I & I Editorial BoardTwo months ago today, people who enjoy comedy breathed a sigh of relief when Disney suspended low-rated late-night “comedian” Jimmy Kimmel for what he’d said, and planned to say, about Charlie Kirk’s murder.
Less than a week later, Kimmel was back on the air.
In between was an orgy of leftist outrage about how President Donald Trump was somehow responsible for forcing Kimmel off the air, that this was yet another sign of authoritarianism on the march, and “the mask of ‘free speech’ coming off for good.”
Our favorite was a warning from “actor” Mark Ruffalo, who went on Threads the next day and linked to an article claiming that “Disney stock drops 7% after ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel show.” To which Ruffalo added, “It’s going to go down a lot further if they cancel his show. Disney does not want to be the ones that broke America.”
First, that article was wrong. The day Disney suspended Kimmel, its stock was at 116.1. The next day, it was 114.86. That’s a decline of 1%. The stock did drop a little over subsequent days, reaching 112.25 on Sept. 23. But even that’s a fall of just 3.3%.
For a few days after Disney caved and put Kimmel back on the air, its stock did tick up a bit, climbing to 114.78 by Sept. 29.
But as we predicted, this was likely to be short-lived (see “Disney Caves, Nobody Wins”):
Disney stock was down 41% from its March 2021 high and had been trading around 100 ever since. That was at least in part due to the company’s embrace of the woke agenda, which caused it to churn out a series of leftist agitprop movie and TV flops and sparked waves of Disney+ cancellations. (Worldwide subscriptions are 23% lower now than the peak in late-2022.)
In other words, the company has been in serious trouble precisely because it had been listening to the likes of Mark Ruffalo about how to run its business, while ignoring the desires of Americans who want to be entertained, not lectured.
Well, last Friday, after a disappointing earnings report, Disney closed at 105.8 – which is 9% below where it was two months ago. (On Tuesday, it closed at 106.28.)
And, in fact, Disney stock today is below where it was in March … of 2015!
(Jimmy Kimmel’s ratings, meanwhile, which were in the toilet before the suspension, are back in the toilet.)
We checked, and Mark Ruffalo has so far offered no explanation to investors, nor any advice to Disney executives about this continued plunge. Which is too bad, because then everyone would have a better idea of what not to do.
–Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Editor’s note: This was updated to include stock charts, which were captured after the market closed on Tuesday.
John Merline
Thomas McArdle
It’s incredible that the movie’s Incredible Hulk spits out such Incredible Talk.
Well, I guess this is one more autograph I’m not going to ask for.
The most intelligent piece of investment advice is to avoid listening to people who have their words written for them. Their statements may be correct occasionally, but that’s as reliable as doing a coin toss to make your decisions.
The most intelligent piece of investment & political advice…….
Reminds me of the stock advice Tim Walz gleefully gave us when Tesla was at “$225 and dropping!” earlier this year. Now it trades around $400.
The current economy is resulting in fewer people having the disposable income to spend on luxuries like very expensive theme parks.
Jimmy Kimmel is more like Jiminy Krickets!
the DIS stock (Disney) was below $100 for most of 2023 and for parts of 2024.
Yeah the chart readings left a lot to be desired. Over 15 and 20 years it’s done well. Over ten years it is down. But there were at least 2 bottoms below current levels.
I never thought Jimmy Kimmel was funny when he had a stand-up routine.
Joe
Exactly at what point did woke actors become experts on everything from finance to politics?
Jimmy Kimmel married a liberal woman and then surrendered his balls. This is exactly what happened to Howard Stern.
You’ve heard the term, “don’t poop where you eat”? They are textbook examples, as is Disney, the ultimate example. I haven’t watched an Avenger movie since Thor, and after a lifetime Star Wars fan, I stopped watching anything they produce. Get woke, go broke.