Acquired · Monday, August 10, 2026
In 1984, The Walt Disney Company was in severe distress, with its stock price plummeting and facing corporate raiders. The company's core animation business was nearly break-even, with most profits coming from parks and consumer products, indicating a broken business model.
“In 1984, the year I was born, all this was happening. I had no idea. Disney is in chaos.”
“The stock is in the dumps. There have been multiple corporate raiders swirling. There are deals on the table to break up Disney, sell off the film library, Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, sell it all off to MGM.”
“And David, things have gotten so bad in the creative core engine that nearly all of the dollar of profit is coming from its parks and licensing consumer products at this point. Films and TV, you know, the Disney that you know of, the content business is basically break-even.”