Bob Iger says Apple’s purchase of Disney is ‘pure speculation’ on controversy with ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law

Bob Iger held his first meeting with Walt Disney Company employees since being reinstated as CEO of the company, replacing Bob Chapek. The entrepreneur who took care of the mouse house for fifteen years and who transformed it into the colossus it is today with the acquisitions of Lucasfilm, Pixar, Marvel and 21st Century Fox returns at a rather difficult moment for the company. Disney has paralyzed all new staffing, the relationship between them and the state of Florida, where they have Disney World, their largest resort, are not having their best time and the latest financial results have not met expectations. The fact that “Strange World” could mean $100 million in losses due to its box office breakdown is also not good news.

The Disney CEO has decided not to drop so many bombs in this first meeting with his workers. He took the opportunity to qualify rumors that he might consider selling the company to Apple as “pure speculation that does not arise from any fact”. He also clarifies that it is not in his plans to make new acquisitions: “Nothing lasts forever, but I’m very comfortable with the resources we have. I think they can be useful to our company. Don’t expect headlines on contracts”.

His speech focused on emphasizing that his major short-term decisions will have as their main objective to “seek profitability”. For example, he has no plans to lift the new hiring freeze imposed by his predecessor. He also postponed a plan to move large numbers of employees from California to Florida to 2026. Just Florida is the main hot potato for Iger. As he himself said during the meeting, “the state of florida has been very important to us for a long time and we have been very important to the state of florida”. Disney went to war with Governor Ron DeSantis over the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, angering the Republican governor for freezing donations and Disney employees for not condemning an anti-LGBTIQ+ law more strongly. There have been worker protests and long-term consequences from DeSantis, who has threatened to withdraw some tax and legal privileges enjoyed by Disney in Florida.

“We won’t always make everyone happy”

Regarding the “Don’t Say Gay” law, Iger said: “This company has been telling stories for a hundred years, those stories have had a significant and positive impact on the world, and one of the reasons they have had such an impact is because one of the core values ​​of our storytelling is inclusion, acceptance and tolerance, and we can’t lose it. I don’t think telling stories and trying to be a good citizen of the world is political.”. On the debate over what is political and what is not, he commented: “I think there’s a misunderstanding of what politics is. Some of the issues that have been controversial because they’re Disney-related have been labeled as political, and I don’t think they are.”. He mentioned (via CNBC) ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Coco’ as two movies that impacted the world and added: “We won’t always make everyone happy and we won’t try. It’s complicated. There is a balance. We do what we think is right. Some may criticize it and say who are you to say what is right. When you have a job like mine, you have to have a sense of what is right.”. As for the friction with Florida, he said he doesn’t like seeing the company embroiled in controversy and that he will try. “calm things down” all you can, but make sure that “I had no idea of ​​the consequences it has for the company” all, leaving it hanging for now.

Iger didn’t comment much more on his next steps, other than stressing that any spending needs to be scrutinized closely to try to reduce it as much as possible: “We have to act fast, but we have to be smart”. He also specified that his intention is to encourage a return to the offices, even if a certain flexibility is not lost as regards hours and work: “I happen to think that in the creative industry there is tremendous value in working in the same place. Create an energy that drives creativity. I’m not going to proclaim anything, but I think it’s extremely important.”.