Disney Announces a Restructuring of Media & Entertainment Divisions

Disney’s CEO, Bob Chapek, announced in an interview on Monday (Oct. 13) plans to restructure Disney’s media and entertainment divisions, effective immediately.

As shared by CNBC: Disney is restructuring its media and entertainment divisions, as streaming becomes the most important facet of the company’s media business. On Monday (Oct. 12), Disney revealed that in order to further accelerate its direct-to-consumer strategy, it would be centralizing its media businesses into a single organization that will be responsible for content distribution, ad sales and Disney+.

“I would not characterize it as a response to Covid,” CEO Bob Chapek told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin on “Closing Bell” on Monday. “I would say Covid accelerated the rate at which we made this transition, but this transition was going to happen anyway.”

“We are tilting the scale pretty dramatically [toward streaming],” Chapek said, noting that the company is looking at all investments, including dividends, as it seeks to increase its spend on new content. Chapek said the board of directors will have the final say on Disney’s dividend payouts.

Disney announced a major reorganization yesterday, as streaming becomes the most important facet of the company’s business. “We believe that we’ve got the opportunity to build upon the success of Disney+,” CEO Bob Chapek told @JBoorstin. https://t.co/fE1GzolSfT pic.twitter.com/EXoC0RxEmu

— CNBC (@CNBC) October 13, 2020

This new structure is effective immediately. Disney currently expects to transition its financial reporting to reflect these changes beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2021.

Source: CNBC.com