Disney Doldrums, Portnoy’s Complaint, Zoomers vs. Hollywood

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon guide to Puck’s latest reporting.

Today, we lead with William D. Cohan’s clear-eyed exploration of Bob Iger’s myriad strategic challenges, from a potential fire sale of Disney’s TV assets to ESPN’s once-unthinkable sports betting deal with Penn. Is the industry’s most legendary C.E.O. getting desperate?

Plus, below the fold: Matthew Belloni huddles up with Hollywood interns to get the Zoomers’ candid view of the industry. And on The Powers That Be, Jon Kelly joins Peter Hamby for a spirited, insidery conversation about Disney’s dealmaking dilemmas, Dave Portnoy’s third shot at a windfall, and what the Simon & Schuster sale says about Shari’s endgame.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

Iger may be consulting Warren Buffett (and Mayer and Staggs) about his streaming options, but in the everything-on-the-table era at Disney, well, there aren’t that many options really on the table. Herewith, a Wall Street view of a Hollywood challenge.

MATTHEW BELLONI

Amid dual strikes and the graying of Hollywood, a conversation with six unabashedly candid interns about where movies fail with young people, Barbenheimer lessons, Marvel’s decline, Netflix “content dumping,” and how one Disney fan has lost respect for Bob Iger.

PETER HAMBY & JON KELLY

Jon Kelly joins Peter for a spirited, insidery conversation about the latest twists in Iger’s strategy, Dave Portnoy’s shot at a third (!!) windfall, and what the Simon & Schuster sale suggests about Shari Redstone’s endgame.

LAUREN SHERMAN

Todd Shemarya essentially created what we now know as the Hollywood-fashion industrial complex—matching celebrities like Jennifer Aniston with brands, and eventually helping them take equity stakes in businesses and then even build their own companies. Herewith, a candid conversation on his view from the glamourous salt mines…