The group criticized the decision to suspend the comedian after comments about the conservative reaction to the alleged shooter of Charlie Kirk, and said that investors were entitled to investigate whether the company’s leaders “did not properly discharge their fiduciary duties” in deciding to bench Kimmel amid threats from the FCC. The fallout, which sparked criticisms that Disney was caving on free-speech issues and drew some threats from Hollywood talent to stop working with the company, shaved more than $4 billion off its market value last week.
The group wants any materials that estimate the effect of Kimmel’s suspension on Disney’s revenue, as well as documents that lay out how executives are supposed to make decisions around “politically sensitive programming.” It also wants copies of Disney’s agreements with affiliate networks Nexstar and Sinclair, whose initial threats to black out Kimmel’s show appear to have sparked his suspension; emails between board members, including CEO Bob Iger; and any communications between the company and federal government or political organizations.
“Although we are pleased that ABC did the right thing and put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air last night, due to the Trump administration’s continued threats to free speech, including with respect to ABC, we are writing to seek transparency into the initial decision to suspend him and his show,” the letter said.
“There is a credible basis to suspect that the Board and executives may have breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and good faith by placing improper political or affiliate considerations above the best interests of the Company and its stockholders.”
Shareholders in Delaware, where Disney is legally based, can demand corporate “books and records” to investigate potential wrongdoing, and such demands can lead to lawsuits. But their access generally is limited to matters involving the board of directors, not day-to-day management decisions made by company executives. Communications between, for example, Iger, Disney TV chief Dana Walden, and Kimmel would likely be off-limits, and aren’t sought by the group’s letter.
Definitely financially motivated, and not out of ur the goodness of their own hearts.
The simple fact is that when it comes to corporations, that’s the only way to force changes. The Shareholders ultimately decide who runs the company and whether it is acting in their interests. Disney’s comparatively small fuck up here with Kimmel (compared to the entire empire) has cost the company millions in lost profit from subscription cancellations alone and an untold amount of goodwill worldwide, which indirectly equates to lost profits for years. Losses way more impactful than the small piece of the pie that is the show on ABC.
Definitely financially motivated, and not out of ur the goodness of their own hearts.
“Shareholders” in the headline was the giveaway
Worth noting this bit from the footnotes of the article though:
The letter was organized in conjunction with the Democracy Defenders Fund, a nonprofit watchdog group founded by Norman Eisen, a former Obama aide and the author of the anti-Trump Substack The Contrarian
I wonder if they ended up making more money for the suspension. I haven’t ever watched a Jimmy Kimmel monologue, but I watched that one. And I would be open to watching more in the future. Just because of how relevant it is.
Most relevant parts:
Definitely financially motivated, and not out of ur the goodness of their own hearts.
I fear the best we can hope for is that people do the right things, not that they do then for the right reasons.
The simple fact is that when it comes to corporations, that’s the only way to force changes. The Shareholders ultimately decide who runs the company and whether it is acting in their interests. Disney’s comparatively small fuck up here with Kimmel (compared to the entire empire) has cost the company millions in lost profit from subscription cancellations alone and an untold amount of goodwill worldwide, which indirectly equates to lost profits for years. Losses way more impactful than the small piece of the pie that is the show on ABC.
dint they lose billions, not millions, just from the kimmel thing alone.
THe colbert situation pretty much primed the situation to be worst.
Probably, I was being conservative on the estimate, and Disney will never admit it. They’ll find ways to hide the actual impact in other minutiae.
“Shareholders” in the headline was the giveaway
Worth noting this bit from the footnotes of the article though:
I wonder if they ended up making more money for the suspension. I haven’t ever watched a Jimmy Kimmel monologue, but I watched that one. And I would be open to watching more in the future. Just because of how relevant it is.
they lost billions.
Well, yeah. Why else would shareholders sue a company?