Join Puck

Bob Iger

Disney C.F.O. Christine McCarthy and C.E.O. Bob Iger and have told everyone for months that the content purge was coming, part of their increasingly frantic effort to erase $3 billion from the bottom line this year.

Disney and the Great Streaming Purge

What’s going on at Disney is kind of nuts. If you told me that each of the Seven Dwarfs holding up the executive building in Burbank were being auctioned off to increase free cash flow, I’d probably believe it. Nearly every division has been asked to spend less, some way less. And titles are disappearing from Disney+ and Hulu as an entire industry retrenches.

Matthew Belloni • May 22, 2023

William D. Cohan • May 21, 2023

Lazard Succession, Iger’s ESPN Move & Netflix’s Ozempic

Peter Orszag will likely take the reins from Ken Jacobs as C.E.O. of Lazard.

News and notes on the latest intrigue swirling around the Sconset set and Gin Lane weekend crowd: what’s next for Lazard, my old stomping grounds; Iger’s ESPN calculation; and late-breaking SVB lessons.

Dylan Byers • May 19, 2023

ESPN’s Brave New World

jimmy pitaro

Disney’s announcement that it will send ESPN off on its own D.T.C. journey introduces a host of provocations for the industry: namely, is this the true beginning of the end of cable, and perhaps of ESPN as we once knew it, too?

Julia Alexander • May 16, 2023

The Iger-Hulu Flip-Flop

When Bob Iger first ushered Disney into the streaming era, he prioritized the company’s historic brand over growth at all costs. Well, now it’s time for growth at all costs.

William D. Cohan • May 14, 2023

Iger’s Existential Question

There’s no erasing his historic earlier tenure at Disney, but the company is looking increasingly vulnerable, especially since Iger’s last big deal will likely be the $9 billion he’d spend to buy Hulu.

Disney v. DeSantis has just been assigned to Judge Walker, who once called the Stop WOKE Act “positively dystopian.”

Eriq Gardner • May 1, 2023

Iger vs. DeSantis: The Next Steps

Disney has the upper hand, for now, but it’s rushing headfirst toward a 230-year-old legal obstacle that could force the company to try an even more extraordinary argument: DeSantis is stealing Disney World!

Can Ben Stiller pull off a salvage job on “Severance” Season 2?

Matthew Belloni • April 28, 2023

A ‘Severance’ Salvage Job and Hollywood’s Executive Amnesia

Ben Stiller brings in a trusted hand to fix problems on his Apple TV+ Emmy winner, Sony’s Tom Rothman forgets in a speech to movie theater owners that he abandoned their business during the pandemic, and much more.

Disney C.E.O. Bob Iger.

Matthew Belloni • April 21, 2023

It May Be Time for Disney to Sue Florida

Iger, an ice-cold killer on his second C.E.O. tour, may need a nuclear option to fend off DeSantis. As the governor and his goons look for new ways to screw with Disney, why not drop the niceties and sue for retaliation?

In December, Lina Khan’s FTC seemed to put the kibosh on the Microsoft-Activision deal, but Wall Street is now growing optimistic that it might close.

Eriq Gardner • April 10, 2023

A Hulk-for-Hulu Swap & Microsoft’s Legal Game Theory

An insider reading of the hottest M&A topics: Hulu, Activision, Illumina, and more.

Disney C.E.O. Bob Iger has notched three impressive wins in his six months back in the saddle.

William D. Cohan • April 5, 2023

The Iger Six-Month Itch

Despite his early successes, the ageless C.E.O. still has two vitally important tasks in front of him: cranking up Disney’s moribund stock price and finding a real successor, one that can outlast the 33-month tenure of Bob Chapek. He’s got some 18 months left.