It’s been a year since Bob Iger returned to the Walt Disney Company to serve as CEO once more.
©Disney
His return followed a downward spiral on multiple fronts: revenue, park attendance, and creativity within the studios and production sites. Even two years after pandemic-related shut downs, the Company continued to suffer. Enter Iger. Disney fans and stakeholders alike hoped that the former CEO could turn this downward spiral into something hopeful. The final earnings call of fiscal 2023 shared the ways in which the company has changed and grown in the year that Iger has been back aboard. The question is… Was Iger successful in making the massive changes it would take to turn things around financially for the company?
Well, to an extent… yes. There were two major changes that Iger made in the past year as CEO, and they seem to be working out, based on the earnings report. Let’s talk about it!
Mass Restructuring Throughout the Company
At the first earnings call of 2023, Iger shared that Disney would soon undergo a company-wide “mass restructuring” in order to sort of switch gears and put focus on Iger’s new priority: streaming. Throughout the spring, THOUSANDS of jobs were cut to reallocate finances to the growth of streaming and Disney+, where Iger believes the future of the Walt Disney Company lies.
©MasterClass
So… based on the job cuts, we’re going to say that he did pull through with that promise of a company-wide restructuring. As hard as it is to hear of those cuts and reallocations of funds, based on the final earnings call of the year, something seems to have worked. Disney+ was able to grow by 7 million subscribers domestically, and overall, revenue is up per subscriber. With a beta version of a combined Disney+ and Hulu app rolling out in December 2023, and more content becoming available to stream, Iger said Disney+ should start to profit by the end of 2024.
Trajectory of In-Park and Disney Cruise Line Experiences
With pandemic-related closures, Disney saw a loss in revenue and park attendance that continued over the course of the next couple years. Throughout the past year that Iger has been back as CEO, it’s evident that an emphasis has been placed on updating the parks and cruise line experiences, with the announcements of more new rides, re-themes, and even a whole new cruise ship: the Disney Treasure, which will feature never-before-seen entertainment options.
©Disney
According to the earnings report, park attendance and revenue from in-person experiences is UP, and Iger said that we can expect to see the trend continue in 2024. With all new attractions like Tiana’s Bayou Adventure set to open, we’re interested to see how attendance and revenue will turn out.
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Is anybody willing to talk to spectrum an others a give our channels. Is anybody reading the comments? I know oh Bob was gonna screw up he doesn’t even know where he is. I hope someone with better sense will help us out please
Iger has not been successful when you consider his oversight and approval of Disney’s cultural decline and Disney’s historically loss of trust with American families, reputation decline and belief that Disney is one of the most polarizing corporations politically. Iger has driven Disney into the ground in just a few short years. It’s heartbreaking that this happened to Walt’s company, the former paragon of children’s and family entertainment.
How can multi hour wait times and Insane Pricing be considered a Downward Spiral? Unless Disney is Proping Up their Failures with Park Revenue? Just Tried to Book WDW Family Vacation and the Price for Moderate Hotel was Off the chart. What a Travesty
He’s better than Chapek.
Mike is correct. Disney is using the very expensive park tickets, enhanced by the “what-used-to-be-free” Genie+ revenue, to cover for their Woke box office failures. But Iger is bound and determined to keep following the Woke Culture Warrior path. He is the worst leader in the history of Disney Corp.
Revenue per person in the park is UP. What a surprise with a combination of Genie Plus and Individual Attraction. Mr. Iger, ask long time Disney families like mine (34 visits) since 1984 if we are happy with the cost and inconvenience of the changes made at Disney since the Pandemic. We all are VERY UNHAPPY. Unhappy guests lead to EMPTY HOTEL ROOMS. Reduce the price of hotel rooms and bring back the Fast Pass with three rides in advance of arrival. My family would be willing to pay a REASONABLE AMOUNT for that. What do you think?
The two changes he made were, let cast members go and raised prices….
all the comments here are spot on, him and d’amaro want to operate the place like its going out of business. they dont want passholders or day guests, they dont want to hire the help they need (thank higher minimum wage partly for that) only the foreigners and other tourists who throw money at them and so they dont have to keep anything up like they use to, and operate on a short string, Since locals and passholders call them out on such things. Yet these clueless execs and others dont visit the parks or care what your experience is. clueless money grabbers. and then the parks have to suffer thanks to their precious disneyplus and boxoffice failures. I only wish the media would open their ears and eyes to all this.