And we also provide them with great benefits and free education. And by the way, we pay them above the minimum wage - substantially above the minimum wage dictated by the state of Florida. I noted that our plans were to invest 17 billion dollars over the next 10 years, which is what the state should want us to do. And as I mentioned on our shareholder call, we have a huge opportunity to continue to invest in Florida. We never wanted and certainly never expected to be in the position of having to defend our business interests in federal court, particularly after having such a terrific relationship with the state as we’ve had for more than 50 years. We’re proud of the tourism industry that we created, and we want to continue delivering the best possible experience for guests going forward. It’s also important for us to say our primary goal is always to be able to continue to do exactly what we’ve been doing there, which is investing in Florida. This is plainly a matter of retaliation while the rest of the Florida special districts continue operating basically as they were. There was no concerted effort to do anything to dismantle what was once called the Reedy Creek special district until we spoke out on legislation. And we pay more taxes, specifically, more real estate taxes, as a result of that special district. But in fact, we’re the largest taxpayer in central Florida, paying over 1.1 billion in state and local taxes last year alone. There’s also a false narrative that we’ve been fighting to protect tax breaks as part of this. 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. So, the goal here is not leveling the playing field. The Daytona Speedway is one so is the Villages, which is a prominent retirement community. Also, we’re not the only company operating a special district. 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. We built a business that employs, as we’ve said before, over 75,000 people, and attracts tens of millions of people to the state. It basically made it easier for us and others to do business in Florida. There are about 2,000 special districts in Florida, and most were established to foster investment and development. 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. We believe that in us taking that position, we are merely exercising our right to free speech.Īlso, this is not about special privileges or a level playing field or Disney in any way using its leverage around the state of Florida. The case that we filed last month made our position in the facts very clear, 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. It seems like you’re stuck with this fight. So, how should investors think about the risk, both the near-term and long-term business for Disney?” The lengthy block quote below is Disney CEO Bob Iger’s response to the question: “Florida is such a big part of the value of the company, but you have this political issue that only seems to get more press. That more or less brings you up to speed, and sets the stage for Iger’s latest comments during the investor call… Earlier this week, the company amended its federal court complaint to include new allegations pertaining to monorail regulations and recent interviews given by DeSantis. That has resulted in two lawsuits, one with Disney Suing DeSantis in federal court and another with the governor-backed Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board Suing Disney in state court. This handcuffed the new board, leading to more legislation by the state to void the aforementioned agreements and more. Prior to the new board taking control, Disney and RCID entered agreements that made national news for use of the “King Charles Clause.” That resulted in the state replacing the Disney-controlled Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) board, with one hand-picked by the governor. It’s impossible to succinctly summarize what precipitated these comments, as the saga has now stretched out over a year, beginning with Bob Chapek making comments about Florida legislation that even Iger concedes were not handled very well. This post shares his response about the lawsuits, investments in the state, plus our commentary about the legitimacy of the threat. During the Q&A of this week’s quarterly earnings call, CEO Bob Iger was asked about the company’s “fight” with Florida and how that could impact the future of Walt Disney World.
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