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(351)

The Rules of Attraction and the Psychology of Romance

The Rules of Attraction and the Psychology of Romance

Psychology is hard, even when you’re just trying to understand what’s going on with one impossibly complex person. Romance psychology is particularly hard because you’re trying to understand what’s go...

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Plain History: How Norman Borlaug Stopped the Apocalypse

Plain History: How Norman Borlaug Stopped the Apocalypse

In every generation, important people predict that the end is near and the apocalypse is coming. In the 1960s, the fear was that population growth would destroy the planet—that fertility would outrun ...

16 Mai 20251h 8min

Why Do Americans Pay So Much for Drugs?

Why Do Americans Pay So Much for Drugs?

On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order telling drugmakers to slash the prices of their medicines. Once again, the president showed an amazing nose for interesting questions. Stati...

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Is Pop Culture Worse Than Ever?

Is Pop Culture Worse Than Ever?

In music, billion-dollar investments in old catalogues are squeezing out new music. In film, Hollywood has become addicted to the regurgitation of familiar IP. In visual art, critics bemoan the strait...

9 Mai 20251h

The Job Market for Young Grads Is Flashing Red

The Job Market for Young Grads Is Flashing Red

Last month, the unemployment rate for recent college grads surged to nearly 6 percent. Compared to the overall economy's jobless rate, the unemployment rate for recent grads is higher now than in any ...

6 Mai 202543min

Megapod: The Crisis in American Science

Megapod: The Crisis in American Science

Today, we are witnessing an unprecedented assault on American science. Thousands of workers have been dismissed from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Billions of ...

2 Mai 20252h 4min

Is This the Chinese Century?

Is This the Chinese Century?

In the last few weeks, for the first time in my life, I’ve seriously thought about the 21st century not being another American century. A recent essay in the journal Foreign Affairs by Rush Doshi and...

29 Apr 20251h 8min

What Americans Get Wrong About ADHD

What Americans Get Wrong About ADHD

In 1937, a Rhode Island psychiatrist named Charles Bradley ran an experiment on 30 child patients who had complained of headaches. He gave them an amphetamine, that is a stimulant, called Benzedrine, ...

25 Apr 20251h 7min

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