(GoRealNewsNow.com) – Disney has canceled a nearly $900 development project in Florida in a new move amid its growing fight with Ron DeSantis, the Republican Governor of the Sunshine State.
(After reading the rest of this post, please email [email protected] and share who you side with in the battle between Ron DeSantis and Disney.)
On Thursday, the entertainment giant made it clear that it was abandoning the development that would have created “2,000 high-paying jobs” due to Florida’s “changing business conditions, ” as cited by The New York Post.
The conflict between the state’s Republican administration and the pro-left corporation erupted in the spring of 2022 when Disney tried to obstruct DeSantis’s law banning gender identity in K3 schools.
The governor and the state GOP reacted by stripping the woke company of its tax privileges and dissolving the special administrative district, the home to its Orlando-area theme parks.
Noting the district’s abolishment sparked “warring lawsuits” between the company and the state, the report calls Disney’s new strike against DeSantis – the cancelation of its $900-million project – a “stunning move.”
“Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes, or not?” Disney CEO Bob Iger stated during an earnings-related conference call with analysts last week.
Iger’s predecessor, Bob Chapek, who ignited the fight with DeSantis, had planned to invest $864 million in a new Disney campus.
The development was planned for the Lake Nona region, about 20 miles from the Magic Kingdom, and the company intended to relocate 2,000 workers from its California theme park.
A New York Times report cited Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity as estimating that the jobs in question – some of them as “Imagineers” and Disney characters – carried an average salary of $120,000.
Chapek’s role at the corporate helm proved short-lived, and Iger came back as CEO, cutting 7,000 jobs and $5.5 billion from content and administrative budgets, as per The Wall Street Journal.
“Given the considerable changes that have occurred since the announcement of this project, including new leadership and changing business conditions, we have decided not to move forward,” Josh D’Amaro, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairperson, wrote in an email to employees on Thursday.
According to The Journal’s sources, the “changing business conditions” refer to job cuts and escalating tensions with Florida’s government.
In his memo, D’Amaro said hundreds of Disney workers had already moved to Florida and would now be allowed to return to California.
“While some were excited about the new campus, I know that this decision and the circumstances surrounding it have been difficult for others,” D’Amaro wrote.
Disney presently has over 75,000 employees in the Orlando area.
“I remain optimistic about the direction of our Walt Disney World business. We have plans to invest $17 billion and create 13,000 jobs over the next 10 years. I hope we’re able to do so,” D’Amaro wrote.
The intense struggle between DeSantis and Disney comes just as the former is expected to announce his candidacy for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination any day.
