Disney Brand Loyalty Keynote Speaker
Five daily blogs about life's 5 big choices on five different sites.
Solitude and quiet is more accessible than we stereotype. Know this and create your traditions.
dad
Middle of the road is a dangerous place, unless you are in Glacier in Winter.
• • • • •
This website is about our WORK. To ponder today’s post about our HOME, click here.
I want Disney to be the most admired company in the world.
Bob Iger
Letter to Shareholders from Chief Executive Officer, Robert A. Iger…(ps. every calls him Bob)…
Over the past year, we have made significant progress to strategically realign The Walt Disney Company for growth and shareholder value creation. Upon my return as CEO last fiscal year, we embarked on a necessary and unprecedented transformation of the Company to confront a number of internal and external challenges and seize the tremendous opportunities before us. First, the Company was completely restructured, restoring creativity to the center of our business. We made important management changes and efficiency improvements to create a more cost-effective, coordinated and streamlined approach to our operations. We aggressively cut costs across the enterprise, putting the Company on track to achieve roughly $7.5 billion in cost reductions – approximately $2 billion more than we originally targeted. And perhaps most importantly, we drastically improved our direct-to-consumer operating income as we approach profitability in streaming.
The underlying strength of our company and the remarkable amount of work we have accomplished in such a brief amount of time has allowed us to move beyond a period of fixing and begin building our businesses again. To that end, we are focused on four key building opportunities that will be central to our success.
First is achieving significant and sustained profitability in streaming. Over the past fiscal year, we have reset this business around economics designed to deliver on this goal, and we believe we are well on the path toward making it a reality. We are rationalizing the volume of content we make and what we spend; perfecting our pricing and marketing strategies; maximizing our enormous advertising potential; and moving toward a more unified one-app experience by making extensive Hulu content available to bundle subscribers via Disney+.
Next is taking ESPN – already the world’s leading sports media brand – and turning it into the preeminent digital sports platform. There is tremendous value in sports, demonstrated by the immense popularity of ESPN’s programming and its growth in both revenue and operating income for the past two fiscal years amidst a backdrop of notable linear industry declines. Today, we are preparing ESPN for a future in streaming that will further harness the power of live sports and entertainment in innovative new ways.
The third building priority is improving the output and economics of our film studios, which produce the content and intellectual property that generate value across the entire company. We are focusing heavily on the core brands and franchises that fuel all our businesses, and reducing output overall to enable us to concentrate on fewer projects and improve quality, all while continuing our effort around the creation of fresh and compelling original IP.
Finally, we are turbocharging growth in our Experiences business, including Domestic and International Parks and our Cruise Line. Historically, investments in this business have yielded attractive returns for shareholders. Given our wealth of stories and characters, innovative technology, buildable land and unmatched creativity, we are confident about the growth potential of our new investments.
We have already made considerable progress on all four of these opportunities, and we are continuing to move forward with urgency and clarity.
Over the past year, we’ve also greatly enhanced the strength of our senior management team. We recently welcomed Hugh Johnston as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Hugh joins Disney after 34-years with PepsiCo, where he earned a sterling reputation as one of the best CFOs in America. Sonia Coleman, a 15-year veteran of the Company, was named Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, and she has been an invaluable asset throughout our ongoing transformation, particularly the implementation of our new operating structure. Asad Ayaz was named Disney’s first-ever Chief Brand Officer, in addition to his longtime role as President of Marketing for Disney Entertainment Studios, and is now responsible for stewarding and elevating the Disney brand globally across the entire ecosystem of company touchpoints and consumer experiences. These seasoned and skilled leaders join a deep bench of tremendously talented senior executives who are charting Disney’s path forward.
I’m immensely proud of the irrefutable progress we’ve made transforming Disney for the future, and I’m committed to finishing the job so this company is strongly positioned when my successor takes the helm.
• • • • •
This website is about our WORK. To ponder today’s post about our HOME, click here.
May the Cowboy and Cowgirl in you fit well.
dad
Letter to Disney Shareholders…from Chairman of the Board, Mark G. Parker…
I want to thank you for your investment in The Walt Disney Company. Fiscal 2023 was a consequential year for the Company.
It reinforced, after 100 years, the enduring impact Disney continues to have on generations of people around the world. And it also showcased the Company’s tremendous resilience and fortitude in times of great change and uncertainty.
Upon his return as CEO, Bob Iger and his leadership team initiated a strategic transformation of the Company to make Disney’s businesses more efficient and effective, reinvigorate the creative engines that are foundational to all the company does, maximize Disney’s greatest brand and franchise assets and confront this period of significant industry disruption from a position of unrivaled strength. Disney’s world-class management team has made substantial progress executing on this strategic plan, and your Board is confident that they have put Disney on a path to sustained growth, both for the business itself and for shareholders.
We believe Bob’s continued leadership during this crucial period for Disney is invaluable and we are grateful for his whole-hearted devotion to the Company’s lasting success, which is why the Board voted unanimously to extend his contract through the end of 2026. Bob’s strong creative instincts and business acumen, enthusiasm for technological innovation and understanding of ever-changing global markets have solidified The Walt Disney Company as the world leader in entertainment. And he has proven again this year his ability to steer the Company toward shareholder value creation.
Meanwhile, both the Board and Bob remain actively engaged in the high-priority work of succession planning, and we’re pleased by the addition of two new Board members with outstanding experience in this area who are widely respected leaders in their industries.
James Gorman’s highly successful tenure leading Morgan Stanley through its own business transformation, along with his finance and investment acumen, management expertise and leadership of a very successful multi-year CEO succession process, bring unique and relevant skills to our Board. Jeremy Darroch is a veteran media executive with demonstrated success transforming an international media business and navigating the same changing media and entertainment landscapes that Disney is managing, and his expertise is highly additive to our Board.
The Disney Board is composed of an engaged, diverse and dynamic group of leaders, whose skillsets are closely aligned with the key drivers of our business, including media and entertainment; direct-to-consumer expertise; strategic transformation; technology and innovation; and 360 degree brand activation. We remain committed to strong oversight for the company and its shareholders, as well as Board refreshment and aligning Board skills and experiences with our strategic priorities to continue driving the company’s strategic transformation.
The Board and senior management are dedicated to driving sustained, long-term profitability as Disney continues to consistently deliver for shareholders and consumers alike. Notably, this year the company improved its cash flows and declared a dividend, while continuing to invest in the future growth of Disney’s industry-leading businesses. And we believe that, over time, investors will recognize the value of the company’s businesses and strategy as Disney completes its transformation.
Ongoing engagement with our shareholders and responsiveness to feedback are also of the utmost importance to the Board and management team. In calendar 2023, the Company contacted 96% of its largest 25 shareholders and held nearly 100 conversations with investors focused on topics including the ongoing leadership succession process, strategic composition of our Board and Committee-level oversight responsibilities, alignment of our executive compensation program with Company performance and our efforts to support sustainability and social impact initiatives. A more detailed review of these topics and the enhancements that the Board has approved to relevant initiatives and disclosures as informed by shareholders can be found in the section of the proxy statement titled “Proxy Summary — Shareholder Engagement and Responsiveness.”
The accompanying Notice of Annual Meeting of Shareholders and Proxy Statement describe the business to be conducted at the Disney 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the “Annual Meeting”). Also included are a WHITE proxy card and postage-paid return envelope. WHITE proxy cards are being solicited on behalf of the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company.
Your vote is especially important at this year’s Annual Meeting. As you may have seen, Trian Partners L.P. and Trian Partners Parallel Fund I, L.P., wholly owned subsidiaries of Trian Fund Management, L.P., along with other entities affiliated with Nelson Peltz and
• • • • •
This website is about our WORK. To ponder today’s post about our HOME, click here.
When did your career peak?
dad
Q. When did your career peak?
A. This year, 2024.
• • • • •
This website is about our WORK. To ponder today’s post about our HOME, click here.
I like it. I love it. I want some more of it.
Tim McGraw song lyric
• • • • •
This website is about our WORK. To ponder today’s post about our HOME, click here.