by Jamison Ashley
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Disney is restructuring. Could this impact Marvel Comics? Yes, and in some pretty drastic ways. According to a recent report by Thom Pratt at The Kingdom Insider, Disney is going to be shifting things around in this restructuring measure in order to prepare for the future:
Walt Disney Company announced a major reorganization that seems to be preparing the company for the absorption of Fox media assets, as well as positioning them for a future that bets heavily on streaming media.
Effective immediately, the four segments of the Walt Disney Company are the newly created Direct-to-Consumer and International, Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products, Media Networks, and Studio Entertainment.
It is very likely that Marvel Comics publishing will be rolled into the new division that is the Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products. The parks is one of Disney’s most profitable divisions, so they could essentially bury Marvel’s actual numbers deeper than they are already.
The article continues:
It will be interesting to see what kind of impact this will have on some of Disney’s under-performing companies. Unfortunately, massive restructuring like this often results in job losses, though we’ve heard nothing about that yet.
Last fall, several Disney employees were laid off when a previous round of restructuring took place. Those layoffs come after Disney released its fourth quarter earnings last year that showed the theme park division’s revenue grew while the rest of the company saw declining revenue and operating income in media networks, consumer products and studio entertainment divisions.
This restructuring seems aimed at accelerating its global expansion, with plans to combine its international media business and its content streaming operation into one unit and create another division to house its consumer products business along with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. This is reportedly Disney’s biggest restructuring in recent years — is the latest effort by a legacy entertainment and media company to adapt to rapid changes in consumer behavior driven by digital technology.
This restructuring isn’t necessarily unexpected, however, as Disney prepares to launch two streaming services and buy film and TV assets owned by 21st Century Fox — a $52.4-billion deal that requires federal regulatory approval. The restructuring is taking place immediately. How it will ultimately affect the Marvel publishing side of things is still an unknown, but we will be monitoring this as it develops.
Read the whole thing to see the complete press release from Disney.
