Disney CEO Bob Iger Fires Back at Governor Ron Desantis Over Florida Lawsuit

Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed Governor Ron DeSantis’s actions and the ensuing lawsuit. In short, a DeSantis-appointed board of legislators carried a motion to nullify the existing agreement between Walt Disney Parks and the Reedy Creek Improvement District. That Florida county allowed Disney the ability to maintain authority around Walt Disney World in Orlando. During today’s shareholder call with Disney, Iger addressed a lawsuit filed by the company that would strike back against DeSantis’s “relentless campaign to weaponize government power.” (In their words.) Here’s what the CEO had to say.

“Regarding Florida, I got a few things I want to say about that. Dirst of all, the case that we filed last month, made our position and the facts very clear,” Iger began. “And that’s really that this is about one thing and one thing only and that’s retaliating against us for taking a position about pending legislation. And we believe that in as taking that position, we are merely exercising our right to free speech. Also, this is not about special privileges or a level playing field or Disney in any way using its leverage around the state of Florida. But since there’s been a lot said about special districts and the arrangement that we had, I want to set the record straight on that too. “

“There are about 2000 special districts in Florida, and most were established to foster investment and development where we were one of them. It basically made it easier for us and others by the way to do business in Florida,” The CEO continued. “And we build a business that employs as we’ve said before over 75,000 people and attracts 10s of millions of people to the state.” 

“So while it’s easy to say that the Reedy Creek special district that was established for us over 50 years ago benefited us. It’s misleading to not also consider how much Disney benefited the state of Florida,” he added. “And we’re also we’re not the only company operating a special district. I mentioned 2000 The Daytona Speedway has won sort of the villages which is a prominent retirement community and there are countless others. So the goal here is leveling the playing. If the goal is leveling the playing field, then a uniform application of the law or government oversight of special districts needs to occur or be applied to all special districts.” 

“There’s also a false narrative that we’ve been fighting to protect tax breaks as part of this. But in fact, we’re the largest taxpayer in Central Florida paying over 1.1 billion in state and local taxes last year alone and we pay more taxes, specifically more real estate taxes as a result of that special district,” Iger elaborated. “And we all know there was no concerted effort to do anything to dismantle what was once called Reedy Creek special district until we spoke out on the legislation. So this is plainly a matter of retaliation while the rest of the Florida special districts continue operating basically as they were and I think it’s also important for us to say our primary goal has always been to be able to continue to do exactly what we’ve been doing there, which investing in Florida.”

“We’re proud of the tourism industry that we created, and we want to continue delivering the best possible experience for guests going forward,” the executive said. “We never wanted or and we certainly never expected to be in the position of having to defend our business interests in federal court, particularly having such a terrific relationship with the states we’ve had for more than 50 years. And as I mentioned on our shareholder call, we have a huge opportunity to continue to invest in Florida.” 

“I noted that our plans are to invest 17 billion over the next 10 years, which is what the state should want us to do. We operate responsibly. We pay our fair share of taxes. We employ 1000s of people and by the way, we pay them above the minimum wage substantially above the minimum wage dictated by the state of Florida. We also provide them with great benefits and free education. So I’m going to finish was obviously kind of a long answer by asking one question does the state want us to invest more, employ more people and pay more taxes? or not,” Iger concluded.

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