Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Bob Iger said Monday that one of his top priorities is making the company’s streaming business profitable.
Iger is responsible for Disney’s full adoption of streaming and the launch of its flagship service, Disney+, but he acknowledged that the measure of success has changed. Wall Street investors are now focused on profitability, not just subscriber gains.
“Instead of going after (subscribers) with aggressive marketing and aggressive spending on content, we have to start looking for profitability,” Iger said at a town hall meeting on the company’s lot in Burbank, California, according to a transcript of the remarks seen by Reuters.
“To achieve that, we have to look very, very carefully at our cost structure across all of our businesses.”
Disney joins a number of media companies looking to grow their streaming services without sacrificing their movie or TV businesses.
The board announced that it had installed Iger as chief executive on November 20 after removing his handpicked successor, Bob Chapek, who had lost the support of senior staff.
“Filled with gratitude and excitement to be back at @WaltDisneyCo!” Iger tweeted Monday with a photo of the company’s headquarters.
From a soundstage on the Disney lot, Iger said he returns to the company he led for 15 years with a sense of urgency. He said he had recently been listening to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical “Hamilton” and was struck by the song “What did I miss?”, as Thomas Jefferson, the US minister to France, is called home.
“The status quo is gone. Much has changed. But the sun is still shining,” Iger said.
Iger, in a question-and-answer session, said it was a “surprise” that he was asked to return to Disney for a two-year term. His main focus, she said, is creativity.
His predecessor, Chapek, had a difficult tenure at the helm of Disney, even as he was credited with running the company through the worst of the pandemic.
Chapek clashed with “Black Widow” star Scarlett Johansson over the decision to release the film simultaneously in theaters and online, and with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over legislation limiting classroom discussion. about sexual orientation or gender identity.
Disney has also come under pressure from activist investors, who have been pushing for change.
Iger said he planned to maintain the hiring freeze, which Chapek instituted, while he assesses Disney’s cost structure. He did not offer details about the restructuring of the company’s film and television distribution group, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution. CNBC was first to report the details, which Reuters independently confirmed.
When asked about Disney’s initial attempts to remain neutral on a Florida law critics refer to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Iger reiterated his commitment to the company’s LGBTQ+ employees: “We We care deeply about them, that’s a fact.
The returning CEO declined to respond to speculation that Disney might explore a sale to Apple Inc, noting: “We never comment on acquisitions or divestitures or whatever. You can quickly get into a lot of trouble there, and I don’t want to leave this job and end up in jail.”
