Disney’s Can Blame Themselves for Their Market Freefall

I have a saying that, although I don’t know the originator, saying “Go woke; Go broke.”

Disney is one company that is learning this hard lesson, even though no one will admit it publicly. Breitbart’s David Ng reports that The Walt Disney Company lost $63 billion in market capitalization during the past two months.

David Ng writes that Disney shares have fallen 23.5 percent from $145.70 since March. “Market cap has fallen $62.6 billion from $265.3 billion to $202.7 billion.”

Market capitalization is defined by Investopedia as the “total dollar market value of a company’s outstanding stock shares.” Commonly known as “market cap”, it is calculated by adding the total number of outstanding shares to the current market price for one share.

It’s difficult to comprehend losing this much money, I don’t know what it is about you. I panic if I lose $20, so it would be a disaster to lose billions of dollars because I chose a position that benefits a small percentage of my workforce but also affects the rest of the world. Although it may seem like a small amount to Disney, it is still close to a quarter of its market capitalization.

Disney stock fell 30% in the last year, despite it performing poorly over the recent months.

This is largely due to Disney’s decision not to speak out about Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Bill, which was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill at the end of March. It was falsely called the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” by the Democrats and their media accomplices. This prompted the LGBTQ lobby of Disney cast members to press CEO Bob Chapek to get the company’s attention to the state’s affairs.

DeSantis and Florida’s legislature decided to put out a fire with fire. They voted to repeal the 1967 special improvement bill that allowed Disney to establish the Reedy Creek Improvement District. This act effectively gave the Florida legislature control over Walt Disney World.

In addition to Disney’s newfound activism, the public discovered that some Disney creative executives are committed to increasing access to LGBTQ content for children and their families. Disney cast members who disagree with this agenda were able to speak out, but it didn’t matter much to the executives. Then Disney began to question long-standing characters for being “potentially problematic”, and this was for the most absurd reasons.

Disney’s wokeness has led to CEOs of other companies looking up to Disney’s antics to see them as an example of what to avoid.

Now, Disney is paying the financial cost for its wakefulness. Disney may not admit to its mistakes in this. If the company does decide to revert from its woke ways, which I believe it will, it will do so without much fanfare. But the damage is done. Disney cannot retract its politically charged statements and fix the damage it has done to its brand.