WEBVTT - Disney, Crypto, and Twitter (Podcast) 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:04.040 Welcome to the Bloomberg Markets Podcast. I'm Paul Sweeney, alongside 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:06.920 my co host Matt Miller. Every business day, we bring 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:11.520 you interviews from CEOs, market pros, and Bloomberg experts, along 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:15.520 with essential market moving news. Find the Bloomberg Markets Podcast 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:18.439 on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts, and 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:22.000 at Bloomberg dot com slash podcast. Let's break down this 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:24.680 Disney news. We do that with uh shann Allie Bastick. 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:26.400 She covers all things Wall Street. She joins us here 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:29.639 on a Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio, and keithan Ranganathan. She 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:33.000 is the senior media analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. Keith, I 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:35.479 want to start with you. What do you think is 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:39.600 kind of job one on Bob Iger's to do list 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:44.920 in his return to the CEO spot. Yeah, thanks, thanks 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:47.159 Paul for having me. So, I think job number one 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:50.959 is kind of really re examining scrutinizing the streaming strategy. 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:53.320 Obviously they've done really, really well when it comes to 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:57.280 subscriber numbers, but that is not the focus anymore. It's 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:01.640 all about economics. It's all about stability, and we know 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.640 they've had some huge losses in the streaming department, and 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:06.440 it looks like they're going to lose another three billion 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.960 dollars this year. Um So, unless you know Bob Eiger 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:13.240 goes back to the drawing board, uh sees exactly what 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.160 needs to be trimmed, whether it's marketing expenses, whether it's 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:19.200 a whole real realignment of the content strategy. I think 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:22.440 that is the number one item on us to do list, Jinale, 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.479 What are you hearing from your contract contacts on Wall Street? 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.160 What what needs to be done? What needs to be done? Well, 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:30.759 they have two activist investors here that has a lot 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.000 of suggestions and what they want to do, and they 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:34.920 might take more of a stake. According to Wall Street 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:38.320 journals reporting Tryan in particular, they might want to expand 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:40.800 their steak as well as seek a board seat. Tryon 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:42.959 has how much? I heard they bought an eight hundred 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.959 million dollars worth of stock, but this is an eight 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:49.320 billion dollar company. So and you were asking, I just 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.680 did some quick backup a manible maths. When you look 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.600 at today's stock price, Bob I. Eiker himself has about 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:57.120 ninety million worth of shares, so and again that his 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:00.200 declined significantly this year, so and he might own more 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:04.680 than that decides what's publicly disclosed, So what will now 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.080 third Point also want. They also have a small steak 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:09.079 as well. Remember these are not steaks that are big 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:13.239 enough to immediately cause a lot of change, especially in Kias. 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:17.359 That's like ESPN that initially there was some change wanted 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:19.640 in terms of monetizing more of what we've already seen. 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:21.880 But remember, Bob Eiger, to your point on the Wall 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:25.679 Street perspective, this is one of the most beloved CEOs 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:29.200 across Wall Street. This is somebody that bankers, investors fall 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:31.320 over themselves for. But a guy in according to the 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:35.040 Wall Street Journal report, Tryan in particular, doesn't necessarily want 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:38.799 him there in this capacity. You know, Shenalie just brought 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:41.240 up the ESPN boy, there was a time and you 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:43.640 and I remember not so long ago when this was 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.320 the profit driver for the entire company. Now with cord 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:50.200 cutting not so much, what do you think Bob Iger 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:52.920 and the board are thinking about ESPN. I mean, this 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.520 is a real head screature, Paul Um. You know this 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:58.400 is Yes, it is the profit over It continues to 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:00.560 be a huge profit driver though let me it's still 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:04.079 is generating about four points three billion dollars in Ibada 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:07.080 every year. The problem, though, is that the revenue is 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:09.639 shrinking rapidly as you have more and more court cutting, 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:12.280 and Bob Iger himself just recently said that, you know, 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.040 courd cutting has reached unprecedented levels, and you know, there 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.560 might just be a point in time that comes very 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.280 soon when you know, the switch finally goes off. But 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:22.799 at the same time they have so they have the 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:25.480 shrinking revenue base, they have subscribers going away, but they 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:29.160 have sports rights. Disney by far pace the highest sports 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.119 rights in the media ecosystem at nine billion dollars every year. 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:35.000 They have an NBA deal that's coming up. You know, 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.240 there are all of these different sports rights that that 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:40.000 are coming up for renewal where we've seen like huge, 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:44.440 huge increases in rights fees, you know, thirty So it's 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:47.000 gonna be interesting to see exactly what bob Iger looks 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.240 to do. Does he make that shift finally, that that 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:53.480 big jump into streaming kind of pivoting away from the 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:55.880 TV ecosystem. But then again, it's gonna be a tough 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:59.040 balancing act because, as I said, you know, the suite 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:01.520 of networks does bring in more than four billion dollars. 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:05.000 But what do you mean? I mean ESPN They already 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.040 have ESPN Plus, right, but I still if I stream, 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.680 if I subscribe to ESPN Plus, which I do, I 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:16.039 still can't see all the games. Yeah, that's exactly what 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:18.000 it is. So ESPN Plus is kind of this watered 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:20.680 down version with like more like second tier sports content. 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.359 All of the market properties are on you know, the 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:26.480 main TV networks, right, whether it's uh, you know, the NFL, 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:30.480 the NBA, really all top tier properties. And so the 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:32.599 question is, you know, do they kind of kind of 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:36.240 finally take that step and move everything to uh, you know, 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:38.720 ESPN Plus and then obviously bump up the price pretty 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:41.920 significantly as well. Please please Dear God that there are 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:44.880 other things that Wall Street has wanted from this company. 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.280 You know, I'm looking at Third Points initial letter, and 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:50.479 they wanted the company to use free cash flow to 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.520 pay down debt more meaningfully, repurchase shares and suspend a 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.760 cash tive and and as far as streaming goes, they 0:04:57.760 --> 0:04:59.800 really want them to work faster and harder to in 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.880 Great Hulu into the Disney Plus platform. So it's not 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:06.600 just ESPN streaming it's Hulu also, which has been you know, 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.960 a long prized asset that of course Comcast had that 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.160 stake in as well. And I think there there are 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.160 a lot of things here that Wall Street wants them 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:17.559 to do, and we did not see them happening too quickly. 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:19.479 That we did see some movement towards these things under 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.839 shape that I will say that if you on the 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.880 Disney screen d I S Equity go. If you type 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:26.800 d d I S go, you can see how much 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.320 debt they have coming to you about forty five billion 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:33.640 dollars over the next thirty years. So that could be 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:37.600 reshaped if you pull up a cop screen. See this 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:39.640 is what we like to do. And look at Disney 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:44.080 versus Netflix and Amazon. They have drastically underperformed the others. 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.760 Amazon you can tell me geth okay, they have this 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:49.080 big cloud business. I get it. Or you can order 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:52.480 stuff from them online. I've done it. Netflix, what do 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:56.640 they have over Disney? Do they just have better content? 0:05:57.680 --> 0:05:59.839 I wouldn't say it's better content. I would say Disney 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:02.320 are combly has the best content in the media business. 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:04.880 But Netflix now is a pure place story right It's 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.360 and and investors like that. Wall Street likes that they 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:10.599 like pure play businesses where it's an uncomplicated, clean story. 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:14.039 With Disney, you do have a lot of exposure to 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:17.120 the linear TV business, and we know the linear TV 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:20.799 business isn't secular decline and those headwinds are only mounting. 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:24.520 So that's something that investors really don't like. Alright, great stuff. 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:27.280 As always, our go to a person for all things media, 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.279 Geith wrong Enough, and she is the senior media annals 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:32.840 for Bloomberg Intelligence and Shinnelli Bassa giving us the Wall 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:36.400 Street angle. Why because she is our Wall Street ace 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.440 here at Bloomberg News bringing it all together here around 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:44.960 tabling it. I'm still on Twitter, but I don't know. 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:48.479 I could dump it tomorrow and that I'd just find 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:50.479 them off Facebook. I feel like a lot of people 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:53.080 I thought that a lot of people would bail on 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:57.839 Twitter for you know, ethical reasons, because at least the 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.960 people around me that I fall or who followed me 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:07.159 I feel like, are pretty left leaning, um and not 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:11.160 libertarian in the sense that Elon Musk is, and a 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:15.560 lot of them seem very angry, you know, about the 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:20.040 takeover from Elon, but at the same time, um, they're 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.240 just addicted that's I love the meme that Elon Musk 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:28.080 posted today or yesterday, um with lois from Family Guy, who, 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:30.440 by the way, is one of my all time favorite 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:34.280 cartoon characters. And she's looking at this bottle of prescription 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:38.800 medication and clearly shaking because she wants to grab a 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:41.560 pill of Twitter, you know. And the idea is that's 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:44.080 what Donald Trump is doing, man deep saying he covers 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.440 all things tech, and that means, for better worse, he 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:48.800 covers Twitter and all that kind of stuff in the 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:52.200 social media platforms. What do you think is going on 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.679 there with Twitter? I mean, is this a viable business? 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.600 Can he support the debt? Is this he gonna get ugly? 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:00.120 I mean there were rumors a couple days ago that 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:04.040 this thing would go dark. Well so clearly with you know, 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:08.080 him having laid off about seventy eight percent of the staff, 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:12.320 and we don't know whether the infrastructure, you know, and 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:15.880 the back end people who really make sure that the 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.400 app and website are up and running are still there. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:22.000 Like Look, when you do mass firings like this, the 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:25.160 real risk is you don't know who is critical to 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:29.320 your development velocity. And if he has figured that out, 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.240 great for him and you know things will be fine. 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.160 It seems like not very many people as the answer 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:37.360 that question. I mean, if you say he fired seventy 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:44.240 of the staff and it's working fine so for now. Yeah, 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:46.720 but I mean it's been days and days and days 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.800 with millions and millions of users. This is the thing 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:52.560 what I've learned from the smart people like men Deep 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:56.640 and others in tech. You have to iterate every day. 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:58.200 I mean, how many times you go on the LinkedIn 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:00.960 You're like, oh, that's new, and you have to have 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:04.760 that every single day. And I'm guessing, okay, maybe they 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:09.960 will we stay five but so you have to assume 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:13.800 they cut us aside. Answer that question, especially for listeners 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:15.440 who may be trying to connect to me on LinkedIn? 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:18.080 How many times do I go on LinkedIn once every 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:23.800 three or four months? But Twitter? Twitter once every maybe 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:26.480 three or four times a day? Yeah? Yeah, okay, there 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.560 you go. Well, So look, I think in terms of 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:32.760 the usage, no one questions that. You know, Twitter is 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:36.640 a unique platform, and I think the competition risk is low. 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:38.840 So even if you know there are all these things 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.320 going on, and he has brought back uh formal president 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:44.880 from and some people are happy some are not. But 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:47.760 at the end of the day, the platform is addictive 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:51.200 and there isn't an alternative. The key question is is 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:54.040 it a good model in terms of what he's trying 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:58.439 to do with subscriptions, blue checks and all the changes 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:01.160 that he wants to do with the company that is 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:05.560 smaller than it was in terms of headcount. So how 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:08.400 do you drive all these product changes when you get 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:11.440 rid of so many people. Maybe he has a pulse 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.120 on who the right talent is to, you know, make 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.600 these changes, but I don't think so. In like, if 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:19.080 you're cost cutting, then your focus should be cost cutting. 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:22.280 If you want to expertise product avelopment velocity, then that 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:25.120 should be a focus. You can do both simultaneously. You know. 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:28.120 It's funny as you say that, I'm thinking about Disney 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:30.679 because I was reading in the story last night and 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.199 early this morning. What they need to do is cut 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:39.600 costs for the streaming business and also boost subscribers for 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:43.320 the streaming business. So and maybe even the price right, 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:46.640 so they want to pay less for the product that 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:52.480 they're selling and charge more for it. Is that possible? Well, look, 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:55.520 anything is possible. I don't know if Disney's in your Wheelhouse. 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:58.040 We can't have woken up without you know, getting into 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:00.920 this story, right. Yeah, but look the end of the day, 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:03.160 for one thing you have to make sure is you 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:06.000 have the right people in charge. For the most time, 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:09.280 we kept hearing like Ellen isn't gonna run Twitter. Now 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:11.600 it looks like he's the one who's doing it. He's 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:16.160 not bringing anyone externally. So I think to me, there 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:18.880 are a lot of question marks around the vision. If 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:20.760 you have the vision, if you lay out the vision 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:23.800 and you're executing towards it, I think you get everyone 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.600 on board. In this case. I don't know if there's 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:29.959 a vision and every day it's something new, yes, you can, 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:32.920 you know, talk about stuff, but to execute on it, 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:35.560 you really need to, you know, have a vision. And 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:37.400 I think that's what's missing here. You know, I'm looking 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:39.560 at the Bloomberg Terminal, the f A, and the most 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:45.160 recent estimates for Twitter before it's taken public private a 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:49.480 billion dollars a billion too, and there's like thirteen billion 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.280 of debt on there, if not more. That's a lot 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:57.720 of leverage thirteen times. I mean, that's even before we 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:00.520 had some of these advertisers pulling back. That's the exactly. 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:05.560 So from my perspective, they're they're already down almost in 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.760 terms of the advertising revenue because a lot of advertisers 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:13.280 have pulled out, and the reason is brand safety, because 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.600 they have gotten rid of all the you know, people 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:18.360 moderating content. Brand safety is a big issue. So I 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.199 wouldn't be surprised in the near term they lose more 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:24.079 advertising revenue and they can offset a little bit of 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:26.240 it using the lower costs because they have fired sev 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:29.880 of the staff. But net net, you're not gonna make 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:32.880 a big jump in even dug growth because this is 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:35.719 gonna be tough. And remember those fixing up people want 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:40.839 their money back. It's strange. Alright, let's talk about the 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:45.400 streaming business, because it turns out it's easier to get subscribers. 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:47.960 It's a little bit harder to make money off of 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:51.480 those subscribers. And for the Walt Disney Company, it was 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.959 such a big deal that they made a big change 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:56.480 at the top, bringing back to Bob e to b 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:58.320 CEO for a couple of years. I'm gonna have talked 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:00.480 to Mark Douglas. He's smart on all this stuff. He'st 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:04.240 president and CEO of Mountain Mountain is an advertising software 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:10.520 company enabling brands to drive measurable conversions, revenue, and site business. Hey, Mark, 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:13.800 it turns out I guess that again, a lot of 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.760 these streaming companies are realizing it's hard to make money. 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:19.760 Maybe we need to think about advertising. What did you 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:23.320 make the news at Disney today? Well, I mean it 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:26.600 was I think a shock to everyone. I've talked to 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:30.520 folks at Disney as recently as the middle of last week, 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:33.160 and if they had any idea this was about to happen, 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.000 they did a very good job of hiding that. So 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:39.800 I think it was definitely shocking news. Um. But you know, 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:44.320 these are um challenging times in the television industry, mainly 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:46.880 because there's a lot of innovation, a lot of change. 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:50.200 And so if you have a track record of managing 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:54.480 large companies but haven't had a track record and and 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.679 I'm not saying of you know, essentially innovating while doing that, 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:00.320 you're that's probably gonna be a real challenge for you. 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:04.080 I don't know if that was the case, um with 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.959 the person Bob is replacing, but I think Bob Iger 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:11.760 definitely has that track record, and that's why Disney needs them. Well, 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.400 I mean, you need to, as the CEO of a 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:18.840 company that's worth when Bob Iger was running it, you know, 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:23.760 two hundred billion dollars, not only innovate and make money 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:30.080 on the products that you're developing, but also somehow take 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:33.720 care of succession. Right, you can't just leave with nobody 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:36.920 good in charge, or at least two people good in charge. 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.280 So the idea is that Bob Iger leaves shapec is 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:42.760 a successor. Shape is not good enough, and now they 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:45.240 have zero bench, there's no one else to choose from. 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:49.080 They have to call Bob Eiger back. Isn't that crazy? Well? 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.320 I may, that's one way of looking at it, But 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:56.400 I think also, um, look a lot of you you 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.000 have a lot of things have changed since Bob left. 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:02.080 You have Netflix and Ring the market, Disney them in 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:06.680 terms of bad supported streaming, Disney themselves announced with Disney 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:08.880 Plus they're going to be doing the same. You have 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:13.520 Apple actually a lot of rumors about Apple um about 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:17.440 to do the same. Um. Just the world has changed 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.520 in terms of the economic conditions, and so you know, 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:24.000 it's it's when you have someone who has this fifteen 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:28.440 year track record, knows the business. Sometimes you know, you 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:31.000 go back to the bench, so to say, and that's 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:34.280 what they did here. I get your point completely, but 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:36.280 I also don't think it was a it's a bad 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.200 choice to say, Look, let's let's go with let's let's 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:41.960 redo this, let's do this one more time, two years, 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:44.720 line it up for the future, and then, you know, 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:46.920 hopefully be in a much stronger place at the end 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:49.560 of that. Mark, what if you left Mountain, what have 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:51.920 you found something else? Maybe you want to dedicate the 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.360 rest of your life to charity, so you give it 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:58.120 to Ryan. Ryan Reynolds takes over. He makes it maybe 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:00.040 a year and a half too. He's no good. You 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:01.800 can't do the business. It's just a pretty face and 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:05.120 reads a script. Do you got a plan B for that? 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:10.200 Someone else gonna take over? I the least, don't pass 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:14.360 along that description. I don't think Ryant that's a pretty 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:18.440 face reading the script. But the and but I'll make 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:22.880 sure he knows that you said that. Okay, all right, 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:25.520 but you do look at the case of Salesforce. Totally 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:28.880 different company, it's totally different industry. The only people most 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:32.440 people know that um Mark Bennioff left, you know, did 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:35.600 that he left the company? At that he had built 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.520 and went off and did something else and wound up 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:41.960 and left some very capable people in charge. But he 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.560 wound up coming back. And that's what we're talking about here, 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:49.080 that DNA to build and to see the opportunities and 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:52.119 to be willing to take the risk that is very, 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.280 very hard to find. And when you have it formally 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:58.120 as your CEO, and now as as you know someone 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:00.720 that was on your board and that person is willing 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:03.200 to come back at a critical moment, I think it's 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:04.960 always going to be the right choice. And it was 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.760 the right choice for Salesforce, It's probably gonna be the 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.160 right choice for Disney, and those are not the only 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.639 two examples of that happening. Yeah. Well, Mark, I've covered 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:15.840 this stock for thirty years and in my take today 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:17.879 as I read this was this is not a victory 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:20.400 lap for Bob Iger. It's an admission that his succession 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.760 plan was a complete failure. He had a great he 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.360 had a great one at one point with Jay Russulo 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:29.040 and Tom Stagg's, but he blew that up as well. 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:32.240 So here we are, Um, he only has two years. 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:34.919 I think one of his top jobs, in addition to 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:37.760 fixing the streaming is to find a successor. I mean, 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.720 I wonder if they're gonna go external, internal, any thoughts 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:44.719 you're hearing the well, I think I think that's not 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:48.199 his first priority. I mean, this was announced yesterday. Today 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:51.960 is his literally is his first day back. I think 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:56.960 the first priority is vision where they want to be. Um, 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.680 there's a lot of people who left Disney and very 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:03.080 see in your roles who um, I wouldn't be surprised 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.119 if they came back also, um who left over the 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:09.359 last year or so. So I think it's first, what's 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:11.640 the vision. Let's make sure we have the right team 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:15.320 execute on that vision. And I do think that if 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:19.000 you're Bob, you you are looking at the situation and saying, look, 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:23.080 we want to make sure that twenty four months from now, UM, 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.600 when we do this again, that we have what's you know, 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.800 really the companies in the right place and the team 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.120 is in the right place and and and learn from 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.639 that and that that I think that's what's going to happen. 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:38.040 But you have to just keep reiterating you you can't 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:42.920 lead a company. Leaders have vision. Leaders have are fearless 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:45.280 and and you know, and they know where they want 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:48.400 to go. And that's that's task number one. And and 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.159 what about Mark? What about I feel like there's so 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:53.159 much they've left on the table in terms of the 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.160 stream business. Right, I have Disney and I have Hulu, 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:58.800 and I have Espn Plus, and I still can't watch 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:01.200 the games that I want to watch. I'm not gonna 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:04.159 go back to cable um. Like a lot of people, 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.359 I just want everything in one place as well? Is that? 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:09.440 Am I the only one who wants it that way? 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:11.919 Are they smart to have, you know, ten different apps 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:13.560 for their content or do they need to make a 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:16.960 change there? Well? They I mean they're they have a 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:20.760 really good lineup of assets here. Hulu gives them live 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:24.000 con excuse me, gives them live content as well as 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:27.640 original content. They have Disney have ABC, they have Espn, 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:31.120 they have the Disney Plus, have Star I mean literally 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:34.720 I was watching the latest Star Wars last night, So, 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.080 I mean they have an incredible bunch of content. The 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:39.160 other thing I don't think most people think about when 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.320 it comes to TV in general, it's under monetized. Then 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:45.920 more people watch television than use social It has three 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:49.119 times the engagement three hours a day watching TV For 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.159 the average individual, an hour day on social media, but 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:55.600 somehow makes less money. So this, this is a business 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:59.240 that is primed for, you know, to really expand the 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:03.399 monetization move beyond just upfronts. From monetization, really moved to 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:06.840 capturing more revenue with the with that triple that engagement. 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:09.000 And so I think you're gonna see a lot of 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:12.600 consolidation and content business. I think companies like Disney, you're 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:14.960 gonna figure out how to monetize them much more effectively. 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:17.919 Bob is on record talking about them in the past. 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:20.640 And once you monetize them more effectively, then you're gonna 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:23.439 look to buy more content more TV networks. So this 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:25.439 is gonna be an exciting two years. I think this 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:28.959 is kicking off a wave of a lot of changes 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:32.160 in the business model and consolidation in terms of TV networks. 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:33.639 All right, Mark, great stuff, and you want to talk 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.879 about an under monetized audience, I'll give you over the 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:40.720 air radio. Mark Douglas, President and CEO of Mountain joining 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:45.560 us onto this Disney News. I want to get right 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:48.359 to our next guest, Michael Nathanson, Founding partner and senior 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:51.159 Research Annel set MOFA at Nathanson and Folks he is 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:54.560 just one of the top voices on Wall Street covering 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:57.440 the media industry. He knows all the players. I want 0:20:57.440 --> 0:20:59.479 to get his thoughts here on the Disney news. Mike, 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:01.600 thanks so much for joining us here. When you saw 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:04.200 the news, What do you think here? What do you 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:07.640 think is going on at the House of Mickey Well? First, 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:10.960