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Disney Down 3.8% as Firm Announces $60B Investment for Parks and Cruises

Tim Fries

Published: September 19, 2023 10:30 pm

Disney announced it wants to invest around $60 billion to expand its existing theme parks and cruise experiences over the following decade. In the meantime, Disney’s shares fell 3.8% at today’s market open.

Disney Has 1,000 Acres of Land At Disposal for Theme Park Expansion

The Walt Disney Company unveiled plans to spend roughly $60 billion to fund the expansion of its theme parks, cruise lines, and other entertainment ventures over the next 10 years.

The company said the move comes thanks to its robust financial position, allowing it to reinvest its capital into the parks, experiences, and products division. In particular, Disney said the investment will focus on projects capable of generating strong returns, such as its US and international parks and cruises.

Disney’s Parks unit commands over 1,000 acres of land that can be used to expand its existing theme parks. In addition, the media and entertainment giant also said it intends to launch more cruise ships and build a new home port in Singapore.

“Disney Parks has over 1,000 acres of land for possible future development to expand theme park space across its existing sites – the equivalent of about seven new Disneyland Parks.”

– Disney said in the blog post.

Disney’s Stock Under Pressure Amid Boycotts and Legal Dispute with Ron DeSantis

Meanwhile, Disney’s share price fell over 3.8% at the Tuesday market open to $82.14 apiece.

The company’s stock came under pressure in 2023 amid several challenges, including its dispute with the Florida Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. Furthermore, Disney faced widespread boycotts earlier this year in the wake of a controversial ad campaign involving a TikTok celebrity.

In part, Disney’s decision to double down on its theme parks comes as the company fights a legal battle against DeSantis, who wants to backdoor the “woke ideology” into the financial system. Notably, the lawsuits could affect Disney’s proposed expansion of the Orlando location in the coming years.

Earlier in the year, Disney took legal action against DeSantis, accusing him of initiating a campaign of political retribution against the company. DeSantis aimed at Disney after the conglomerate publicly criticized a Florida bill to limit the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms. Disney later dropped all its free speech allegations against the Florida governor.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist