Disney CEO Bob Iger alluded to potentially withdrawing some investment in Florida amid an ongoing battle with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who continues to retaliate against company. He said he’s “closely evaluating where it makes sense to direct future investments” in Disney’s theme park business.
“We certainly never expected to be in the position of defending our business interests in federal court considering the relationship we’ve had with the state for 50 years,” Iger added.
Escalating the standoff between Disney and DeSantis, the company in April sued the state alleging the Republican governor’s hand-picked oversight board illegally voided an agreement that allegedly transferred certain powers of the company’s now-dissolved special district back to Disney. It stressed that filing the suit was a last resort to stop the state for retaliating against it for opposing the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, which prohibits instruction on gender and sexuality through the third grade.
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Florida fired back in May with a suit of its own in what has become legal battle for control of the district that oversees development around the company’s theme parks. DeSantis accused Disney cobbling together a series of “backroom deals” to allegedly preserve its competitive advantage over other businesses in the state and retain tax breaks.
During the earnings call, Iger aimed to set the record straight. He claimed that Florida maintains special districts, like Reedy Creek, to encourage investment. “There are 2,000 special districts in Florida to foster business and investment,” he said, pointing to one maintained by Daytona International Speedway. “It’s easy to say Reedy Creek benefits us, but it’s misleading not to say how it benefited the state of Florida.”
Disney paid over $1.1 billion in taxes to Florida last year — making the company the state’s largest tax payer, according to Iger, who stressed that Disney pays more real estate taxes as a result of the special district and employs tens of thousands of residents at wages above minimum wage.
If the goal is to level the playing field, he said there needs to be “uniform application” of how special districts are established. “There was no concreted effort to dismantle Reedy Creek until we spoke out on legislation,” he said. “This is plainly a matter of retaliation.”
Iger concluded the earnings call with a message to DeSantis: “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people and pay more taxes or not?”
Disney has plans to invest over $17 billion in its Florida theme park over the next ten years.
