In 'The Ride of a Lifetime,' Robert Iger shares his experiences and the lessons he learned during his 15 years as CEO of The Walt Disney Company. The book covers his early career, his rise to the CEO position, and his strategic decisions that transformed Disney into a global media giant. Iger discusses key acquisitions like Pixar, Marvel, and 21st Century Fox, and emphasizes the importance of leadership principles such as optimism, courage, decisiveness, fairness, and integrity. He also reflects on his relationships with influential figures like Steve Jobs and George Lucas, and how emotional intelligence played a crucial role in his business dealings. The book provides insights into Iger's vision for Disney, which included a focus on high-quality branded content, embracing technology, and expanding globally.
In this book, Ed Catmull shares insights on how to build and maintain a creative culture within an organization. Drawing from his experiences at Pixar, Catmull discusses the importance of open communication, risk-taking, and protecting the creative process. The book includes candid discussions, anecdotes about Pixar's film development, and lessons on managing innovation and creativity. It emphasizes the need for a nurturing work environment and the importance of storytelling in business.
This is Jesse Pujji and today we’re breaking down The Walt Disney Company. Disney needs no introduction. We have all interacted with the entertainment empire in some capacity. It was founded 100 years ago as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio and over the ensuing century, the business has grown into a conglomerate of entertainment properties that includes the likes of Pixar, Marvel, Disneyland, ESPN, National Geographic, and Disney+.
To explain how the business fits together, I’m joined once again by Ben Weiss, the Chief Investment Officer of 8th & Jackson. We talk about Disney’s famous flywheel, its push into streaming, and why it's such a difficult business to manage. Please enjoy this business breakdown of Disney.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.
-----
Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.
Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss | @ReustleMatt | @domcooke
Show Notes
(00:02:23) - (First question) - Overview of Disney and their size and scale today
(00:05:15) - Major milestones across Disney’s one hundred year history
(00:07:17) - What lead to their decision to buy ABC and subsequently ESPN
(00:08:00) - Disney’s Original Flywheel; How Disney’s flywheel compounds on top of itself
(00:10:11) - Characterizing their competitors and the markets they play in
(00:12:58) - Overview of Disney’s theme park business
(00:15:07) - Fixed costs, growth, and thoughts about volume for their theme parks
(00:17:40) - Their cable business and the drivers of growth and success for it
(00:21:33) - Netflix: The Original; What’s different about Disney+ compared to Netflix and why they’re losing money
(00:23:14) - Disney+ verses Netflix in the competitive landscape
(00:24:45) - How far Disney can extend their content offering without degrading their brand
(00:27:42) - Overview of Disney’s movie business and its growth levers
(00:29:04) - Creativity, Inc.; A revenue case study of the Cars franchise
(00:33:08) - Company culture in running an effective enterprise as big as Disney
(00:35:43) - The recent leadership transition and his thoughts on it as an investor
(00:37:24) - Reasons behind the Marvel acquisition in 2009
(00:40:05) - What will have to go right if Disney became the next trillion dollar company
(00:43:32) - Possible reasons why Disney could fail over the coming decade
(00:45:56) - Lessons for builders and investors when studying Disney’s story
(00:48:54) - Learn more about Disney; Creativity, Inc., The Ride of a Lifetime
Business Breakdowns 
