Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of <a href="http://www.LaughingPlace.com/Latest-ID-80907.asp" target="_blank"><b>Latest: Walt Disney Co. Cutting Expenditures 'Significantly' in 2013</b></a> <p>The Hollywood Reporter writes The Walt Disney Co. will see a "significant" drop in capital expenditures in 2013 according to CFO Jay Rasulo. This follows the huge amount spent on Cars Land at DCA and New Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom. They are still working on Shanghai Disneyland (opening 2015) and Avatarland at Animal Kingdom.</p>
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub Did anybody read this? Are you going to cut your Disney expenditures in 2013? Significantly ? Better start thinking about your own tomorroland.
Originally Posted By tashajilek "Are you going to cut your Disney expenditures in 2013? Significantly ?" I already have by about 75% lol.
Originally Posted By dshyates While Rasulo is said to be cutting back, you have to remember what they are cutting back from. Recently they have had expansions in MK FLE, DCA Carsland, Hong Kong expansion and Paris WDS Expansion. Along with 2 new cruise ships. So even though they are cutting back that still means plenty of room for CapEx projects. Just not as many as recently.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I don't know if it was the way the article was written, but it almost sounded like The Walt Disney Company would be spending significantly less next year, not just Parks & Resorts. It only mentioned expenditures for P&R, but none of the references to the financial future mentioned that they were talking specifically about the division. Given how few films the Studio has turned out this year, that's somewhat of a frightening prospect (especially since the content from the Studio usually trickles down into other divisons, like Consumer Products). I also think it's funny that he referenced Avatarland (which I still don't think will ever get built) and Shanghai (which 99.9999999% of Disney's current market will never see) as the upcoming expenses. I fear that they're counting on the existing (or soon-to-open) stuff at the parks to last them several years; while the new stuff is really nice, it's not the 'be all, end all' that they think it is. Given that Iger has already announced that he'll step down in 2015, I suspect that he's planning on just riding the money train into the station, and getting off before it crashes. He's been really good about squeezing all the life out of any existing properties, so why would he treat the company on a whole any differently? Get things set up nicely, and then just sit back and wait for the money to come rolling in. By the time that consumers realize that there's nothing new in development, he'll be retired and sitting pretty.
Originally Posted By dagobert In addition to all the mentioned expenditures, TWDC just spent 1.2 Billion Euros to buy the debts of ED SCA, the operator of Disneyland Paris.
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub Iger/retirement/riding the money train til it crashes .... or put it all up for sale...my biggest fear
Originally Posted By DyGDisney Tomorrowland is in desparate need of an update. I wish that was in next years budget!
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper It's a lot of corporate speak. It's what Wall Street wants to hear...not likely what's going to happen. A massive DHS overhall is on the way barring any catastrophic event, Avatar is still being worked on in some respect, Paris will be getting projects, DL is most likely getting an Iron Man attraction, and they're looking at more cruise ships. The article is much ado about nothing, imo.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney Anybody have any predictions or idea of what this might do to Disney stock?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Given that Iger has already announced that he'll step down in 2015, I suspect that he's planning on just riding the money train into the station, and getting off before it crashes." Crashes? Are you predicting some sort of doomsday for the WDC?
Originally Posted By Manfried Let's see, Disney spent more than a billion dollars on DCA. I would say they can ease back a bit on spending.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Crashes? Are you predicting some sort of doomsday for the WDC?<< Not doomsday per se, but I certainly don't think that TWDC in 2016 will be as great as we had all predicted it could be ten years after 2006. Iger has strategically mined the Company's archives for anything that can be given to Consumer Products, creating maximum return on minimal investment. It's a great business strategy for the short term, but it has come at the expense of generating new content. Under Iger, the Studios have really scaled back production, yet he's purchased two major companies (Pixar and Marvel) with a lot of characters that can be seen as cashcows. While Disney has always had a strong dose of synergy, it seems that Iger has pushed it at the expense of creating the experiences that really drive consumer interest. I'll be very interested to see who replaces him, and how they try to change direction. >>Let's see, Disney spent more than a billion dollars on DCA. I would say they can ease back a bit on spending.<< They spent that money over 5 years. Yes, a lot of it was spent last year (in addition to the HKDL expansion and new cruise ship), but it's not like they just spent all the money they had in one year; it was a process drawn out over a relatively long time. And let's not forget WDW's four parks that have seen almost nothing in recent years, and have very little on the horizion beyond the Fantasyland expansion (I'm still beyond skeptical on Avatar)
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn Again, the next time y'all go to a Disney park, I gaurentee you will enjoy it.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Yes, I will enjoy the parks. I always do. But as a shareholder, I'm also concerned with the Company's future. To a certain degree, we all benefited from Eisner's sudden departure in 2006. He didn't have time to plan it in advance, and simply handed over the regular operations and in-progress projects to the new guy. With Iger knowing his end date so far in advance, it makes it very easy for him to do enough to make it look good while he's in charge, and then run out of the building before it falls apart. We see this strategy all the time in politics; why would the corporate world be any different?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Or pass the baton to someone who'll continue to expand the company and build profits accordingly. With Disney firmly committed to Asia you'd almost be insane to not see the potential for enormous financial growth just from its investments in China alone. Besides all that, it's not like Iger has been a terrible CEO. I'm hardly a fan of the way he's commoditized almost every aspect of the WDCo, but it was inevitable. Given the nature of the things, and the near calamitous global economic downturn, things could be a lot worse.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< I also think it's funny that he referenced ... Shanghai (which 99.9999999% of Disney's current market will never see) as the upcoming expenses. >>> Why is that funny? How does the notion that SDL will not be seen by most of Disney's current market reduce the relevance of the capital expenses when talking to Wall Street? If anything, it increases it, as it adds potential to capture what is now an almost completely untapped market for Disney, rather than adding incrementally to what's already there.
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn This can't make it any better <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/28/us-france-budget-idUSBRE88R0AK20120928" target="_blank">http://www.reuters.com/article...20120928</a>
Originally Posted By sjhym333 On one hand it seems logical that after the big expenditures that the Disney Company has done that they would be looking to cut back some. They must be expecting that the Fantasyland expansion is going to generate enough interest to keep WDW in a good financial spot. Years ago someone in corporate told me that the feeling at the higher levels is that the WDW parks on their own do not have a lot of room to increase revenueby building new attractions. That when one park opens a new attraction it mostly canniblizes attendance from the other parks since most every guest is now on a park hopper type ticket. On the other hand, I think it is a little short sighted for Disney not to be planning new attractions that keep people interested in the future of the parks. My biggest issue is that there doesn't seem to be a master plan for growth inside the parks. My hope is that Kathy Magnum in her new role will be doing some master planning. Each of the parks can really use some new ideas and attractions to help them...especially the Hollywood Studios in my opinion.
