“Anti-business” and “Anti-Florida” — Disney CEO Bob Iger Comments on DeSantis Actions

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We’ve been following the feud between The Walt Disney Company and Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis, and recent times have yielded lots of interesting updates.

©Governor Ron DeSantis Website

A new Board of Supervisors appointed by Florida Governor DeSantis has met regarding the future of Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District (now called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District) and they’ve recently discovered an agreement that was signed by Disney and the old Board that grants Disney quite a lot of power over certain decisions within the District moving forward. The new Board has threatened legal action and the Florida Governor has ordered an investigation into Disney’s agreements, all while Disney has defended the agreement. And now Disney CEO Bob Iger has commented on the situation.

During the 2023 annual shareholder meeting for the Walt Disney Company, Disney received a number of questions related to the District and Disney’s decision to take political stances. One question came from a financial advisor that asked, “what steps have already been taken or will be taken to protect shareholder value with regard to the legal battle between Disney and Ron DeSantis and the Reedy Creek Improvement District?”

In response, Iger said, “we love the state of Florida.” He continued, “I think that’s reflected in not only how much we’ve invested over the last 50 years, but how much we’ve given back in the form of jobs, and community service, taxes…tourism of course, and all sorts of other responsible business practices.”

©Disney

Iger continued by noting, “we’ve also always respected and appreciated what the state has done for us…it’s kind of been a two-way street. But a year ago, the Company took a position on pending Florida legislation, and while the Company may have not handled the position it took very well, a company has a right to freedom of speech just like individuals do.”

According to Iger, “the governor got very angry about the position Disney took and seems like he’s decided to retaliate against us, including the naming of a new board to oversee the property and the business, in effect to seek to punish a company for its exercise of a constitutional right…and that just seems really wrong to me.”

©Disney

Iger emphasized that this seems “wrong” for the state to do “against any company or individual, but particularly against the company that means so much to the state that you live in.” To put things into perspective, Iger noted that they [Disney] have “over 75,000 employees…countless thousands of indirect jobs have been created, about 50 million visitors will go through our gates this year alone, about 8 million of them from outside the US, and we are the largest taxpayer in the state.”

Reedy Creek

He shared, “we’re currently planning now to invest over 17 billion dollars in Walt Disney World over the next 10 years, and those investments we estimate will create 13,000 new Disney jobs and thousands of other indirect jobs, and they’ll also attract more people to the state and generate more taxes.”

He concluded by stating, “our point on this is that any action that thwarts those efforts, simply to retaliate for a position a company took sounds not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida.”

Reedy Creek

After that question, another individual posed a question to Iger asking whether it was wise for Disney to take political positions “to satisfy a very small portion of people when our primary mission is entertainment, not education.”

To that, Iger said, “as the CEO of the Company, my job is to strive to do what I think is best for our business and that includes doing…what’s best for our Cast Members or our employees, and what will enable both to flourish.”

©Disney

He went on to note, “I don’t think we should or can weigh in on every issue. And I also understand there are gonna be gray areas. There are gonna [be] times when we decide to weigh in on an issue that we believe is worthy of debate because of its relevance and importance to our business or to our employees…and there are times when I actually believe we shouldn’t.”

But, he continued, “I strongly feel that we alone have to determine whether, when, or how to weigh in on an issue, whether it’s private or public. Of course with the standard that when we take a position on those matters, there’s a true reason why we have. And in almost all cases it has to be because it directly affects our business or our people.”

TRON Cast Member in NEW Costume

And so the Reedy Creek drama continues. We’ll keep an eye out for more updates and let you know what we find.

If you want to learn more about the Reedy Creek Improvement District battle, check out these posts:

• “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” — Gov. DeSantis Threatens Future Action Against Disney
• Why Disney Dragged King Charles Into Its Battle with DeSantis
• Disney Comments on Lawsuit Threat from New Reedy Creek Board
• Desantis-Appointed Reedy Creek Board Claims Disney Stripped Their Power With “Last-Ditch Efforts”

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The post “Anti-business” and “Anti-Florida” -- Disney CEO Bob Iger Comments on DeSantis Actions first appeared on the disney food blog.

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