The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) CEO Bob Iger told employees that he wants to get Disney “building again,” at an internal town hall Tuesday after much of the year has required the company to spend time fixing parts of its business instead, according to reports.
“I feel that we’ve just emerged from a period of a lot of fixing to one of building again, and I can tell you building is a lot more fun than fixing,” Iger said, taking questions from ABC News’ David Muir at the Amsterdam Theater in New York.
Iger addressed employees for about 15 minutes before being joined by head of parks and resorts Josh D’Amaro, ESPN head Jimmy Pitaro and Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman.
Disney’s “fixing” this year has included the elimination of 7,000 jobs as part of a massive cost-saving program that it projects will save $7.5 billion in 2023.
Iger’s vision for “building” includes a $60 billion expansion of Disney theme parks over the next decade, a new ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service by 2025 and a revamped movie studio business, which Iger acknowledged has been hurt by producing too many projects.
The ESPN service would likely include the integration of fantasy sports and advanced statistics, Iger and Pitaro said.
“What Bob and I have talked about is we don’t just want to flip the switch,” Pitaro said. “We don’t want to just move our networks over and make them available over the top without significant product enhancements.”
On the studio side, Iger and Bergman admitted that Disney has seen a quality dropoff in its films. Most recently, Disney's latest blockbuster Wish underperformed at the box office.
“When it comes to creating a perception of the company, nothing is more powerful than movies,” Iger said. “That’s perception among investors, perception among the audience, obviously consumers and also perception among our own employees.”
Shares of Disney fell 2.8% Tuesday to $92.50.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
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