Josh D’Amaro, who runs Walt Disney Co.’s theme parks and consumer products business, said the company’s ongoing feud with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hasn’t hurt business.
(Bloomberg) — Josh D’Amaro, who runs Walt Disney Co.’s theme parks and consumer products business, said the company’s ongoing feud with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hasn’t hurt business.
“Some of the things that have been taking place have not impacted our business results,” D’Amaro said Monday at a JPMorgan Chase & Co. media and technology conference.
D’Amaro said the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, a 100-room themed hotel that the company has decided to shut down, didn’t perform as well as expected. The company will accelerate depreciation associated with the project to more than $100 million in each of the next two quarters.
Read More: Disney Drops Plan to Move Workers to Florida, Closes Hotel
He also said the cost of a new corporate campus the company will no longer build in Florida was not included in a forecast for $17 billion of investment in the state over the next ten years.
“We’re thinking pretty aggressively about where we can take things in Florida,” he said, referring to new attractions.
Disney’s theme park business has been a focal point of an ongoing fight between the company and DeSantis. Tensions flared last year after Disney opposed legislation in the state barring discussion of sexual identity in schools. Florida officials then passed legislation that allowed the governor to appoint a new board to oversee municipal services at the company’s parks.
The company sued to reverse that decision, calling DeSantis’ moves retaliatory. Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger has questioned whether the governor wants jobs and investment in the state.
Last week Disney ended plans to move 2,000 employees from California to a $864 million corporate campus it was building in Orlando. It also said it would close the Starcruiser, which offered two-day immersive experiences that started at $4,800 per couple.
A spokesperson for DeSantis said Disney’s decision was based on its “financial straits, falling market cap and declining stock price.”
D’Amaro said the parks were performing well, including Paris, which is benefiting from new attractions, and Shanghai and Hong Kong, which are seeing business return after pandemic-related shutdowns.
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