Disney Names Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, Former Sky Chief Jeremy Darroch to Board of Directors; Francis deSouza Will Not Seek Re-Election

EXCLUSIVE: Two months after Julia Ormond sued CAA, Disney and Harvey Weinstein for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, battery and more over a 1995 sexual assault by the now incarcerated Pulp Fiction EP, the uberagency and the Bob Iger-led corporation say they shouldn’t be a part of the suit and want out.

The Producers Guild of America announced today that Charles D. King will be honored with the 2024 Milestone Award, citing “his immeasurable contribution to the film industry.” King will accept the award at the 35th Annual Producers Guild Awards on Sunday, February 25.

Disney has formally responded to activist shareholder Trian Fund Management’s unsolicited nominations of Trian chief Nelson Peltz and former Disney CFO James Rasulo to the media giant’s board of directors.

EXCLUSIVE: The combined Hulu and Disney+ app for bundle subscribers will launch in March with a big new attraction — the Grey’s Anatomy library, which will be offered on a Disney streaming platform for the first time.

Thousands and thousands of past and present female Disney employees can sue the Mouse House for paying them less than men/

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board, the group that now oversees a swathe of central Florida where Walt Disney World sits, slammed the Bob Iger-led media giant for almost three hours straight over what its experts called decades of self-dealing outlined in an audit. Members, not surprisingly, voted to approve the report. 

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Get ready to see “The Kardashians” standing next to Baby Yoda on your Disney+ home screen. Beginning Dec. 6, the significant majority of Hulu content will be available on Disney+ in the U.S.

Five years after snagging a majority stake in A3, Adam Bold is being accused of “a campaign of chaos” by the Agency’s CEO and president and being a coke addict, a “creeping” leach who created a toxic and hostile workplace, and a spendthrift who is steering “what remains of a once-great company into bankruptcy.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery cable warrior Kathleen Finch is heading into her Super Bowl: the holiday season at Food Network.

Disney CEO Bob Iger is sharing his thoughts on the box-office performance of The Marvels.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Linda Yaccarino, who’s already facing an uphill battle in winning over advertisers to X, has her work cut out for her to restore trust with big marketers after her boss profanely dissed those who had suspended advertising from the platform. Almost six months into her gig as CEO of X, Yaccarino continues to try to clean up PR messes created by Elon Musk, the shoot-from-the-lip megabillionaire and self-appointed defender of free speech who owns the company formerly known as Twitter.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After activist investor Nelson Peltz announced his intention to renew his proxy battle to secure seats on Disney’s board, the company responded by alleging former Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter — who is in league with Peltz’s Trian Fund Management — has a personal grudge against Disney chief Bob Iger. In a statement responding to Trian’s announcement, Disney said that Perlmutter “was terminated from his employment by Disney earlier this year and has voiced his longstanding personal agenda against Disney’s CEO, Robert A.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Nelson Peltz is renewing his fight to shake up Disney‘s board. Peltz’s Trian Fund Management investment firm, which owns about $3 billion in Disney stock, issued a statement Thursday that after the Mouse House’s board rejected Trian’s request for board seats, the hedge fund will “take our case for change directly to shareholders.” Trian is seeking two seats on Disney’s board, CNBC reported.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Disney CEO Bob Iger said at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit (via CNBC) following “The Marvels” flopping at the box office that there was a lack of supervision on the set of the film as a result of the COVID pandemic. The combination of pandemic set restrictions and Disney’s increased output due to the launch of streamer Disney+ made it increasingly difficult for studio executives to oversee the onslaught of new productions.

The Walt Disney Co. has added former Group CEO of Sky Jeremy Darroch and Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman to its board of directors and said Francis A. deSouza plans to surrender his seat at the end of his term.

Bob Iger said he hasn’t addressed when Disney will start advertising on X, formerly Twitter, again since he made the decision to pull back from the social media platform after owner Elon Musk amplified an antisemitic post.

Shifting away from sentiments he expressed in an interview last summer that Disney‘s linear TV networks “may not be core” to the company, Disney CEO Bob Iger said they are “not for sale.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Bob Iger, just over one year after returning as Disney‘s CEO following the company’s board firing of previous chief Bob Chapek, said publicly that he was dismayed at the Mouse House’s performance under Chapek’s tenure. Iger, who had selected Chapek, formerly head of Disney’s parks division, to succeed him in February 2020, made the comments Wednesday at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney CEO Bob Iger focused on instilling employees with renewed optimism about the Mouse House’s “blessed” and “fortunate” state during a virtual company-wide town hall Tuesday, rather than making any proclamations about the company’s future. The event, moderated by ABC News’ David Muir, was held just over a week after the one-year anniversary of Iger’s return to the helm at Disney (Iger hosted a similar town hall exactly a year ago to the day, upon resuming his post last November) following the surprise ousting of Bob Chapek, and on the heels of Disney reporting its most recent quarterly and full-fiscal-year earnings and taking a stumble at the Thanksgiving holiday box office with new animated film “Wish.” When asked by Muir if coming back to the position of CEO has been more challenging than he had anticipated, Iger, who originally ran Disney for 15 years from 2005-2020, said yes. “I knew that there were myriad challenges that I would face coming back,” Iger said.

A year into the run of Bob Iger 2: Return of the CEO, the Walt Disney Co. has not yet rediscovered its mojo.