The most popular storyline on Disney over the last quarter was the “Poor Bob” narrative about how coming back to Disney wasn’t working out for Bob Iger.
And after a masterful showing around the Q1 reporting yesterday, Disney negheads are really pissed off that anyone should be impressed in any way. How did he blow up the Death Star again?!?!
Nelson Peltz, who is a brilliant investor and a clear ignoramus about what drives Disney, said in his best Donald Trump denial (well, more subtle than Trump), “It’s deja vu all over again. We saw this movie last year, and we didn’t like the ending.”
So Nelson… do what you did last year. Take you profits and walk the hell away.
But like Trump, Peltz has now gathered other opportunists in his confused cause and feels compelled to keep fighting a battle he already won (on the basis of stock recovery) and seems desperate to lose (by measure of ego).
The stock market, which is a poor precise measure of most companies, is now up 35% (as of this writing) from the low of $79 on October 27.
Peltz increased his holdings in Disney in October, probably bought mostly in the low $80s. If his 30 million shares were worth $2.5 billion, they are worth at least $500 million more this morning. Waaaaaaah! Poor billionaire!
Even Tom Rogers, who lives emotionally in Netflix’s pocket, softened his strong disagreement with anyone being positive about the quarter this morning on CNBC, though still seeking any way to be negative about Disney like it slapped his mama.
(And thank you, CNBC, for not including Always Wrong Rich Greenfield in your coverage. I’m sure he is somewhere throwing spaghetti all over the place in his high chair of rage.)
Of course, even Darth Rogers had to admit, by the end of his appearance, that a number of these media conglomerations with turn the corner on streaming and be profitable… it’s just a matter of whether Wall Street will be patient. Well… it won’t be. Overexcited, Overly Negative or Erroneously Neutral are the speeds of Wall Street. This won’t be changing anytime soon.
This is not the greatest moment in the history of Disney. The quarter was decent (just like Netflix), but the forward motion of the company was delivered to the world by Iger like a master conductor.
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