Day: February 12, 2023

Disney Announces Dramatic Restructuring, Slashes Thousands of Jobs on Same Day DeSantis Says ‘There’s a New Sheriff in Town’

Reality is storming the gates of the Magic Kingdom.

Highlighting the new, less-reverent world in which the company functions, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis noted on the same day massive layoffs were announced that Florida will no longer roll over for Disney to give the company a free ride, according to Fox Business.

Disney’s sprawling resort complex in Central Florida has functioned as a largely self-regulating island under the auspices of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a status that is coming to an end as the state moves forward to end that privileged status.

“Disney’s going to pay its debt,” DeSantis told reporters during a news conference Wednesday in Ocala, Florida.

“What I said really for the last six, nine months is Disney is no longer going to have self-government,” the governor said. “They’re not going to have their own government. Disney is going to pay its fair share of taxes, and Disney is going to honor the debt, and that’s exactly what this proposed piece of legislation will do.

“If you remember when we first went down this road last spring, a lot of folks in the media were saying that, ‘Oh my gosh, Disney’s actually going to pay less taxes and Floridians are going to pay more taxes.’ They were saying that, and I’m like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

“Well, this puts that to bed. And so those debts will be honored and those will be paid now. This is obviously now going to be controlled by the state of Florida, which is no longer self-governing for them.

“So there’s a new sheriff in town, and that’s just the way it’s going to be.”

DeSantis has clashed with Disney since the company lobbied against the Parental Rights in Education bill he pushed last year.

Is DeSantis right to revoke Disney World’s self-governing status?

The company’s stance in favor of LGBT instruction for young schoolchildren has put it at odds with many parents.

The governor’s remarks about putting the Reedy Creek Improvement District under state control came the same day Disney announced it is restructuring to cut costs, according to CNBC.

By cutting about 7,000 jobs, the entertainment giant will be trimming around 3 percent of its workforce. The company employs about 220,000 people around the world with 166,000 of those in the United States.

Disney is cutting $5.5 billion in costs, which includes $3.5 billion from content areas other than sports and $2.5 billion from non-content cuts.

“We must return creativity to the center of the company, increase accountability, improve results and ensure the quality of our content and experiences,” Disney CEO Robert Iger said on an earnings-related conference call, according to The New York Times.

“We are going to a really hard look at everything we make [in general entertainment] because things in a more competitive world have simply gotten more expensive,” Iger said, according to Variety.

The new approach translates into a reorganization into three divisions — Disney Entertainment covers its media and streaming services; ESPN; and a Parks, Experiences and Products section, according to CNBC.

Iger said making ESPN a self-contained unit was not a prelude to selling the sports media enterprise.

“We did not do it for that purpose. ESPN continues to create real value for us. We just have to figure out how to monetize it in a disrupting world,” he said, according to the Times.

The Times noted that ESPN had upwards of 90 million subscribers a decade ago, but that has dropped to around 75 million.

According to CNN, the Disney+ streaming service also lost subscribers, but the drop from 164 million to 162 million was only 1 percent in the last quarter.

“The streaming business, which I believe is the future and has been growing, is not delivering basically the kind of profitability or bottom line results that the linear business delivered for us over a few decades,” Iger said.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

From Florida to ‘Outer Banks’! Chase Stokes’ Honest Quotes About His Rise to Fame

Relax John B, you’re going to be a star! Before Chase Stokes nabbed a starring role in the hit Netflix series Outer Banks, the actor had a pretty rough rise to fame.

Multiple times since stepping foot into the spotlight, the actor publicly recalled taking “a red eye flight on Easter Sunday with $100 dollars in my bank account” and never looking back. 

All the Costars Who Secretly Dated When the Cameras Stopped Rolling

“I had no idea five-and-a-half months later I’d be wrapping up on a project that I couldn’t have dreamt up to be any better,” Chase wrote via Instagram in October 2019, months before becoming a household name. “All I gotta say kids is, believe in yourself, and go f–kin’ do what you love. Hopefully, you guys will enjoy this journey with us. I think it’s going to be pretty rad. Alright. John B OUT. Oh, also … Netflix? Thanks for employin ya boi. I appreciate dat.”

The Netflix star grew up in Florida, “between Coco Beach and downtown Orlando,” he told NYLON in May 2020. Over the years, he nabbed supporting roles in Stranger Things and Daytime Divas before the opportunity for Outer Banks came along.

“The first time I got the audition it was the most bland email I’ve ever got. It was four friends on a treasure hunt, Netflix, and the character’s name was John B,” Chase recalled while chatting with the “Chicks in the Office” podcast in April 2020, noting that he passed on the role. After auditioning for the role of Topper (who is now played by Austin North), he eventually read for John B and was cast.

“I went to the airport, got on the plane … and I was reading the entire night all the way through,” he said on the podcast. “I got to the airport, my credit card payment went through on my debit card and overdrafted my account. So, I couldn’t even get an Uber from the airport to go to the production office.”

 

He remembered calling his mom and asking to borrow $100 to get to the production office. Once he was there, Chase still didn’t think he was going to get the role. “I had nothing at this point,” he explained, adding that costar Rudy Pankow got him an Uber, and, together, they found out they booked the roles.

Chase has since become a major success story, booking more roles, winning an MTV Movie and TV Award and, of course, reprising his role as John B. Scroll through our gallery to read all of Chase’s quotes about his rise to fame. 

Results of the 2022 Stakeholders Survey by the CBCS.

~CBCS Viewed More Positively by its Stakeholders~

Willemstad/Philipsburg:— Stakeholders who are in close interaction with the Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (CBCS) have seen improvements in their interactions with the CBCS, have an improved image of the CBCS and have experienced a better performance of the CBCS compared to 2020. These are the results of a stakeholder survey commissioned by the CBCS, and conducted by the independent research company RE-Quest. Despite the more favorable results compared to the 2020 survey, respondents once again cited the issues surrounding Ennia & Girobank and the CBCS’s response time as key areas for improvement.
A total of 171 stakeholders participated in the online survey conducted in November 2022. The survey aimed to better understand the perceptions and experiences of different stakeholder groups, focusing on their experience interacting with the CBCS, the image of the CBCS, the CBCS’s perceived performance, the assessment of the Central Bank’s core tasks, and stakeholders’ suggestions for focus and improvement.
In 2022, stakeholders rated the CBCS more positively on almost all measured aspects compared to 2020. On a ten-point scale, Integrity (7.7), Expertise (7.3) and Reliability (7.2) were the highest-scoring attributes, while Innovation and Transparency showed the greatest improvement in ratings. As in 2020, the supervised stakeholders held slightly more positive views than unsupervised stakeholders. Also noteworthy is the fact that, in the survey, the respondents themselves reported that they expected their own views on the CBCS and the tasks it performs to be more positive than those of the rest of the community.
A positive change can be seen in respondents’ answers to the question of how much confidence they have in the CBCS in the long term. In 2020, “somewhat confident” scored highest, followed by “very confident.” This was reversed in the current survey, with “very confident” scoring highest. Some of the reasons cited by respondents for the “very confident” rating are the CBCS’s evident investment in improving its services and communication and, as in 2020, its in-house knowledge and expertise. One respondent stated: “There has been a marked turnaround towards greater professionalism.” Another said: “Overall, the drive for real improvement is evident.”
In addition to the above-mentioned areas for improvement, respondents to the survey also see room for further improvement in the area of supervision and in communicating with the community on matters such as the role of the CBCS, the introduction of the new currency (Caribbean Guilder), and developments related to digital currencies.
These results provide the CBCS with leads on how to further improve its services and communication with various stakeholder groups. “It is good to get feedback showing that our stakeholders do see and appreciate our increased investment in improving our interactions with them. Our aim is to continue this trend and extend it to include the general public: communicating the role, tasks, and importance of the CBCS,” explained Richard Doornbosch, President of the CBCS.
CBCS plans to repeat the survey periodically to identify trends and determine to what extent the efforts to improve its services and communications are leading to further improvements in the perception and experience of its stakeholders.
The report is available for download at www.centralbank.cw/publications/stakeholders-survey
Willemstad, February 9, 2023
CENTRALE BANK VAN CURAÇAO EN SINT MAARTEN