Words in brackets in the title are my own, just to add context.
Way more to read at the link.
Way more to read at the link.
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Disney Whistleblower Told SEC The Company Inflated [Theme Parks] Revenue For Years
- Thread starter EvilChameleon
- Start date
It seems really hard to believe that they could come up with $6 billion in extra revenue just with weird gift card tricks and bs complimentary stuff, that's a huge amount of money especially when their reported revenue was around $10 billion total
I don't doubt that this practice existed there but there's no way it was that prominent
I don't doubt that this practice existed there but there's no way it was that prominent
There's been rumors of this for years. Their movie business in China is also rumored to be purchasing tickets through a shell company, that the Chinese government allows, to inflate their Box Office. But it's nearly impossible to get proof.
Lots of sketchy shit happens at Disney.
Curious how this goes. She gives a lot of anecdotal bits but it's hard to see that amounting to the material amount she's given.
Also, accounting for GCs is more complicated than they're letting on, specifically if they're stored-value variants.
I'd wager there's some impropriety there, but if it's something of the 6 billion mark it's likely totally unaffiliated with anything Kuba is bringing up.
Also, accounting for GCs is more complicated than they're letting on, specifically if they're stored-value variants.
I'd wager there's some impropriety there, but if it's something of the 6 billion mark it's likely totally unaffiliated with anything Kuba is bringing up.
Disney parks raked in billions in sweetheart tax subsidies and breaks during the period of alleged revenue manipulation, deals that are only offered (and renewed) on the promise that they're offset by tax revenues and an increased standard of living for local residents. Given the renewed attention to working class wages and corporate welfare, it's pretty important to poinpoint just how much fudging was happening and whether or not it was a con on taxpayer dollars as disney paid itself money to keep the park numbers healthy-looking.
I know, it's in the OP. But this stuff is very relevant to my interests.
I would imagine most companies of size pull shit like this to look good to investors.
I've been wondering about that for a while now... except I was thinking they were doing this to all movies in their BO.
Is there anything to support this?
I mean, there are tons of areas where it's at management's discretion to make small changes to play with their revenue. What would be surprising is no major short investors noticing a change in accounting policy, etc., since their financials are watched like hawks with programs literally made to search for word by word changes in legal jargon.
Distributors and an exhibitors in China have been caught buying unsold tickets to inflate box-office returns, this is not speculation. I don't think it was a Disney specific thing, but since you know, every fucking movie is Disney there is little doubt they benefited from that shit.
The only time I've ever heard anyone claiming this is butthurt fanboys trying to find excuses why Captain Marvel and Last Jedi made so much money other than people actually liking the films. It's nearly impossible to get proof because there really isn't any.
I don't see where Disney would benefit from this in the slightest. Disney spending its own money to boost box office in a country doesn't make any sense to me. Now in a country as nationalistic as China, them bumping up their own country's movies at the expense of others would come as absolutely no surprise to me. Unless you actually think "Wolf Warrior 2" made 10 times what it's prequel did. I specificially remember Warcraft, a movie co-produced by a Chinese company, being called out for having tickets purchased for other movies actually going to its gross. Disney couldn't even get Endgame re-released there.
Without any evidence, this just sounds like sour grapes born out of, surprise, people who can't stand movies that don't do what they specifically want them to do. Now on topic, it's similar for the whistleblower. If they're not showing any evidence, then why are we paying attention to them, other than it being a anti-Disney thread, which always attracts a crowd?
I meant their numbers got inflated. Edit: I should clarify since I get that you got a hair trigger on this - I think there is reason to believe that a some box office numbers from China were inflated, I have no idea how widespread it was/is, but since it was done on the distributor/cinema level, I see no reason to believe it skipped Disney movies.
Didn't mean imply they directed that or anything, in fact, I meant to say that as far as I know this was a Chinese thing and not related to them.
p.s.
Not anything in my post warrant the tone you're taking here.
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Found this portion a bit interesting too,
I wonder what kind of documentation/investigation Disney did to determine that her workplace complaints were inappropriate/disruptive, and how it might come to light in discrediting her as a witness if this came to trial.
I wonder what kind of documentation/investigation Disney did to determine that her workplace complaints were inappropriate/disruptive, and how it might come to light in discrediting her as a witness if this came to trial.
As someone mentioned about the parks, Disney, like all corporations, benefit from tax tricks and loopholes.
Disney having/owning most of the top 10 box office gives them that dominance perception that only companies like Microsoft have seen. Regardless of your opinion of their films, this is super sketchy. Good luck getting actual proof from a country that is currently fighting with their own citizens over democracy and have people like Jackie Chan constantly saying how great China is.
So like, there could have been other shenanigans I don't know about, but the thing I was talking won't really end up in Disney cooking books, at least as far as I understand it.
This was all weird schemes based on skewed incentives, and it was between distributors and cinema operators. They're saying a lot of it is fixed now, but who the fuck knows. People were predicting that shit by looking at box office numbers way before those people got caught, so maybe some of the people who scare me from posting in box office threads can weigh in.
This is not the greatest article, I can look for better ones if people care -
If you just think about it logically, when any corporation can cook their books and get away with it, they then have money that isnt actually there and can buy things with that non existent money. So instead of having 10 billion to buy your competition, when a corporation friendly government is in place, you have $14 billion to buy even more of your competition, with no checks or balances going on for the purchase. Obviously I'm just making up numbers here, but corporations do this all the time and having a foreign government willing to help for a small fee, sure makes it easier.