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Credit: Disney/Inside the MagicAfter a year in which the Walt Disney Company has been stumbling through box office failure, receiving massive fan backlash over political feuds, and losing hundreds of millions on streaming services, CEO Bob Iger has announced he will donate a whopping million dollars to good works.
Bob Iger returned to Walt Disney less than a year after handing the reins to Bob Chapek, whose short term as CEO involved kicking off a still ongoing feud with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over the controversial Parental Rights in Education Act, better known by the nickname of the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
CEO Bob Iger, Savior
As returning CEO, Bob Iger was initially welcomed as a savior for the Walt Disney Company, which he had helped cement as one of the world’s most powerful media corporations throughout the early 2000s.
Under the early leadership of Mr Iger, Disney purchased Lucasfilm (and, with it, the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises), Marvel Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, and 20th Century Fox, creating one of the most lucrative and widespread IP catalogs in the world. At the same time, he vastly expanded Disney Resorts around the world, particularly in Asia.
Related: Bob Iger’s Attempt to Financially Salvage Disney Failed, Thousands Left “Suffocating”
Things have not gone as well for the Walt Disney Company as shareholders might have expected or wanted from CEO Bob Iger, however.
Disney+ and Streaming Losses
After being asked back as CEO by the Disney board of directors, Bob Iger inherited a dizzying array of problems.
Currently, the company is in multiple lawsuits with Governor DeSantis and has seen its special Reedy Creek Improvement District around Walt Disney World dissolved in an alleged act of political retaliation from the far-right presidential hopeful.
A recent annual earning report indicated that the company had pulled in more income than ever, primarily by vastly inflating the cost of theme park annual passes, cruise line prices, concessions, and basically any way that Guests could be charged more. Unsurprisingly, this has not endeared many lifelong Disney fans to Bob Iger.
What’s more, the report revealed that Disney+ has been losing the company hundreds of millions of dollars and is nowhere close to becoming profitable. In addition, the company has been losing the battle to create a streaming subscriber base in India, losing over 25 million customers over the course of the year.
No wonder Bob Iger is reportedly “overwhelmed” and exhausted.”
A Disney Million Dollar Donation
Now, it seems like Disney CEO Bob Iger might be trying to regain a little bit of the trust he has lost from fans and shareholders through the classic means of massive charitable donations.
Related: Outraged Fans Demand Change After CEO Bob Iger Invokes Walt Disney
The company recently announced that it will make a $1 million donation to the Student Veterans of America developing virtual career center (per Military Times). Bob Iger himself said via a statement that the donation “will help veterans making the transition from military life to college and career” and “[give] back to those who bravely serve our country in uniform.”
The company has been involved with the Student Veterans of America in the past, but it is not hard to see a large, publically announced charitable donation like this as part of a calculated effort by the company to improve its much-diminished social standing.
Hopefully, that money will do some good for veterans, because Disney is increasingly not in a place to afford big expenditures.
Do you think Disney is trying to curry public favor as it increasingly struggles? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!