Disney announced it was pulling a more than $1 billion investment out of the state on Thursday.
Disney is reportedly following through on threats to pull investments out of Florida amid the company’s ongoing feud with the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, handing his political rivals a win in the process.
On Thursday, several news outlets reported the company planned to pull the plug on its proposed Lake Nona Town Center Project scheduled for construction in Orlando amid the state’s ongoing lawsuits involving the governance structure of the company’s special taxing district, which DeSantis targeted over concerns the company’s content was too “woke” after it criticized controversial 2022 legislation commonly known as the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.
The news comes shortly after a veiled threat by Disney CEO Bob Iger, who during a recent earnings call with investors openly wondered whether the state “wants us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes or not?”
To date, the feud between the state and the entertainment giant has been a brutal one.
Last year, DeSantis signed a bill ending the special status Disney enjoyed in the area of its Florida theme parks, which had meant the company was largely self-governing. The governor appointed a new handpicked board of directors.
