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Disney Stock On Track to Have Worst Year in 5 Decades

Bob Iger Bad Stock
Credit: Disney and Canva

It’s no secret that, for the past couple of years, Disney stock has struggled for the past couple of years. The stock plummeted when the theme parks were forced to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was understandable. Thankfully, it slowly started to climb back up as Disney+ subscriptions grew and people continued to shop for Disney merchandise. However, it failed to live up to the reliable stock it was once, as Disney CEO Bob Chapek made a series of public missteps that caused people’s faith in the company to wane.

Bob Chapek

Credit: Disney

On November 20, after a tumultuous few years, Bob Chapek was fired, and former Disney CEO Bob Iger stepped into the leadership role once again. Immediately after Iger came back into the Disney fold, Disney’s stock drastically increased as analysts said that the magic had returned. Those gains slowly started to go down and have since disappeared. Then Avatar: The Way of Water came out and underperformed, which caused the stock price to drop again.

Now, Disney is on par to have its worst year in nearly five decades.

Avatar The Way of Water

Credit: Disney

Market Insider explained more about Disney’s poor performance — the stock is down 45% just this year.

Disney stock has plunged 45% this year, leaving it poised to deliver its worst annual performance in nearly five decades, as a profusion of challenges continues to bedevil the media giant.

Shares of Disney closed almost 5% lower Monday, after the long-awaited “Avatar: The Way of Water” had a disappointing opening weekend in movie theaters.

The stock is now trading at 2014 levels on a split-adjusted basis, and remains on track for its largest yearly decline since 1974, according to CNBC. The painful selloff has erased about $200 billion from Disney’s market capitalization since March 2021.

Magic Kingdom

Credit: Disney

While Disney is certainly struggling, the blame cannot simply be pointed at things like Chapek’s issues and Avatar’s performance. The stock market as a whole has had a terrible year. Inflation has reached a forty-year-high, and the federal interest rate was raised from nearly zero all the way to four percent.

Disney fans, Hollywood, Wall Street, and market analysts all have hope that Bob Iger will be able to take Disney and put it back in the positive light it was once seen. They are hoping that can happen if Iger does things like fix the courageous pricing and get rid of unpopular things like Disney Genie+ and the theme park reservation system.

About Krysten Swensen

A born and bred New England girl living the Disney life in Southern California. I love to read, to watch The Golden Girls, and love everything to do with Disney and Universal. I also love to share daily doses of Disney on my Disney Instagram @BrazzleDazzleDisney!