Walt Disney Restructures Entertainment Businesses to Boost Streaming

FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Walt Disney Company is displayed above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the closing bell as the market takes a significant dip in New York, U.S., February 25, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Walt Disney Company is displayed above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the closing bell as the market takes a significant dip in New York, U.S., February 25, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
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Walt Disney Restructures Entertainment Businesses to Boost Streaming

FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Walt Disney Company is displayed above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the closing bell as the market takes a significant dip in New York, U.S., February 25, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Walt Disney Company is displayed above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the closing bell as the market takes a significant dip in New York, U.S., February 25, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Walt Disney Co DIS.N said on Monday it had restructured its media and entertainment businesses to accelerate growth of Disney+ and other streaming services as consumers increasingly gravitate to digital viewing.

Under the reorganization, Disney will separate the development and production of programming from distribution to be more responsive to consumer demands.

The move came days after activist investor Daniel Loeb of hedge fund Third Point urged Disney to forgo a dividend payment and double its programming investment in streaming.

Disney shares rose nearly 5% in after-hours trading to $130.76.

The media and theme parks company launched the Disney+ streaming service in November 2019. It has exceeded its own targets by drawing more than 100 million streaming customers worldwide to Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.

Streaming pioneer Netflix Inc NFLX.O boasts 193 million, but has built that customer base over the 13 years.

Loeb had argued that Disney needed to cut its dividend to increase spending on new TV shows and movies to sign up new customers more quickly.

Disney Chief Executive Bob Chapek, in an interview with CNBC, said the company is planning to increase investments in content but he did not say if it was prepared to cut its dividend to finance the strategy.

“Managing content creation distinct from distribution will allow us to be more effective and nimble in making the content consumers want most, delivered in the way they prefer to consume it,” Chapek, who took the company’s top job in February, said in a separate statement.

In a statement on Monday, Loeb welcomed Disney’s revamp of its media and entertainment structure, Reuters reported.

“We are pleased to see that Disney is focused on the same opportunity that makes us such enthusiastic shareholders: investing heavily in the (direct-to-consumer) business, positioning Disney to thrive in the next era of entertainment,” Loeb said.

Under the changes, Disney’s studios, general entertainment and sports business would come under one division while distribution and commercialization would fall under a separate global unit.

Disney said its creative teams would develop and produce programming for streaming and traditional platforms, and the distribution group would decide where customers would see it.

Chapek told CNBC there would be layoffs as a result of “centralization” of functions but did not say how many.

Kareem Daniel, formerly president of consumer products, games and publishing, will oversee Disney’s new media and entertainment distribution group, the company said.

Alan Horn and Alan Bergman will continue to head Disney’s studio operations, which will manage programming from big franchises including Marvel, Star Wars, Disney animation and Pixar. Peter Rice will run general entertainment programming and Jimmy Pitaro will oversee sports.

AT&T T.N, which debuted the HBO Max streaming service in May, reorganized in August to combine its film and TV operations under one studio head to better compete in the streaming media wars.

Disney said it would hold an investor day on Dec. 10 to provide more information about its strategy.



Keri Hilson's 'We Need to Talk' Marks Her Return to Music after a 15-Year Absence

Keri Hilson poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)
Keri Hilson poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)
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Keri Hilson's 'We Need to Talk' Marks Her Return to Music after a 15-Year Absence

Keri Hilson poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)
Keri Hilson poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

The last time Keri Hilson put out an album, Barack Obama was in the second year of his first term as US president, the iPad was released and Instagram was brand new.
“On some days, I’m like that was just a blink away. But for the most part, yeah, it feels like a long time because I’ve been waiting. I felt stagnant, I felt stuck for a while, and conflicted,” said the two-time Grammy-nominated artist. “I’m very much approaching this like I’m starting over because that’s how it feels to me. I’ve lived nine lives since I last released ... I’m a whole different person.”
Hilson, the 42-year-old R&B star known for late 2000s hits like “Knock You Down,” featuring Kanye West and Ne-Yo. and “Pretty Girl Rock,” released “WE NEED TO TALK: LOVE” on Friday. It's her third album, following 2010’s “No Boys Allowed,” and is the first of a trilogy set for release this year. Led by the sultry single “Bae,” the nine-track album delves into romance and introspection.
“I feel resolved, both with the art and within about stepping back into the light. So, I think that resolve kind of had to be found before I felt confident enough to release the body of work and also unleash myself to the world again,” explained Hilson, who said she’s never stopped recording. “There were songs in my past that I felt were political moves, songs I didn’t really love that I had to sing ... I didn’t want to feel like that this time around.”
THE DISAPPEARANCE
One of those songs was a leaked remix to her popular 2009 single “Turnin Me On” featuring Lil Wayne, which peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lyrics included diss fans perceived to be aimed at Beyoncé.
Hilson, who had yet to drop her introductory album, “In A Perfect World,” which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200 and No. 1 on Top R&B albums, claimed that she was forced to sing the lines, “She can sing / But she need to move it to the left, left,” assumed to reference Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable.” She says she was threatened her album might not be released if she refused.
Last week, Hilson trended on social media following an interview with iHeartMedia’s “The Breakfast Club” after recalling the incident. While she has talked about it several times in the past, during that interview, the singer publicly named those involved, including producer Polow Da Don who she was signed to. She did not name singer-songwriter Ester Dean. However, after social media users tagged Dean in posts, she later identified herself.
The ending of a decade long relationship, a lack of control over her career and the intense, never-ending backlash from the BeyHive triggered depression and led to her retreat from music.
THE COMEBACK
During her time away, the Georgia native embarked on a journey of healing that included therapy, journaling and spiritual retreats.
“There were some perspectives that I needed to uncover ... untruths, beliefs that I kind of picked up or inherited about myself,” said Hilson, who shifted to acting.
Her comeback has included very selective press, avoiding what she describes as “new media” outlets such as social media-driven platforms, saying monetization can reward the promotion of gossip or incentivize the creation of lies. The salacious blog culture of the 2010s was a driving force in fanning the flames of her perceived beef with Beyoncé, who has never publicly commented on the situation.
Hilson “can definitely operate and navigate within the realm of R&B. She has a fan base,” said Keithan Samuels, founder of the popular website RatedRnB.com. “Her core fan base has matured ... she can navigate within this new era of R&B where there’s a lot of diversity and sound.”
THE MUSIC
Crafted with unofficial writing camps and records created throughout the years, “WE NEED TO TALK: LOVE” finds Hilson delivering vulnerable and flirty lyrics over a wide range of R&B sounds. Writing on all but one song, she avoided current R&B trends that developed during her absence, citing individuality as a key to her early success. She also believes algorithms have created a culture of musical homogeny, rather than creativity.
There are quintessential “Ms. Keri Baby” songs like the fun, Pop&B styled “Somethin (Bout U),” but there’s also the introspective “Naked (Love),” and “Say It,” in which she expresses, “I won’t say I love you / ‘til you say you love me.”
“I’m very ‘girl boss’ in my life, right? When it comes to relationships, I prefer to be a lady. I prefer to be approached. ... I prefer for the man to say ‘I love you’ first. I just prefer for a man to lead,” said Hilson. “I’m really a damsel – without the distress.”
The bedroom mood is set on the sexy slow jam “Scream,” while the bright “Whatever” floats with beautiful stacked harmonies.
“I feel like it’s something I would have written for Whitney. And I actually wrote a song for Whitney that she never was able to record,” said Hilson, who began her career as an in-demand writer whose credits include songs for Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears. “This reminds me of a Whitney Houston record, where I think she would be now.”
Samuels of RatedRnB.com says this project is evident of the newfound control Hilson has over her career.
“It’s definitely not, to me, an attempt to have this commercial comeback ... it feels more personal,” said Samuels. “The other two albums, I feel like were more catered to what was current then.”
THE FREEDOM
Hilson says she’s still open to writing for other artists and giving away songs that may not fit her current musical era. She also has a new Lifetime movie, “Fame: A Temptations Story,” co-starring Keshia Chanté, premiering April 26 at 8 p.m. EDT. Hilson says acting is now an equal part of her career.
Though Hilson may be cautiously re-emerging musically, fans are welcoming her return. After The Breakfast Club interview, fans flooded her with sympathy and positivity, possibly due to a combination of her finally telling her side of the story in detail, as well as the passing of time. Some fans said they forgot about the incident or were too young to know about it.
“I just control what I can control ... I control what I allow to bring me up or down. These are realizations that I’ve had since I’ve been away,” said Hilson. “I feel unburdened ... I’m not projecting too much of the past onto now, and all of that is freeing.”