Disney CEO Iger Calls DeSantis’s Moves Antibusiness, Anti-Florida
Walt
Disney Co.
DIS -0.38%
Chief Executive
Robert Iger
called Florida’s actions against Disney over the past year “antibusiness” and “anti-Florida” in his first in-depth comments about the company’s ongoing battle with Gov.
Ron DeSantis.
“While the company may have not handled the position that it took very well, a company has the right to freedom of speech just like individuals do,” Mr. Iger said at Disney’s annual meeting of shareholders, in response to a question about the dispute.
The two sides have been clashing since Disney’s decision in early 2022 to publicly oppose the Parental Rights in Education bill, a measure that prohibits classroom instruction on gender and sexuality for young elementary school students.
In response, Mr. DeSantis announced a special session last spring of the Florida legislature to strip Disney of the power to effectively govern the special tax district that includes Walt Disney World, known as Reedy Creek.
In February, the Republican governor appointed a new board to oversee the land. Disney circumvented some of the moves by locking in land-use approvals for 30 years that will allow the company to expand its theme parks and hotels without relying on the newly appointed board for permissions.
Park guests visiting Disney’s Magic Kingdom park in Orlando, Fla., last year.
Photo:
Zack Wittman for The Wall Street Journal
On Monday, Mr. Iger described Mr. DeSantis’s moves as retaliation for Disney taking a political position with which the governor disagreed.
“The governor got very angry about the position Disney took, and it seems like he’s decided to retaliate against us, including the naming of a new board to oversee the property and the business,” he said. “In effect, it seems, to punish a company for its exercise of a constitutional right. And that just seems really wrong to me.”
Monday’s shareholder meeting was the first hosted by Mr. Iger since he returned to the CEO’s chair in November.
Mr. DeSantis’s efforts to strip Disney of power at Reedy Creek could make it harder for the company to expand Walt Disney World.
The resort currently includes four major theme parks and thousands of hotel rooms, and a masterplan for the land approved last year allows Disney to add one more major theme park and two more minor theme parks, such as water parks, as well as hundreds more hotel rooms.
Disney currently employs more than 75,000 people in Florida, and according to Mr. Iger, is the state’s biggest taxpayer.
Mr. Iger on Monday said Disney plans to invest about $17 billion in Walt Disney World over the next decade, and that those investments will create 13,000 new direct jobs and thousands of new indirect jobs. The CEO said the investments will attract more visitors to central Florida and increase the state’s annual tax revenue.
“Any action that thwarts those efforts, simply to retaliate for a position the company took, sounds not just antibusiness, but it sounds anti-Florida,” Mr. Iger said.
A spokesman for Mr. DeSantis didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier Monday, ahead of the Disney shareholders’ meeting, Mr. DeSantis sent a letter to the state’s chief inspector general, Melinda Miguel, requesting that she—in consultation with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement—launch an investigation of the former Reedy Creek board’s recent actions in striking agreements with Disney.
Write to Robbie Whelan at [email protected] and Arian Campo-Flores at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Walt
Disney Co.
DIS -0.38%
Chief Executive
Robert Iger
called Florida’s actions against Disney over the past year “antibusiness” and “anti-Florida” in his first in-depth comments about the company’s ongoing battle with Gov.
Ron DeSantis.
“While the company may have not handled the position that it took very well, a company has the right to freedom of speech just like individuals do,” Mr. Iger said at Disney’s annual meeting of shareholders, in response to a question about the dispute.
The two sides have been clashing since Disney’s decision in early 2022 to publicly oppose the Parental Rights in Education bill, a measure that prohibits classroom instruction on gender and sexuality for young elementary school students.
In response, Mr. DeSantis announced a special session last spring of the Florida legislature to strip Disney of the power to effectively govern the special tax district that includes Walt Disney World, known as Reedy Creek.
In February, the Republican governor appointed a new board to oversee the land. Disney circumvented some of the moves by locking in land-use approvals for 30 years that will allow the company to expand its theme parks and hotels without relying on the newly appointed board for permissions.
Park guests visiting Disney’s Magic Kingdom park in Orlando, Fla., last year.
Photo:
Zack Wittman for The Wall Street Journal
On Monday, Mr. Iger described Mr. DeSantis’s moves as retaliation for Disney taking a political position with which the governor disagreed.
“The governor got very angry about the position Disney took, and it seems like he’s decided to retaliate against us, including the naming of a new board to oversee the property and the business,” he said. “In effect, it seems, to punish a company for its exercise of a constitutional right. And that just seems really wrong to me.”
Monday’s shareholder meeting was the first hosted by Mr. Iger since he returned to the CEO’s chair in November.
Mr. DeSantis’s efforts to strip Disney of power at Reedy Creek could make it harder for the company to expand Walt Disney World.
The resort currently includes four major theme parks and thousands of hotel rooms, and a masterplan for the land approved last year allows Disney to add one more major theme park and two more minor theme parks, such as water parks, as well as hundreds more hotel rooms.
Disney currently employs more than 75,000 people in Florida, and according to Mr. Iger, is the state’s biggest taxpayer.
Mr. Iger on Monday said Disney plans to invest about $17 billion in Walt Disney World over the next decade, and that those investments will create 13,000 new direct jobs and thousands of new indirect jobs. The CEO said the investments will attract more visitors to central Florida and increase the state’s annual tax revenue.
“Any action that thwarts those efforts, simply to retaliate for a position the company took, sounds not just antibusiness, but it sounds anti-Florida,” Mr. Iger said.
A spokesman for Mr. DeSantis didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier Monday, ahead of the Disney shareholders’ meeting, Mr. DeSantis sent a letter to the state’s chief inspector general, Melinda Miguel, requesting that she—in consultation with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement—launch an investigation of the former Reedy Creek board’s recent actions in striking agreements with Disney.
Write to Robbie Whelan at [email protected] and Arian Campo-Flores at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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