StitchKingdom.com » Business

Disney Shows You How to Shop Like a Celebrity

Stitch Kingdom — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:20:01 +0000

Connecticut-based Fanzter announced yesterday that it had reached an agreement with Disney’s venture capital group Steamboat Ventures to invest $2million into Fanzter’s Coolspotters, a site devoted to directing visitors to the clothing and gadgets used by their favorite celebs. SVC managing director Dan Beldy joins the Fanzter board.

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business, Celebrities, Coolspotters, Fanzter, Steamboat Ventures

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Bob Iger on Movies, Piracy, American Idol, the Economy and.. D23!? (Audio Included)

Stitch Kingdom — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:49:26 +0000

Speaking from the Deutsche Bank Media and Telecom Conference on March 3, Disney President and CEO Robert Iger had a lot to say during a Q&A session on the current state of the company and its potential future.

The overall theme was setting focus on the Disney brand name and transforming Disney.com into one stop shopping for all things Disney. On the movie front, this means shying away from producing non-Disney branded films (the deal with DreamWorks involves minimal investment relying mostly on the use of ‘other people’s money’ and results in bigger profit margins for the distributor). Iger also discussed the concern of movie piracy but suggested rather than using the record industry as an example, that the company consider lowering price points and simplifying distribution such as digital downloads that get the product into the consumer’s hands more quickly.

On the theme parks, Iger said attendance is ‘chugging along reasonably well’ and that current attendance is on par with last year’s, but concedes that per capita spending is down on items such as merchandise and that discounts are abundant. Iger mentioned the ‘fantastic’ American Idol Experience which he ‘experienced,’ but denies ever auditioning for the attraction.

Addressing an audience member’s concern on the recent announcements regarding layoffs and early exits, Iger said decisions were difficult as he personally knows many employees affected by the situation but that the boss was the bottom line and that if demand for services is falling, upkeeping the numbers of employees just isn’t justified. He noted that the company is growing by developing projects in other countries and that creates jobs and redeployment of the employees was a considered option but ultimately not a viable one.

Buzz words for Iger included affinity, subscribers and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and how those things could be leveraged by the company in respect to someone who’s a fan of Disney in general. Although these words and phrases were peppered throughout the presentation, it all ultimately built up to where Iger talks about the ‘Disney subscriber’ being able to be a ‘member of a Disney affinity club which is something [he thinks we'll] be able to see sometime soon … maybe even as early as a few days.’

For your enjoyment, a clip of Iger all but mentioning D23 by name follows:

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Are You 23, Bob Iger, Business, D23, Movies

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Disney Announces Webcasts of Shareholder Meeting and Iger Q&A

Stitch Kingdom — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:16:06 +0000

* Bob Iger, president and chief executive officer, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) will participate in a question-and-answer session at the Deutsche Bank Media & Telecom Conference on Tuesday, March 3, 2009, at 6:30 p.m. EST/3:30 p.m. PST. To listen to a live audio Webcast of the session, please point your browser to www.disney.com/investors approximately fifteen minutes prior to the start time. A re-play will be provided through Tuesday, March 17, 2009, at 4:00 p.m. PDT.

* The annual meeting of shareholders of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS), including remarks by management regarding the Company, will be available live via audio webcast at www.disney.com/investors beginning at 10:00 a.m. PDT / 1:00 p.m. EDT on March 10, 2009. A re-play will be provided through March 24, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. PDT.

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business, Shareholders, Webcast

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Disney U.S. Parks to Consolidate Some Operations

Stitch Kingdom — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:39:18 +0000

LOS ANGELES, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co said on Wednesday it will streamline some behind-the-scenes operations, including menu planning and ride design, at its two U.S. theme parks to try to offset the effects of the global economic downturn.

The reorganization is effective immediately and will result in new job cuts, but the company would not specify how many.

The changes to non-consumer facing services follow cost cutting measures across the company, including hundreds of jobs cut at Disney’s media networks and parks executive ranks.

Disney Parks Chairman Jay Rasulo said “economic realities” required the company to focus and streamline its operations in a way that “eliminates redundancies.”

Rasulo said that parks division managers were reviewing their operations and considering “appropriate changes” in coming weeks.

Earlier this month, Disney’s parks division reported a 24 percent drop in quarterly operating income and a 4 percent revenue decline in part due to slowing consumer spending.

The new organization calls for Walt Disney Imagineering, the parks’ engineering and design teams, to be consolidated into a single group that handles attractions for all parks.

The company also will create a single domestic group to handle behind-the-scenes services such as maintenance, menu planning and security, for Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

Last month, Disney Parks and Resorts offered voluntary buyouts to 600 parks executives at the U.S. parks to trim its administrative costs as hotel bookings slipped at its parks.

The company received “a satisfactory response” to that offer but did not divulge the number of executive positions that would be eliminated.

Disney shares closed down 1.2 percent or 21 cents at $17.63 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Disney shares most recently traded that low in mid-2003. (Reporting by Gina Keating; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business, Disneyland, DLR, Walt Disney World, WDW

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Walt Dismal World – Disney Releases First Quarter

Stitch Kingdom — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:12:59 +0000

(SK Note: You can access the report directly here)

By Gina Keating

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co reported a sharply lower-than-expected quarterly profit as the global downturn hurt its TV advertising, DVD sales and theme parks, pushing its shares 9 percent lower.

The dismal performance by Disney, the first of the major U.S. media firms to report quarterly results this season, bode ill for Time Warner and News Corp

Robert Iger, Disney’s president and chief executive officer, told analysts on a conference call that the company was still looking at “significant” overall cost reductions, including “reducing costs of distribution, production (and) marketing.

“It’s an across-the-board process that does not just involve eliminating jobs,” Iger said, while declining to give a target for reductions.

Disney’s fiscal first-quarter net profit fell 32 percent to $845 million, or 45 cents per share, from $1.25 billion, or 63 cents per share, in last year’s first quarter.

Excluding gains from the sale of investments in Latin American pay-TV services, earnings fell to 41 cents per share versus a comparable consensus estimate of 50 cents. according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue fell 8 percent to $9.6 billion from $10.45 billion a year earlier.

Operating income at Disney’s theme parks fell 24 percent to $382 million in the quarter, buffeted by slowing domestic consumer spending and a stronger dollar. Revenue at the parks fell 4 percent to $2.67 billion, despite deep discounts for park stays and tickets instituted last fall.

At media networks, operating profit fell 29 percent to $655 million and revenue slid 5 percent to $3.9 billion on lower ratings for ABC programing and weaker ad sales at ESPN.

Barclays Capital entertainment analyst Anthony DiClemente said the results missed his “conservative” forecast, reflecting a worse-than-expected climate for advertising and DVD sales.

“What it would say is that most entertainment conference calls are going to bring gloomy news of an increasingly challenged advertising environment,” DiClemente said.

The company said last month that it was cutting hundreds of jobs at its theme parks, ABC Media Group and ESPN, and consolidating ABC’s production and network businesses.

Weakness at Disney’s retail and licensing businesses also dragged on results. DVD sales for Disney Studios’ “Wall-E” and “Prince Caspian” were no match for last year’s titles, bringing the unit’s operating profit down 64 percent to $187 million, and revenue down 26 percent to $1.95 billion in the quarter.

The Consumer Products division saw its operating

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Universal Orlando Cuts 70 Jobs

Stitch Kingdom — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:54:23 +0000

From the Orlando Business Journal:

Universal Orlando laid off about 70 workers — less than 1 percent of its work force — in an effort to adapt to slowing business conditions.

Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said the layoffs took place Jan.22.

“This has not been easy for us,” Schroder said. “It’s taken much thought and review. We are doing everything possible to ease the process for those affected and ease their transition.”

Most were management workers. Universal didn’t provide a specific number of positions, nor did comment on severance for the workers.

The move came a day after Walt Disney Parks and Resorts said it would offer buy out packages more than 300 upper-level management workers at Walt Disney World.

Universal is proceeding with two new park attractions, the Hollywood, Rip, Ride, Rockit rollercoaster, scheduled to open this spring, and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter scheduled to open next year.

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business, universal studios

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Wondertime’s Up for Magazine

Stitch Kingdom — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:49:50 +0000

Despite a relatively strong performance in ad revenue in 2008 versus most other magazines, AdAge is reporting that Disney’s Wondertime magazine has become the next victim of the economic climate. The March issue will be the last and it’s not clear at this time how many jobs will be lost as some content is diverted to other like-properties.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Disney says to combine two ABC units

Stitch Kingdom — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:04:26 +0000

LOS ANGELES, Jan 22 (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) said on Thursday it would combine two divisions, ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios.

A spokesman said no job cuts would be involved.

The newly formed unit, to be called ABC Entertainment Group, will be managed by President Stephen McPherson, who had previously served as president, ABC Entertainment.

On Wednesday, Disney sent voluntary buyout offers to 600 executives at its domestic theme parks to cut costs as the U.S. economy weakened. The recession has cut attendance, prompting the company to deeply discount Walt Disney World stays.

Disney said on Thursday that Mark Pedowitz, former president of ABC Studios, had moved into a new role as senior advisor to the Office of the co-chairman, where he will work with Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney-Media Networks and president of the Disney-ABC Television Group.

Disney said the new division’s primary mandate would be to develop and produce programming for broadcast on ABC.

Disney’s shares were down 1.5 percent at $20.91 in afternoon trading.

(Reporting by Gina Keating and Sue Zeidler)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Disney to Trim Fat at Parks

Stitch Kingdom — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:55:00 +0000

MarketWatch is reporting on a Wall Street Journal article that talks about Disney offering buyouts to nearly 600 executives in the domestic resorts and park division with more than half in Orlando.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh