2023-05-18 21:01:13
In light of “significant changes,” including “changing business conditions,” the Orlando-area project is being abandoned, Disney Theme Parks chief executive Josh D’Amaro said in a memo to employees Thursday. “It wasn’t an easy decision, but I think it’s the right one,” said D’Amaro.
Disney actually wanted to build a new campus in Orlando’s Lake Nona district not far from Disney World amusement park for around one billion dollars. This is where 2,000 employees from the state of California, where Disney has its headquarters, should be sent to live and work. The project was not without controversy, partly because some employees did not want to move from California to Florida.
Change at the top of the group
D’Amaro now announced the end of the project. In addition to the “changing business conditions,” he also referred to the change at the top of the entertainment giant. In November, longtime Disney boss Bob Iger returned to the helm of the company, replacing his successor Bob Chapek.
The cancellation of the campus project comes amid a heated argument with Gov. DeSantis over a Florida law that has been criticized as anti-gay. The ultra-conservative politician and potential presidential candidate passed a law last year that bans teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in the first three years of school.
Critics refer to the law, which has since been extended to all grades, as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Claim and Counterclaim
Then-Disney boss Chapek also criticized the law last year, halting all his company’s political donations in Florida. DeSantis reacted angrily and had the Florida legislature pass a law that severely restricted Disney World’s self-governing status. In the dispute, Disney went to court in April, suing DeSantis. A panel that DeSantis had recruited and occupied, in turn, had Disney sued.
The Republican governor is taking a sharply right-wing course in Florida and is attacking, among other things, an alleged left-wing “woke” ideology among Democrats, institutions and companies. Observers expect the 44-year-old to announce his entry into the presidential race next week.
DeSantis is considered the most promising inner-party rival of ex-President Donald Trump in the race for the Republican presidential candidacy for the 2024 election. In polls, however, Trump is far ahead of DeSantis.
Disney World employs 75,000 people and attracts 50 million visitors annually. The amusement park is one of the major employers and taxpayers in Florida. The fact that DeSantis attacked Disney so sharply also caused astonishment among Republicans.
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