Last year, the annual shareholders meeting of Walt Disney was Tension Billionaire The active investor sought to get rid of the meeting room And change the company’s path.
This year, compared, it will be less expensive.
Burbank Media and Entertainment A strong year for its studio workWith successful films “Inside Out 2”, “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Moana 2”, each of which amounted to more than a billion dollars worldwide. Disney films achieved the box office all over the world with more than $ 5 billion in 2024.
Disney also reached profitability for the first time In her flowing worksWhich includes Disney+, Holo and ESPN+.
But the company faces questions about more soft results in the recreational gardens section, which has become the main economic engine in Disney. Disney recently tried Stay away from the wars of political cultureEspecially because the Trump administration has targeted the efforts of diversity, stocks and integration within companies.
Before meeting the shareholders of the company on Thursday morning, the Times spoke with analysts and investors about what they want from the company to address it.
Caliphate Plan CEO
Although Disney indicated that she would not be called a successor to CEO Bob Egger Until early 2026Investors and analysts yearn for more details on how to advance the search.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors, co -chairman of the entertainment, co -chairman, co -chair of entertainment, Alan Bergman. Potential interior.
The newly appointed Disney Chairman, former CEO of Morgan Stanley James B. Gourman, the Caliphate Planning Committee leads the CEO. The company said in the agent statement that the administrative caliphate planning “is still a top priority for the council.”
Finding the right back for Iger, 74, is the key to the company’s future stability. In its recent attempts to find an alternative to reward; Now the CEO of Form Motor Bob Shabak Less than three years lasted.
Brian Molberry, the manager of the client’s wallet at Zacks Investment Management, began reducing the shares of Disney Company for the company after the departure of Iger. Although the company’s portfolio currently does not include Disney shares, Mulberry is closely monitoring the stock price and wants to get clear in some of the company’s financial problems before reaching a new position.
He said, “With Bob Egger on his way out,” Who will believe the ship “is what we are looking for in particular at the meeting.”
Laurent Yun, chief analyst at Bernstein, said the prolonged mystery about the caliphate plan makes investors forget.
He said: “Bob Egger has already returned more than two years ago.” “Understanding is not more clear than before.”
Fears of gardens and stagnation
The Disney Experience Department, which includes entertainment gardens, cruise and goods line, ended in 2024 with more silent growth due to inflation, the costs of expansion of the cruise line and the most softening results in its international gardens.
The company will also face a greater competition in Florida this summer when it is COMCAST Corp. It opens the epic entertainment park in Orlando One analyst has been reported frequently about Disney CEOs during profit calls.
Disney said during an invitation to the fourth quarter profit in November that she expects to witness 6 % to 8 % growth in operating income this year from her experimental section. But middle Economic pessimism increased Fears of stagnation, analysts and investors will look forward to knowing how the company has tackled these potential threats to spending on consumers.
“This summer is a very important season for Disney because of [the parks business is] “If there is a stagnation, this is a problem,” said Yun, who maintains the classification of the company’s “purchase”.
Even before he took concerns about economic shrinkage, there was there Increasing questions about the ability to afford costs From Disney vacation. Ticket prices in gardens have increased over the years.
Gavin Doyle, who has a small number of Disney shares since 2009, will keep the ear for any signs of discount or special promotions or even new details about the expansion in the gardens.
“There are many cranes that they can withdraw … ways to return people at a time when the demand may be softened,” said Duel, the founder of Mickeyvisit.com, a guide to bearing garden costs.
ESPN’s main sign of ESPN
Live SPORTS is one of the main landmarks of consumers, and Disney has often mentioned its plans to launch the ESPN’s leading broadcast products this summer.
But analysts and investors want more information about pricing, the appearance of the product, how his experience will be different from ESPN on linear TV and how it will work with other services.
With Disney’s move from linear TV to broadcasting, the company will need to make sure that “this transition is smooth,” said Yoon from Bernstein.
The company has I was already launched ESPN tiles On the main Disney page to try to reduce the mix and encourage new subscribers.
Culture wars
One of the proposals related to the company’s agent’s statement is an element from the National Center for Public Policy Research, and it is a conservative research reservoir that calls Disney to reconsider its participation in the Equality Index in the Human Rights Campaign.
The corporate equality index is an annual report that employed employers on the comprehensiveness of their workplace for LGBTQ workers.
The National Center for Public Policy Research, which often submits proposals at the shareholders meeting in Disney, said that Disney’s participation in the index indicates that the company is involved in “partisan behavior” and that it should rethink this decision because of “credit duty towards shareholders.”
Disney recommended voting on the shareholders on the proposal.
The proposal hints of the type of cultural wars that Disney recently started to shrink. The company recently admitted that it removed a passing athletic story from the Pixar series, saying, “Many parents prefer to discuss some topics with their children with their terms and time schedule.”
Disney also has Some internal DEI policies have easedAs well as Hollywood studios and other companies in other industries.
