#33: In The Streaming Wars, What Game Does Disney Want To Play?

The Razor’s Edge

Famed activist investor Daniel Loeb wrote a letter to Disney management arguing that the time to go all in on streaming is now. We've been following the streaming wars pretty closely, and we decided to break down the letter and then reconsider Disney and Netlfix's positions a year after Disney+'s launch, and 8 months into a pandemic that has accelerated the streaming game. The question came down to 'what battleground do these companies want to actually fight on'?

Topics Covered

• 2:15 minute mark – The need for capital and Disney’s studio business history |
• 10:00 – The SaaS parallel and Disney’s flywheel |
• 16:30 – The new bundle, different from the old bundle? |
• 24:30 – The 5d Chess around the streaming wars |
• 27:00 – How enduring is the event model, theaters or otherwise? |
• 30:00 – Costs in the new content world |
• 35:45 – the looming presence of the big fish and how much growth is there still out there |
• 43:00 – Takeaways for Netflix and Disney |
• 53:00 – What sort of game are we playing |

Works cited or that are relevant:

• Daniel Loeb's letter to Disney - https://www.scribd.com/document/479149667/Third-Point-Letter-to-Disney-October-2020
• Akram's Razor's reaction piece - https://seekingalpha.com/article/4380091-disney-field-of-streams
• Doug Shapiro - https://medium.com/swlh/one-clear-casualty-of-the-streaming-wars-profit-683304b3055d
• ProPublica - https://www.propublica.org/article/meet-the-customer-service-reps-for-disney-and-airbnb-who-have-to-pay-to-talk-to-you