Should Disney be considered a tech stock?

[Aluminum Falcon]

Someone brought this question to me the other day, and I'm not sure where I fall on it, but would love to here what the Dissers have to say

 

[middlechild]

No, in my opinion.
The back story if memory serves is Chapek made a presentation where he talked of Disney+, Genie+, targeting users through the MDE app to expand upon revenue growth. The point in all of this was to make TWDC stock trade at multiples of revenue along the likes of Apple or Microsoft, Amazon or ??. Chapek is selling the story of moving out of entertainment, and toward the potential WOW factor that comes from cutting edge tech titans. A parallel that I personally don't buy into, but then again I am not the target demographic.

 

[MillauFr]

Disney would need a real IT department for that too happen

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Another question, is Netflix a tech stock now, or is it an entertainment stock. Since Dis and them seem to have been in lock step lately in the market

 

[Upatnoon]

Another question, is Netflix a tech stock now, or is it an entertainment stock. Since Dis and them seem to have been in lock step lately in the market

 

[Upatnoon]

You can only use Netflix via the web -- even when it was a DVD renter, you had to make your selections online.

That used to be a big techie thing, but those days have gone by.

The Netflix CEO says the company should now be considered an entertainment company.

 

[Jonfw2]

There are 11 sectors in the S&P 500. If forced to rank where Disney should be by sector, I’d put tech 7th. After (in order):

Communication services (where it is)
Consumer discretionary
Consumer staples
Real estate
Industrials
Financials

I could make a better argument for any of those than tech

 

[Jonfw2]

Another question, is Netflix a tech stock now, or is it an entertainment stock. Since Dis and them seem to have been in lock step lately in the market

Technically, it’s communication services. And Amazon is a consumer discretionary. Neither are tech.

 

[The Jackal]

Disney a tech stock. If they were with the IT department they have they would have Ben out of business years ago. Absolutely the worst IT of a Fortune 500 stock. Probably the worst IT in a Fortune 100,000,000 stock.

 

[Disney Bobby]

Disney's use of IT is the perfect example of how a company tries to do too much with technology. Instead of coming across as an electronic assistant that makes your experience easier and more enjoyable, it comes across as an electronic micromanager that demands your attention constantly to be successful while picking your pocket in the meantime.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

There are 11 sectors in the S&P 500. If forced to rank where Disney should be by sector, I’d put tech 7th. After (in order):

Communication services (where it is)
Consumer discretionary
Consumer staples
Real estate
Industrials
Financials

I could make a better argument for any of those than tech

So boiling it down this makes sense, I guess i was more looking surface level. I do find it interesting that 5 years ago I don't think many at all would have Tech in Disneys Top 15.

 

[Jonfw2]

So boiling it down this makes sense, I guess i was more looking surface level. I do find it interesting that 5 years ago I don't think many at all would have Tech in Disneys Top 15.

Many companies are hard to pin down to one sector anymore. People are surprised to see Amazon isn't a tech company. Personally, I'm surprised it's not considered a staple at this point! And Disney really is a tricky one. I'd argue consumer discretionary, since movies, parks, vacations are the definition of discretionary spending. But Communications makes sense as well, with the TV and streaming networks.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Disney a tech stock. If they were with the IT department they have they would have Ben out of business years ago. Absolutely the worst IT of a Fortune 500 stock. Probably the worst IT in a Fortune 100,000,000 stock.

I agree that their app is lacking at best, but i can't think of many peers that offer anything better than what Disney is offering, not to mention the scale of the operation at hand. I do think people go off the rails with this as well, i'm not an IT professional, and can admit to my ignorance, but Disney seems to have primary trouble with their website when traffic goes through the roof, ie Boo Bash last year, the reservation system, at least in my experience has been fine, i have run into some snags but no worse than using open table sometimes. I would say that everything is amplified at Disney because you have a limited window "your vacation".
Where time is a factor it becomes higher stakes, so any mishap gets amplified to the next level IMO

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Disney's use of IT is the perfect example of how a company tries to do too much with technology. Instead of coming across as an electronic assistant that makes your experience easier and more enjoyable, it comes across as an electronic micromanager that demands your attention constantly to be successful while picking your pocket in the meantime.

that is what you would prefer, not necessarily a failure on Disneys end, you personally just don't enjoy the offering presented

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Many companies are hard to pin down to one sector anymore. People are surprised to see Amazon isn't a tech company. Personally, I'm surprised it's not considered a staple at this point! And Disney really is a tricky one. I'd argue consumer discretionary, since movies, parks, vacations are the definition of discretionary spending. But Communications makes sense as well, with the TV and streaming networks.

i agree, it seems like every "Tech Giant" is in entertainment now (amazon with prime video, Google with You Tube, Apple with apple TV, ect), so Disney had to counter those moves by jumping into their territory.

 

[Liquidice]

Tech companies generally sell technology or their products are technology oriented - is the way I think of it. I wouldn't consider Netflix a tech company anymore, I'd consider them an entertainment company with their studios and original content. But originally Netflix streaming was focused on the streaming technology and not as much about original content and that has shifted over time where the technology is sort of "normal" and it is more about original content.

If you think about tech companies like Google/Apple - their products are technology oriented (phones, laptops, search, email, etc). Amazon could be considered tech primarily because of AWS, which is currently generates their largest profits, but I think most would consider it retail since that is what most consumers know Amazon as.

Disney is mostly focused on entertainment, whether it is physical in person entertainment like theme parks or movies/shows. It uses technology (one could argue how well it does so) to achieve its goals but technology isn't their focus if that makes sense.

I work in IT and in today's world some of the IT issues Disney has are laughable though. 10 years ago it wouldn't have been, but issues like your website going belly up due to too much web traffic, there are easy solutions to that problem today with cloud. E-commerce companies like Amazon handle just as much traffic on a regular basis with no issues.

Cybersecurity is another glaring issue for Disney - not supporting things like MFA? Instead there is some security system that inconsistently sends a code to your email or forces you to reset your password with no rhyme or reason.

 

[wabbott]

The distinction between a technology/distribution company and an entertainment company is whether or not the business creates content. Movies, shows, cartoons, live shows, opinion, etc. At what point one becomes the other is unknown, I would think. Maybe we should invent a new word to describe the hybrid - entertech, distritainment, technoment?

All IMHO, of course.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Tech companies generally sell technology or their products are technology oriented - is the way I think of it. I wouldn't consider Netflix a tech company anymore, I'd consider them an entertainment company with their studios and original content. But originally Netflix streaming was focused on the streaming technology and not as much about original content and that has shifted over time where the technology is sort of "normal" and it is more about original content.

If you think about tech companies like Google/Apple - their products are technology oriented (phones, laptops, search, email, etc). Amazon could be considered tech primarily because of AWS, which is currently generates their largest profits, but I think most would consider it retail since that is what most consumers know Amazon as.

Disney is mostly focused on entertainment, whether it is physical in person entertainment like theme parks or movies/shows. It uses technology (one could argue how well it does so) to achieve its goals but technology isn't their focus if that makes sense.

I work in IT and in today's world some of the IT issues Disney has are laughable though. 10 years ago it wouldn't have been, but issues like your website going belly up due to too much web traffic, there are easy solutions to that problem today with cloud. E-commerce companies like Amazon handle just as much traffic on a regular basis with no issues.

Cybersecurity is another glaring issue for Disney - not supporting things like MFA? Instead there is some security system that inconsistently sends a code to your email or forces you to reset your password with no rhyme or reason.

I will say that Disney def has "issues" with their tech especially at the park, but Disney+ has actually been pretty successful IMO, so there is one area they seem to be doing good with, I'm sure there are issues, but you don't see many complaining about service through Disney+. Amazon has had issues with traffic in the past, especially early on with Prime Days, (speaking from my own experience) that being said Disney could definitely improve their system

 

[middlechild]

There are examples of what were seen as "content" companies valued more for the technology. Skype was Internet calling when Microsoft bought them. If memory serves, and according to two bus drivers, the purchase was more for the advanced CODECs (compression, decompression algorithm) that Skype developed as a proprietary fix for the voice quality issue. Verizon purchased AOL, again according to a couple of chatty cast members working the Pooh ride, was more for the targeted advertising engine that AOL developed in the back end. Both of these technologies live on, even as the names are only spoken in quiet corners of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. TWDC may be known for parks and TV, but if they figure out how to extract dollars from citizens across the world, reliably and for long duration, through automatic bank debits that escape detection for the sake of "value" ... sorry, call it a subscription, the stock explodes.

Think of this... in another discussion board, someone posted that subscribing to Amazon Prime should be considered the same as any other utility payment... That is Chapek's aim, to do it on his watch.

 

[MillauFr]

I just don't understand why so many people have to call a live person at Disney to make changes to their reservations? You have to call someone, wait on hold for who knows how long, so another person can type changes into their computer for you? Why can't you just do the same thing yourself on your own computer?