The Lake Nona campus, about 20 miles from Disney World near Orlando International Airport, was succeeded by Bob Chabeck, who served as Disney’s chief executive from 2020 until his firing last year. Retired to take back the reigns of Disney, Mr. Iger, however, was less enthusiastic about the project – the company said Mr. Before plunging into battle with DeSantis. Upon his return to Disney, Mr. Iger began telling lieutenants, for example, that it made no sense to move Imagineering too far from Disney’s movie studios. He really wanted “creative teams to stay together.”
Mr. Iger, Mr. Chabeck’s conclusions are systematically modified. In February, for example, Disney announced it would restructure its internal operations, which Mr. Ending a framework set up by Chapek. In March, as part of a wider round of layoffs, Mr. The 50-person Metawares project started by Mr. Iger stopped.
Disney is seeking to cut costs by $5.5 billion to improve profitability, pay down debt and restore dividends. Late Thursday, for example, Disney said it would close a non-operating luxury hotel at Disney World. The 100-room property, announced in 2017 and opened last year, simulated a two-night cruise aboard a “Star Wars” spaceship. Bookings start at $6,000 for a family of four; Price limited interest. Disney spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing and marketing this high-speed offering, called the Galactic Starship.
Disney shares closed Thursday at around $94, down about 45 percent from two years ago.
Mr. DeSantis and Disney have been fighting for more than a year over a special tax district that includes Disney World. When the agency criticized the Florida education law, which protesters dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” restricted classroom instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation — Mr. Infuriated DeSantis.
Since then, Florida legislators, including Mr. At DeSantis’ urging, they targeted Disney — the state’s largest taxpayer — with various hostile actions. In February, Mr. By awarding the DeSantis, they ended Disney’s ability to self-manage the 25,000-acre resort as a district.
It was soon discovered that the previous, Disney-controlled board had approved development contracts locked into the development plan for the resort. Efforts to invalidate those contracts resulted in a series of lawsuits, including Mr. Disney in federal court. DeSantis and his allies sued and the governor’s tax district appointees fired back in state court.
