorney claim she was fired due to her Amazon Studios produced film Argentina, 1985, stating that Disney viewed her work for competing 🎙 as a breach of contract despite giving their blessing to pursue the project. This isn’t the first time the Marvel executive has been under the microscope with the higher-ups at Disney- she was one of the vices that led the charge against Bob Chapek’s handling of the so-called “Don’t Say Gay Bill.” Glaser released a public statement on Alonso’s behalf saying,
“The idea that Victoria was fired over a handful of press interviews relating to a personal passion project about human rights and democracy that was nominated for an Oscar and which she got Disney’s blessing to work on is absolutely ridiculous. Victoria, a gay Latina who had the courage to criticize Disney, was silenced. Then she was terminated when she refused to do something she believed was reprehensible. Disney and Marvel made a really poor decision that will have serious consequences. There is a lot more to this story and Victoria will be telling it shortly—in one forum or another.”
It is unclear at this time what the lawyer claims was so reprehensible to Alonso. It is assumed that detail will be revealed during litigation. Alonso has claimed Disney and Marvel have tried to silence her in the past, even going so far as to forbid her from speaking to the press.
Disney has fired back with a statement of their own, following Alonso’s exit, saying, “It’s unfortunate that Victoria is sharing a narrative that leaves out several key factors concerning her departure, including an indisputable breach of contract and a direct violation of company policy. We will continue to wish her the best for the future and thank her for her numerous contributions to the studio.”
This ongoing battle seems to be only just heating up. Stay tuned right here as we bring you the latest in what is likely to be a salacious fight between the former executive and the Power House studio.
