Big Thing Missing From Iger’s Town Hall Meeting

Disney CEO Bob Iger held a second Town Hall Meeting, but there was a big thing missing. Get the full rundown of Iger’s plans for the company along with his plans for expansion. Do you think there should have been more addressed?

Town Hall Meeting

A little over a year ago, many Disney fans were shocked when then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek was removed from his position. Former Disney CEO Bob Iger returned for a short tenure as CEO in the meantime.

When Iger returned, he held a Town Hall Meeting exactly one year ago to address concerns with Cast Members. Today the second Town Hall meeting was held. Before diving into what was missing, let’s mention the standout points for today’s meeting.

Plans for Expansion

Iger mentioned that his primary focus has been “addressing a lot of things that were broken and a lot of things that just needed repair.” He is now entering a new phase where he can focus on building rather than simply fixing. Iger joked, “Building is a lot more fun than fixing.”

Part of this focus on “building” includes his plans for expansion. The Disney Parks have created big earnings for the Walt Disney Company this year, and there are plans to invest 60 billion dollars for an expansion a decade in the making.

Iger referred back to his previous promise to invest over 17 Billion dollars in Walt Disney World which will create 13,000 additional jobs. He shares, “With the IP that we have, it seems like a no-brainer to put our money where it can do us the most good.”

Iger mentioned that his primary focus has been “addressing a lot of things that were broken and a lot of things that just needed repair.”

The current expansion efforts are seen with the newly opened World of Frozen in Hong Kong Disneyland and the upcoming Zootipoa-inspired land.

Plans for Disney+

Work is still taking place to merge the Hulu and Disney+ app as Iger mentioned earlier. The Beta of this merged app will be released this December while the full form will be released in March 2024. Iger believes that this merger to a singular app will “enable subscribers their own prolific algorithm.”

Over the last several earning quarters, Iger shared that Disney Entertainment will have a new focus on “quality” content over just “quantity.” Iger even admitted that “quantity in many ways can destroy quality.”

This is leading to him taking a directive lead in the upcoming Disney Entertainment. Iger shared, “When it comes to creating a perception of a company, nothing is as important as movies.”

What was missing?

Iger held this Town Hall Meeting to connect with Disney Cast Members. He did address the importance of creativity among the Cast Members. He mentioned that the one thing AI cannot replace is creativity. Iger encouraged Cast Members to share their “maybe” ideas because “maybe is so important.”

The interesting thing that was missing from this Town Hall Meeting was the ability for Cast Members to ask questions. The theme for this meeting was more of a narrative rather than a discussion. Time after time, Iger has shared that the Cast Members are the heart of The Walt Disney Company.

It seemed rather odd that Cast Members could not ask or share thoughts and concerns during this meeting.

What do you think of Bob Iger’s plan for the Walt Disney Company? Do you think that a discussion time should have been included for Cast Members? Share your thoughts with us and share this news with your Disney pals.