Bob Iger Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

The Wall Street Journal reported that the two media and entertainment giants want to reach a deal to resolve the ownership of Hulu, but the disagreement over how much the nation’s fifth-largest streaming service is worth is stalling progress. Neither Disney nor Comcast responded to requests for comment.Disney owns two-thirds of Hulu, while Comcast owns one-third, acquired when it took control of one of the streamer’s founding backers, NBCUniversal, in 2011.

Reuters reported Saturday.Angus MacLane, director of the unsuccessful “Toy Story” spinoff and a 26-year animation veteran who was part of the creative team behind hits like “Toy Story 4” and “Coco,” was included in the cuts. Gayln Susman, a producer on the film who had been at Pixar since 1995, was also removed from her role.TheWrap has reached out to Pixar for further comment.“Lightyear” grossed just over $226 million worldwide at the box office when it was released last June, but cost $200 million to produce.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney, after removing dozens of shows and movies from Disney+ and Hulu last week, said it will incur a $1.5 billion impairment charge for the June quarter. In an SEC filing Friday, the company said that on May 26, 2023, it removed “certain produced content” from its direct-to-consumer streaming services. As a result, Disney will record a $1.5 billion impairment charge in its fiscal third quarter financial statements “to adjust the carrying value of these content assets to fair value.” Disney said it’s continuing to review content on streaming platforms and “currently anticipates additional produced content will be removed from its DTC and other platforms, largely during the remainder of its third fiscal quarter.” As a result, Disney currently estimates it may incur further impairment charges of up to about $400 million related to produced content.

2ND UPDATE, 5:20 PM: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis today won a victory in his legal skirmishes with the Walt Disney Company — but not for the reasons he wanted to.

EXCLUSIVE: The layoffs impacting thousands of Disney staff in the U.S. have spread to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

EXCLUSIVE: The third wave of layoffs at Disney got under way today, sources tell Deadline.

If the feud between Disney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was going to be escalated yet again, parks chief Josh D’Amaro didn’t seem like he would be the one to do it.

If you figured the war between Disney and Gov. Ron DeSantis was going to take a breather for the weekend, think again.

backing previous statements made by her co-host Scarborough saying, “Mickey Mouse has brass knuckles because he’s taking on Bob Iger… You don’t do that.”“This is politically such a rookie move to do these gesture politics, to try and own the libs and maybe get in a small subset of the Tampa area,” Brzezinski said Friday. “In the end, you end up costing Florida jobs.”The MSNBC host added that the Florida governor “can’t see one foot in front of his face.” “I don’t know how that plays on the big stage, and I think it gives Trump a lot of material.”On Thursday, Disney announced it had pulled the plug on an employee campus that was expected to come to Florida, citing “changing business conditions.” The complex was a $1 billion investment that would have brought an estimated 2,000 white-collar jobs to the state.

Cannes took audiences back to their childhoods with the first screening of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” The film’s splashy premiere saw stars Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen walk the red carpet, alongside Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger and director James Mangold. The first reactions were slow to drop but were filled with enthusiasm.

It was a great night for Disney as Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny had a smash debut in its World Premiere Thursday evening at the Cannes Film Festival where the June 30th release received a warm 5 minute standing ovation, especially for Harrison Ford in his swan song in the title role he started playing 40 + years ago. There noticeably to witness the French love and affection was none other than Disney boss Bob Iger attending his first-ever Cannes Festival (believe it or not) and even taking his own photos during the ovation for the movie. At the Carlton Beach after party I told him Deadline had just been the first to post its review, a rave (from our colleague Stephanie Bunbury) and you could see the absolute relief on his face. “You have made me very happy to hear that, ” he told me, and he meant it. All this came on the same day Disney took another shot at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by announcing the cancellation of a plan to move several thousand California employees to Florida. The Cannes respite must have been nice.

Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford swung into Cannes on Thursday for the world premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” in one of the most anticipated events of the French Riviera festival.

Harrison Ford fought back tears at one of the biggest premieres at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. No expense was spared as Disney jetted its top executives, including CEO Bob Iger, to the South of France for “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” the fifth chapter in one of the most celebrated film franchises in movie history. But when the credits rolled on this action epic involving time travel directed by James Mangold, Cannes only mustered a slightly muted five-minute standing ovation for the film. The biggest cheers of the night were reserved for Ford, who was summoned to the stage by festival director Thierry Frémaux to receive a surprise Palme d’Or after a reel of his greatest roles played onscreen.

Just over a week ago, Bob Iger rhetorically asked the adversarial  Gov. Ron DeSantis if Florida really wanted Disney’s considerable business and tax revenue, or not. Now, without mentioning the would-be presidential contender nor his attacks on the company, the Mouse House has pulled some of that business and taxes revenues from the Sunshine State.

Following its out-of-competition world premiere this evening at the Cannes Film Festival, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was treated to a five-minute standing ovation as the audience inside the festival’s Grand Théâtre Lumière.

Harrison Ford returned to the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, picking up an honorary Palme d’Or before the world-premiere screening of Disney/Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Bob Chapek, Former CEO 2022 Chapek compensation: $24.2M/ -25.5% Bob Iger, CEO 2022Iger compensation: $15M/ -67.3% Median employee compensation: $54,256 Chapek pay ratio to median employee: 446 So long, Mr. Chapek! It was a rocky time atop the Magic Kingdom for the Disney chief, who was booted from his post in November just months after the company’s board renewed his contract. During Chapek’s tenure Wall Street soured on Disney’s spending on its streaming service, to say nothing of a near employee revolt over his stumbling response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney has pegged total cash content spending at around $30 billion for this year — but the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike may drive that down, CFO Christine McCarthy said. “If you haven’t noticed we’re in the middle of a writers strike,” McCarthy said, speaking Wednesday at MoffettNathanson’s Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in New York. The WGA walkout may reduce Disney’s cash spending on content for the balance of the year, she said. At the MoffettNathanson conference, MCarthy appeared alongside Disney president of ad sales Rita Ferro. The two Disney execs spoke a day after the media conglom’s upfront presentation in the Big Apple to ad buyers and brands — which was noticeably light on scripted fare, given the writers strike. Marvel’s Kevin Feige previewed upcoming Disney+ series “Secret Invasion,” featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Don Cheadle, and announced premiere dates for “Loki” Season 2 and “Hawkeye” spinoff “Echo.”

It was a tale of two coasts today, as WGA picketers and their allies targeted Disney’s upfront presentation in New York and also the company’s Burbank lot in Los Angeles. And the two scenes were very different.

Rita Ferro, Disney’s ad sales and partnerships chief, urged media buyers at the company’s New York upfront Tuesday to “lean into all aspects of diversity” with their marketing commitments.

Pat McAfee, the sports broadcaster who regularly breaks news with his pal Aaron Rodgers, has signed a deal with ESPN.

The CEO of NBCUniversal parent Comcast said it’s “more likely than not” the company will end up selling its third of Hulu to Disney, after his Mouse counterpart indicated clearly last week that this would be Disney’s preferred outcome. There’s been some grandstanding over the past year as the deadline approaches, but both of Hulu’s parents appear to be on or near the same page now.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts addressed the company potentially selling its 33% stake in the streamer. “I think it’s more likely than not,” Roberts said. “I’m pretty certain if and when we sell our Hulu stake, it’ll be for more than what we have, and in fact, that’s contractually certain.”Disney currently owns 67% of Hulu with with Comcast’s NBCUniversal holding a minority stake.

The CEO of NBCUniversal parent Comcast said it’s “more likely than not” the company will end up selling its third of Hulu to Disney, after his Mouse counterpart indicated clearly last week that this would be Disney’s preferred outcome. There’s been some grandstanding over the past year as the deadline approaches, but both of Hulu’s parents appear to be on or near the same page now.

Disney is the DJIA’s worst performer today with shares down over 8% after reporting fiscal second quarter earnings that were mixed and a bit messy as the company and industry reset.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Shares of Disney slipped as much as 9% in trading Thursday after the media conglomerate reported earnings for the first three months of 2023. Disney’s earnings report showed progress on the cost-cutting front — with streaming losses narrowing for the quarter — but analysts cited a weak advertising outlook and uncertainty over when its streaming business can contribute to the bottom line. As of 11:30 a.m. ET, Disney’s stock price was $92.86/share, down 8.2%, and off its 52-week high of $126.48. Disney+ lost 4 million subscribers for the quarter ended April 1, including a loss of 300,000 in the U.S./Canada. But the company narrowed its streaming losses by $400 million, down 26% year over year, and Disney said it would remove content from Disney+ to cut costs while also expecting to raise prices on the ad-free Disney+ tier. In addition, CEO Bob Iger announced that the company would launch an integrated Disney+/Hulu “one-app experience” in the U.S. by the end of 2023 — indicating Disney’s desire to hold on to Hulu.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Disney is going on a diet — but Hulu is still on the menu. Disney CEO Bob Iger and chief financial officer Christine McCarthy delivered a clear message on Wednesday to Wall Street and to Hollywood during Disney’s quarterly earnings call. Disney will cut the overall volume of content produced for its streaming platforms — primarily Disney+ and Hulu — as it deals with a much tighter macroeconomic environment, not to mention the uncertain impact of the writers strike that began May 2. After spending just under $30 billion on content in Disney’s 2022 fiscal year (which ends in September), Iger has targeted $3 billion in savings for 2023. Of that $30 billion, about 30% is devoted to sports rights for ESPN and ABC Sports.

Stockholders have expressed serious displeasure with 2022 executive compensation at Warner Bros. Discovery led by CEO David Zaslav, according to the result of a vote at the annual meeting Monday that was filed with the SEC today.

second fiscal quarter of 2023, CEO Bob Iger addressed the artificial intelligence elephant in the room, making it clear that Disney isn’t shying away from the technological frontier — quite the opposite, in fact.“AI developments represent some pretty interesting opportunities for us,” Iger said. “In fact, we’re already starting to use AI to create some efficiencies and ultimately to better serve consumers.”Beyond confirming that AI has already found a home within the house of the mouse, Iger addressed the natural challenges that come with any new, disruptive technology, including the managerial complexities.“It could be extremely difficult to manage, particularly from an IT management perspective,” Iger said, referring to the tech’s advanced nature.

Disney chief executive Bob Iger weighed in on AI today, staying general but calling the battleground technology good for Disney’s business, but disruptive.