Disney Is Collapsing: There Are Now Too Many Fires to Put Out

The Walt Disney Company is now in a critical spiral that is escaping the normal business bounds. Change should occur soon to eliminate leadership causing this catastrophic collapse.

It was supposed to be smooth sailing for Bob Iger upon his return and the rejection of Bob Chapek for political reasons ostensibly covered over with personality differences. That has not been the case. Instead of an easy transition into Mouse Messiah Mode, Bob Iger has flopped and flopped badly. Marvel Entertainment is in utter disarray. Star Wars continues to receive unwarranted funding for little financial return. Toy sales are being reduced as competitors claim more and more retail space. And that’s jus the beginning of the issues.

What we are witnessing at this stage is a monumental collapse brought about by a company that refuses to change course. A thousand bad decisions, antithetical to proper business management have led us to this point. Now, we are facing a SEARS style sabotage from executives beholden to political ideology and pro-China partisanship. First the CNBC article ravaged them, next came South Park, now Variety has taken them to the woodshed.

On the wall of Iger’s office bathroom hung two posters. The first was a framed collage of newspaper front pages and magazine covers with images of Iger celebrating Disney’s purchase of Marvel in 2009. The $4 billion deal was arguably Iger’s shrewdest decision as CEO and one of the best media and entertainment acquisitions in U.S. corporate history.

The second picture spoofed the movie poster for the 1975 Clint Eastwood thriller “The Eiger Sanction,” but the image was of Iger instead of Eastwood, with the title “The Iger Sanction.”

— Alex Sherman, CNBC

The South Park episode has been perhaps even more powerful however in its criticism of the company. Satirizing Disney in a way that shows mainstream viewers and average business observers that not all is okay with Mickey and friends, the gavel has now dropped. Everyone is out and about recognizing now that Disney is not well. Sure, some might say that South Park took swings at the other side, but that’s a small price to pay for Disney taking it on the chin (and also likely protected Trey Parker and Matt Stone from litigation).

The company has essentially jettisoned its most loyal fans — families with children who want safe content — in favor of a postmodern cornucopia of identity swapping Beverly D’Angelo acolyte scrip writers. With an alleged Kathleen Kennedy bombshell still on the way, and a Hulu deal that isn’t going as expected, one might expect Disney would shift to a more successful strategy. But such is not the case with culturally captured corporations beholden to bringing about society change… financial responsibility be damned.

All of this is not to say that Disney will soon cease to exist. But it is to say that Bob Iger’s second-coming tenure is a circus of failure. There is no other option than for investors and stockholders to fix the mess. Nelson Peltz and Ike Perlmutter can start the job, but it is insufficient for the full force that needs to be dropped upon this company. While I provide no financial advise here, all I can really relay is a simple and foundational philosophy for those who truly care about the company:

There are now too many fires. Rather than trying to put each one out individually, this is a company that must be rebuilt. And the impediment to its reconstruction — its return to competency — is the removal of those who incompetently run it. Whatever has caused bastions of ROI regality to fall from grace, it’s time for the Bob Igers, Kathleen Kennedys and Kevin Feiges to step aside. Each has had significant portions of tremendous success in their own careers. However, for whatever reason in this time and place, they have managed to fail so spectacularly, and with such consistency, that their very control of the company presents a threat to Disney remaining a viable, major entertainment powerhouse.

And I don’t think anyone really invested in Disney with the hopes that it would be heading towards CW territory. But that’s what happens when you have executives arguing about who gets to pet the hippo.

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