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Walt Disney chief executive officer Bob Chapek rejected the calls of investors to spin off its sports cable channel, ESPN. The call has been spearheaded by billionaire and activist investor, Daniel Loeb.
Chapek said that Disney has been flooded with interest from other media over its sports network. He explained that if everybody is expressing interest in acquiring ESPN, then it only means the channel has a lot of potential.
"If everyone wants to come in and buy it or spin it with us, I think that says something about its potential," the Disney chief told the Financial Times. "I think its potential is within the Disney company. We have a plan for it that will restore ESPN to its growth trajectory.
In any case, Loeb and his Third Point hedge fund firm revealed it has acquired a new stake in Disney. With this, he said they have plans to shake up the company. The scheme includes spinning off ESPN to buy back shares and add more board members.
Then again, with Chapek’s rejection of the ESPN spin-off suggestion, CNBC reported that Loeb backs off and will stop asking Disney to sell it. The investor indicated that he would retreat and reverses a position he had been pushing less than a month ago. Loeb also posted a tweet that revealed his new position regarding the matter.
“We have a better understanding of @espn's potential as a standalone business and another vertical for $DIS to reach a global audience to generate ad and subscriber revenues,” he tweeted the past weekend. “We look forward to seeing Mr. Pitaro (Disney’s chairman) execute on the growth and innovation plans generating considerable synergies of The Walt Disney Company.”
We have a better understanding of @espn's potential as a standalone business and another vertical for $DIS to reach a global audience to generate ad and subscriber revenues. We look forward to seeing Mr. Pitaro execute on the growth contd. https://t.co/Gobvf8KS2w
— Daniel S. Loeb (@DanielSLoeb1) September 11, 2022
The changes in the activist investor’s stance come after he bought a new stake in Disney worth $1 billion in the second quarter. This is equivalent to 0.4% of the company. Disney’s shares increased around 6.5% over the last month. Meanwhile, a company official reiterated that ESPN is still one of the integral parts of the Walt Disney Company.
