Disney CEO Bob Iger fired a considerable warning shot towards Ron DeSantis during a recent earnings call. Iger has been steps ahead of DeSantis after the Florida governor waged a losing war on Disney following the company’s public pushback on the state’s highly controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Disney is currently suing the state for taking “retaliatory” action against its protected speech by attempting to take control of the special district where Disneyland resides and/or devalue it by placing a prison near the theme park. Iger denounced the tactic and revealed that the House of Mouse was set to invest over $17 billion into the state over the next 10 years, but not if DeSantis is willing to throw away a lucrative 50-year-old relationship for his culture war.
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.”
After setting the record straight on how special districts work across the state, and that the Disney isn’t the only entity with one, Iger put the situation into blunt terms for DeSantis: “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people and pay more taxes or not?”
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)