Disney turns the shotgun to its own face then pulls the trigger...proving "Go woke Go Broke is" real
- Reedy Creek Improvement District dissolution was passed by the Florida legislature and signed by Governor Ron DeSantis:
- In 1967, the state of Florida granted special, unprecidented, wide ranging powers ( such as build their own nuclear power plants) known as the Reedy Creek Improvement Act, with expectation that Mr. Walt Disney was going to build a real city. That city was never created, but the powers were never revoked, which gave the Disney company unequal advantages that none of their competitors have (such as Universal).
- Disney injected themselves into Florida politics over Florida’s HB 1557 Parental Rights in Education Act. This energized the legislature into questioning why unprecidented special district powers were ever granted to Disney or any company in the first place.
- While Chapek was in charge, there were some rumors Chapek was trying to smooth things out behind the scenes and lay low to let the whole thing blow over. But when Chapek was ousted by Iger, instead of laying low, Iger seemed to actively provoke the Florida legislature and DeSantis, and ultimately the legistlature acted to repeal.
- By law, Reedy Creek needed to be a public and separate entity than the private commercial Disney, but Iger has repeatedly shoved his foot in his mouth by claiming DeSantis is attacking Disney (admitting that Reedy Creek is not a separate entity from Disney). The Florida government has already acted and Iger has already lost Reedy Creek, but he is now risking potential securities fraud allegations by admiting these entities were not separate. This is fraught with danger, and there is no benefit but for Iger’s ego.
- Among many perks, Reedy Creek effectively gave Disney the ability to issue muni bonds, which allowed Disney to borrow money at much lower interest rates than corporate bond rates. It is estimated that this loss will likely cost Disney trillions of dollars in higher expenses over the following decades.
- The best coverage of this is by Legal Mindset, who is a lawyer with a YouTube channel, that coincidentally happens to have actual extensive experience in this highly niche part of law involving Florida special districts. Main stream media coverage is exceptionally awful because they know nobody will call them out because nobody understands the legal system, let alone the minutia of Florida state law involving special taxing districts.
zerohedge.com
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