English Entertainment
Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden outlines corp strategic vision
MUMBAI: Dana Walden, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, delivered a comprehensive overview of the company’s operations and future direction at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on 4 March 2025, addressing key areas of investor interest including streaming profitability, content strategy, and technological innovation.
Walden explained how Disney’s restructuring under CEO Bob Iger has created a “clean structure” with three segments: Disney experiences under Josh D’Amaro, ESPN under Jimmy Pitaro, and Disney entertainment co-led by herself and Alan Bergman. Within their division, Bergman oversees film studios and branded series, whilst Walden manages global television, with joint responsibility for Disney+ and Hulu, including ad sales, technology, and platform distribution.
She emphasised that this structure has “restored the authority to creative executives” who understand “how to create stories at scale” whilst connecting “the people who approved the spending to the revenue.” Disney Studios achieved market dominance with $5.5 billion at the box office, which Walden suggested was “more than all the other studios combined, or very close.” The company also claimed half of the top ten most streamed shows of the year.
Walden highlighted a dramatic financial improvement in Disney’s streaming business, transitioning from “losing over $1 billion a quarter” to becoming “profitable, growing revenue and delivering with visibility towards double-digit margins.” She noted that Disney+ is still only five years old, emphasising the rapid pace of achievement.
The integration of Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers was described as “an extraordinary value” that is “driving engagement” and “improving our churn dynamic.”
Upcoming content releases like Moana 2 (arriving on Disney+ on 12 March) will serve as “a huge event for subscribers, both in terms of acquisition and engagement,” followed by Mufasa in late March.
Disney’s creative prowess was underscored by its 60 Emmy Awards, which Walden pointed out was “more than any of our competitors ever,” whilst “the rest of the industry split the other 69 awards.”
Regarding international growth, Walden discussed the company’s investment in local content development over the past two years, citing the Korean series Moving which attracted “over 1.5 million subscribers.” She outlined a three-tiered approach: “local for local, local for regional, and global for the whole world.”
On ESPN’s upcoming direct-to-consumer service, Walden confirmed the flagship product would launch later this year with “new features that will really blow people away.” She highlighted recent additions to Disney+, including an ESPN tile with over 3,000 hours of programming and the newly launched SC+, a daily SportsCenter show that provides “a daily touch point for sports” and a “reason every day to open the app.”
In the competitive children’s entertainment space, Walden asserted Disney’s dominance in the preschool segment, with Bluey emerging as the most streamed show in the United States last year, driving “60 billion minutes of engagement on Disney+.” She acknowledged the fragmented viewing habits of older children across social media, gaming and YouTube, noting Disney’s “meaningful and great partnership with YouTube” where they produce “thousands of videos” with Disney Junior having “22 million subscribers.”
Walden revealed that Disney is developing technology features that will “specifically address how kids are interacting with content right now in a very contemporary way,” whilst also highlighting the success of Disney Playtime, a linear-style channel that helps “introduce this young audience to multiple franchises.”
On technology, Walden countered the notion that Disney needs to become a great technology company, asserting “Disney is a great technology company and a great storytelling company,” citing the Imagineers’ work in parks, Pixar’s production innovations, and the acquisition of BamTech. She highlighted key technology hires including Adam Smith from YouTube as Head of Technology and Andre Rohe from YouTube and Meta as Head of Engineering, who are focused on “algorithmic programming and personalization, deploying AI across all of our services.”
Walden identified advertising as “absolutely a growth area,” leveraging Hulu’s position as “the original ad solutions partner on streaming video.” She touted Disney’s technological advantages in “automation, programmatic targeting, the ability to work with the biggest DSPs to share data in a clean room,” claiming Disney is “significantly ahead of our competitors in this space.”
Concluding her remarks, Walden expressed confidence in Disney’s leadership team, describing the company as being in “incredibly good hands” under CEO Bob Iger, with “a small leadership team who deliver so much value” and “excellent” company culture.
English Entertainment
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approve Paramount deal
Investors wave through a $111 billion megamerger but deliver a stinging, if toothless, rebuke over half-a-billion-dollar goodbye packages
NEW YORK: The shareholders said yes to the deal. They said no to the cheque. At a virtual special meeting on Thursday that lasted barely ten minutes, Warner Bros. Discovery investors voted overwhelmingly to approve Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of the company — and then turned around and voted against the lavish exit pay packages lined up for chief executive David Zaslav and his fellow outgoing executives.
Not that it will make much difference. The compensation vote is purely advisory and non-binding. The Warner Bros. Discovery board can, and almost certainly will, pay out as planned.
But the symbolism stings. It is the second consecutive year that WBD shareholders have voted against the executive compensation packages, and this time they had good reason. Zaslav’s exit deal is, by any measure, extraordinary. Under the terms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he is set to receive $34.2 million in cash severance, $517.2 million in equity in the combined company, and $44,195 in continued health coverage — a total of at least $550 million. On top of that, Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to reimburse Zaslav up to $335 million for taxes assessed by the Internal Revenue Service on his accelerated stock vesting, though the company says that figure will decline depending on when the deal closes. As of March 11, Zaslav also held $115.85 million in vested WBD stock awards — and last month sold a further $114 million worth of WBD shares.
Shareholder advisory firm ISS recommended voting against the compensation measure, citing “problematic” tax reimbursements to Zaslav and the full vesting of his stock awards.
Zaslav will be bound by a two-year non-competition covenant and a two-year non-solicitation of customers and employees after the deal closes.
His lieutenants are not walking away empty-handed either. J.B. Perrette, chief executive and president of global streaming and games, is in line for $142 million, comprising $18.2 million in cash severance and $123.9 million in equity. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer, will receive an estimated $121.5 million, including $18.8 million in severance and $102.7 million in equity. Chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels is set for $120 million, made up of $6.6 million in cash severance and $113.1 million in equity. Gerhard Zeiler, president of international, will get $82.6 million, including $11.9 million in severance and $70.7 million in equity.
The deal itself, clinched in February after Netflix declined to raise its bid for Warner Bros., still needs regulatory clearance from the Justice Department and European authorities. Several state attorneys general are also weighing legal action to block it.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, was unsparing. “The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger isn’t a done deal,” she said after the shareholder vote. “State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight.”
If it does go through, the combined entity would be a formidable beast, bringing together Paramount Skydance’s stable — CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, BET, MTV and Nickelodeon — with WBD’s portfolio of HBO, Max, Warner Bros. film and TV studios, DC, CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and Discovery+. Paramount has said it expects $6 billion in cost savings from the merger, which is Wall Street shorthand for mass layoffs on a significant scale.
The ten-minute meeting was presided over by chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr., with Zaslav, Campbell, Wiedenfels and chief communications officer Robert Gibbs in virtual attendance. Di Piazza was bullish. “We appreciate the support and confidence our stockholders have placed in us to unlock the full value of our world-class entertainment portfolio,” he said. “With Paramount, we look forward to creating an exceptional combined company that will expand consumer choice and benefit the global creative talent community.”
Zaslav echoed the sentiment. “Over the past four years, our teams have transformed Warner Bros. Discovery and returned the company to industry leadership,” he said. “Today’s stockholder approval is another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction that will deliver exceptional value to our stockholders.”
Paramount Skydance struck a similar note. “Shareholder approval marks another important milestone towards completing our acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery,” it said in a statement, adding that it looked forward to “closing the transaction in the coming months.”
The shareholders have spoken on the merger. On the pay, they were ignored before the vote was even counted.
