As we’ve been reporting here at That Park Place, the conflict between Disney and Florida is having a major impact throughout the entertainment industry. According to The Wall Street Journal, that impact goes beyond just entertainment and all the way throughout the corporate structure in America.
At many companies, vocal employees have in recent years pushed bosses to take public stands on social and political issues. Florida’s pushback against Disney has raised the stakes.
“The No. 1 concern CEOs have is, ‘When should I speak out on public issues?’ ” said Bill George, former chairman and CEO of Medtronic PLC and now a senior fellow at Harvard Business School. “As one CEO said to me, ‘I want to speak out on social issues, but I don’t want to get involved in politics.’ Which I said under my breath, ‘That’s not possible.’ ”
Some executives might be relieved. The old idea that CEOs should focus on shareholder returns and stay out of politics lingers in some corporate suites, even in a politicized age of public social-media discussions and more-activist workforces.
In reading the reports from WDW Pro and watching the videos from Valliant Renegade, one thing that has stuck with me is “if Disney is having billions of dollars of debt removed from them, why are the not celebrating?” It seems to me that the reports that Disney is offloading debt to the citizens should DeSantis get his way just can’t be true. Otherwise why would Disney seem to be so against the dissolution of Reedy Creek?
But now we see the same proof in The Wall Street Journal. If DeSantis has put his state and his political ambitions through the ringer, then why are corporate CEOs concerned about speaking up? It would seem that they fear whatever is happening to Disney, and if they fear it, it must not be a pleasant experience.
John Oliver nails it, saying 'right wing dipsh*t' Ron DeSantis didn’t think through law against Disney #DeSantisDestroysFlorida #RemoveRon https://t.co/vVCK6Wvn1F via @YahooNews
— Lesley Abravanel 🪩 (@lesleyabravanel) May 2, 2022
That’s why when John Oliver mocks the conservatives in the State of Florida, I’m not sold that he’s telling the truth or even trying to do so. When he says it’s a billion dollar mistake, does he really believe it? The news can’t have it both ways though… they want to say that the Florida legislators that passed this have made a huge mistake, but they also want to say that moderate Geoff Morrell (the Disney – Florida negotiations pointman) is taking the fall for the situation. Okay, so which one is it? Is Disney getting rid of billions of dollars in debt or are they not?
It seems to me that one of these cannot be true. And it also seems to me that Geoff Morrell didn’t “take the fall.” Who goes through a forced resignation and gets to take the shot at the company they’re leaving? Forced resignations usually have pleasant statements from both sides and a beautiful golden parachute for the jettisoned executive. In this case, Morrell made a bitter statement, Chapek made a bitter statement, and now the news wants us to believe this was a company-planned action to drop their best negotiator in Florida. Yikes.
Anyway, those are just my thoughts on all this. If you have a subscription for The Wall Street Journal, check out the thoughts from other CEOs and then see if you think they believe Disney is in a better or worse spot.
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