Disney just fought off a shareholder revolt — but the clock’s still ticking

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Today, we're talking about Disney, the massive activist investor revolt it just fought off, and what happens next in the world of streaming. Because what happens to Disney really tells us a lot about what's happening in the entire world of entertainment. Earlier this month, Disney survived an attempted board takeover from businessman Nelson Peltz. While investors ultimately sided with Disney and CEO Bob Iger, the boardroom showdown made something very clear: Disney needs to figure out streaming and get its creative direction back on track.

To help me figure all this out, I brought on my friend Julia Alexander, who is VP of Strategy at Parrot Analytics, a Puck News contributor, and most importantly, a former Verge reporter. She's a leading expert on all things Disney, and I always learn something important about the state of the entertainment business when I talk to her.

Links:

• The Story of Disney+ — Puck News
• ​​Disney’s CEO drama explained, with Julia Alexander — Decoder
• Is streaming just becoming cable again? Julia Alexander thinks so — Decoder
• Disney Fends Off Activist Investor for Second Time in 2 Years — NYT
• For Disney, streaming losses and TV’s decline are a one-two punch — NYT
• Disney’s ABC, ESPN weakness adds pressure to make streaming profitable — WSJ
• Disney reportedly wants to bring always-on channels to Disney Plus — The Verge
• The Disney Plus-Hulu merger is way more than a streaming bundle — The Verge
• Disney’s laying off 7,000 as streaming boom comes to an end — The Verge
• The last few years really scared Disney — Screen Rant

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

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