Why Did Disney Succumb To De Santis?....

[global1]

Disney is an all-powerful world-wide corporation worth billions of dollars.

Disney is a big draw - bringing people from all over the world to Florida.

Disney has to be one of the biggest corporations in Florida - contributing countless dollars to its economy - and building its tax and commerce coffers.

Why then did Disney just seemingly give-up under the DeSantis pressure?

It defies explanation.

Why would they just give-up? Can anyone explain that to me - OR - is Disney now in the process of laying out a strategy to get back at De Santis?

[C_U_L8R]

1. Options are on the table.

their lawyers probably waited to see how this would pan out... but I doubt they're going to yield anything they deem valuable. DeSantis is screwing himself picking a fight with a major media conglomerate.

[The Grand Illuminist]

2. They are POWs now.

Not much can be done.

[MacKasey]

3. I think it's your second thought

Or DeSantis is term limited, they figured it is cheaper to wait him out

Or Disney figures how to win over the board he appoints

Or they get dirt on all of them and starts to release it slowly

[lame54]

29. Or he'll become prez and the real headaches start

[Trenzalore]

4. I don't know they gave up that much

We'll see what happens if DeSantis tries to interfere with content in the park or with content they are producing as a media company.

Frankly, I don't like DeSantis's reasons for doing it but corporations creating their own local governments harkens back to a time when coal companies did it and I come from coal mining stock. I don't think Disney should have ever been granted it to begin with.

[bullimiami]

7. I read that it was more bluster than substance.

[emulatorloo]

24. That's my understanding too.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

5. Watch Ronnie D throw a hissy fit about Disney,'s diverse workforce.

He does that, Disney will certainly fight back.

The mere fact Disney employs such a diverse workforce has to piss off DeSatan.

[SWBTATTReg]

6. I kind of wondered about this too, that Disney seemed to cave in pretty quickly. They have over

7,000 workers alone in Walt Disney World and think of all of the hotels and other businesses surrounding the Walt Disney resorts. Something seems off here.

[Irish_Dem]

8. Oligarchs usually cave in to autocratic rulers.

[emulatorloo]

25. I think Disney is playing a long game. I think DeSantis isn't gonna be around as long as he thinks.

I doubt he’ll be president either.

[Irish_Dem]

26. Too early to tell if US oligarchs are going to fold like lawn chairs to GOP autocrats.

Or fight back directly or indirectly.

Will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

[emulatorloo]

28. We def do live in interesting times!

[Irish_Dem]

30. Isn't this a Chinese curse?

"may you live in interesting times"

[emulatorloo]

31. Yes...

[Tommy Carcetti]

9. TBH, Reedy Creek was an insane gravy train for Disney

They knew eventually it would have to end.

Granted, it ended for the absolute stupidest reason ever, but honestly Disney should have never gotten it in the first place decades ago.

[Baked Potato]

10. I tend to think Disney knows more than Lil Ron ever will,

especially about $$$.

We will see how the long game plays out.

[LostOne4Ever]

11. Disney only cares about the bottom line

If you think they have any principles or integrity then they are fooling you!

[mitch96]

16. It's all about the Benjamins... Follow the $$$ Like others have said, they will wait him out..nt

[Irish_Dem]

27. Yes $$ spread sheets may have driven the decision.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

12. R's control the state government in Florida by a wide margin.

And Walt Disney World is stuck there.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

13. Two reasons per a friend down there.

One, Iger wants to pull Disney out of the fight its found itself in. And two, legally, there wasn't much they could do. The Florida legislature has the absolute power to create and dissolve political subdivisions as it sees fit. They passed a bill to create the district so they can pass one to modify or dissolve it.

[obamanut2012]

14. Because nothing changed

It is literally only window dressing.

[Johonny]

17. That was my reading

The stockholders saw it as the least Ron could do and a win for Disney.

[Fiendish Thingy]

15. What should they have done?

You weren’t expecting them to close Disney World, were you?

What DeSantis did was apparently legal.

He doesn’t control Disney, only the infrastructure that Disney World sits on.

Disney can continue business as usual, and if the new board tries to punish them by raising taxes, or shutting off utilities, then Disney can take them to court.

[In It to Win It]

18. Why would they fight this? Overall, they didn't really lose much

To me, it seems the cost of fighting this outweighs the benefits of any wins they may get.

[Beetwasher.]

19. I Think FL is now on the hook for shitloads of stuff Disney was paying for

This will take cost off their balance sheet and shift it to FL taxpayers for minimal loss of control on their end.

[Zeitghost]

21. That's not what happened

The property owners within the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (Disney) will pay property assessments passed by the board to pay the districts expenses.

[Zeitghost]

20. They had no choice

The sweetheart deal Disney had, which literally gave them the powers of a local government, was subject to the whims of the State of Florida. What the State creates, the State can destroy. Technically, they didn't do anything to "Disney", they modified the structure of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and renamed it the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

22. Disney hardly "succumbed"

They are going to have some inconvenience and higher taxes. But they deal with Xi Jinping. This won't be an issue.

Disney will play the long game - playing to youth, making their money, and biding their time. They'll find a time to stick the knife in DeSantis.

Meanwhile, they have options. They can put dark money into candidates who are more favorable. Or, instead of building three more parks in Florida, they can build parks in Texas... or Mexico.

Aldo remember.. Walt Disney was a visionary genius, but also deeply flawed. Incredibly patriotic, but also antisemitic and anti union. He probably would be on DeSantis ' side were he still with us.

[usonian]

23. Disney can play the long game. Ron can't.

Ron and Don (not the surf shop ) will crush each other.


Ayyyy, Matey. Let's settle this the Second Amendment way.

Might make a mighty lucrative act for the park.

[hunter]

32. They didn't "succumb."

They shed some debt and other inconveniences onto all the people of Florida.