Thursday, October 09, 2014

Robert Iger Speaks

The Disney CEO speaks to Bloomberg reporters.

On Shanghai: Iger maintains the company will avoid the mistakes it made with Euro Disney. Disney Shanghai won't start out off with the mound of debt that its Paris park took on just to turn the lights on.

On sports: The exec remains confident the enormous NBA rights contract signed recently by ESPN will provide enough value to customers to justify costs. ESPN's pro football ratings are said to have shown no ill effect from the player scandals in the league this year.

On Star Wars: Iger says the franchise will be a bright spot for Disney. Filming in the U.K. is progressing on schedule.

Robert Iger has probably changed Diz Co. more than Michael Eisner.

The company's valuations is way larger than it was when Eisner left nine years ago (can it actually be that long ago?), and the company is now more than ever the Berkshire-Hathaway of entertainment conglomerates.

Pixar runs pretty independently of the Big Mouse.

Likewise Lucasfilms.

Ditto for Marvel.

Like Warrern Buffett, Mr. Iger is buying brand companies and allowing them to continue to run themselves. This has turned out to be a pretty smart move. The company has never been richer. Or bigger.

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