Disney’s Downfall: The Rise and Fall of an Entertainment Giant

Disney’s Downfall: The Rise and Fall of an Entertainment Giant

Hollywood has been decimated by the rise of streaming. At Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Sony, profits on TV, film, and streaming went from $23 billion in 2013 to about zero in 2023. Nothing tells this story more clearly than a brief history of Disney. In the early 2000s, Disney under CEO Bob Iger went on one of the most extraordinary runs in modern business history. ESPN was the most valuable network in the cable bundle. They acquired Pixar, Marvel, LucasFilms, and Fox. As the company shifted to streaming, it seemed set up to lap Netflix and eat the box office at the same time. But today, Disney’s stock is at a nine-year low. Operating margins are down 75 percent. Disney+ lost $4 billion last year. What happened to America’s greatest entertainment company? To discuss, we have two great guests: Julia Alexander, director of strategy for Parrot Analytics and a writer with Puck News, and Matthew Ball, a writer and investor and author of the book ‘The Metaverse.’ If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guests: Matthew Ball & Julia Alexander Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episoder(359)

Burning Questions on Media: Streaming’s Summer of Hell, Movie Theater Woes, and CNN’s Risky Pivot

Burning Questions on Media: Streaming’s Summer of Hell, Movie Theater Woes, and CNN’s Risky Pivot

Today’s episode is about the entertainment and media industry’s tumultuous summer, the streaming wars, a come-to-Jesus moment for movie theaters, and a dramatic revamp at CNN—which tells a lot about t...

26 Aug 202250min

What’s the Secret of Success in America? This Economist Has Answers.

What’s the Secret of Success in America? This Economist Has Answers.

The economist Raj Chetty has spent much of the last decade trying to answer a very big question: What happened to the American Dream? In 1940, a child born into the average American household had a 92...

23 Aug 202250min

Why Does It Seem Like Everybody Hates Everything?

Why Does It Seem Like Everybody Hates Everything?

Bestselling author Chuck Klosterman talks to Derek about the death of the monoculture, how the internet creates cults of fans and anti-fans, and how “hating things” became a mainstream personality tra...

19 Aug 202252min

Donald Trump vs. the FBI: Everything We Know About the Investigation So Far

Donald Trump vs. the FBI: Everything We Know About the Investigation So Far

I've never before recorded an episode specifically about Donald Trump. I guess I’ve been holding out for the chaos that typically swirls around him to exceed an extremely high bar of freaky nonsense. ...

16 Aug 202242min

A New Way to Think About Racism in America

A New Way to Think About Racism in America

Several years ago, the writer, researcher, and policy advocate Heather McGhee traveled around the country to report on how racism in America holds us back from policies that would benefit everybody. I...

12 Aug 202244min

Carbon Removal Might Be the World’s Most Important Technology. How Does It Work?

Carbon Removal Might Be the World’s Most Important Technology. How Does It Work?

Last year, somebody explained the problem of climate change to me with a metaphor that I’ve never been able to forget. They said: Imagine a bathtub. The bathtub is the planet’s atmosphere. The faucet ...

9 Aug 202246min

Curiosity Corner: Monkeypox Myths, Millennial Facts, and Overpopulation Fears

Curiosity Corner: Monkeypox Myths, Millennial Facts, and Overpopulation Fears

In our second "Curiosity Corner" mailbag, Derek takes your burning questions. He breaks down the myths around how monkeypox spreads, and blasts public health officials for not being more specific abou...

5 Aug 202230min

Is Old Music Killing New Music?

Is Old Music Killing New Music?

Why does it seem like the old is eating the new in pop culture? This year, the song of the summer is arguably Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”—which was released in 1985. It was launched by the most...

3 Aug 202253min

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