Latest in The Walt Disney Company

Disney is waiving arbitration in a wrongful-death suit filed by the husband of a woman who died after dining at a restaurant in its Disney Springs resort in Orlando last year. Jeffrey Piccolo is suing the company for $50,000 because his wife Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan suffered an allergic reaction after…

The optics are pretty lousy when a company run by a 73-year-old man cans a nearly 20-year employee as she hits 73 and then attempts to call it a retirement on paper. Yet, according to former longtime Disney business analyst Deborah Violante, that is exactly what happened to her at the Bob Iger-led…

UPDATE, 1:45 PM: In a split decision of sorts, an L.A. Superior Court judge has given Disney a month to articulate why they can’t hand over dozens of requested documents in the pay equity class action. At the end of a hearing today, Judge Elihu M. Berle indicated he agreed with the gist of the Mouse…

UPDATED with plans for additional board nominees. In a second wave of support for CEO Bob Iger and the Disney management team, Blackwells Capital and its affiliates have revealed plans to nominate three candidates to the company’s board of directors. The news, which followed a related pact between…

The Walt Disney Co. accused Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his allies of being engaged in “ongoing constitutional mutiny” for targeting the company over its opposition to a parental rights bill, known by detractors as the “don’t say gay” law. In its latest filing in the company’s federal lawsuit…

UPDATED, 7:30 AM: Longtime SportsCenter co-anchor Sage Steele has decided to leave ESPN after settling her lawsuit against the network and Disney. “Having successfully settled my case with ESPN/Disney, I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely,” Steele revealed…

Attorneys for The Walt Disney Co. and Ron DeSantis are proposing very different timelines for the start of a federal trial over the company’s claim of retaliation by the Florida governor. Disney proposed a timeline with a trial to start on July 15 of next year. DeSantis’ attorneys, along with those…

EXCLUSIVE: John Rouse, who has been with The Walt Disney Company for the past 33 years, most recently as EVP of Affiliate Relations for the ABC Television Network, is stepping down at the end of July. Rouse announced his upcoming retirement Wednesday in a note to ABC affiliates and station group heads…

EXCLUSIVE: Disney's Carol Choi has seen it all in the East Asian entertainment business, working for the studio in various roles in China from 2006, then heading up The Walt Disney Company Korea, before being appointed Managing Director of The Walt Disney Company Japan. She currently wears two hats, also…

The Walt Disney Co., after some cage-rattling by activist investor Daniel Loeb, has added former Viacom and Facebook exec Carolyn Everson to its board of directors. Everson, 50, will officially join the board on November 21. Loeb, in a letter to company CEO Bob Chapek, had drawn attention to the…

UPDATED throughout: The Walt Disney Co. has posted an extensive list of new presentations for its annual D23 Expo fan event on September 9-11. It includes new Marvel, Disney+, Disney Parks and Walt Disney Animation presentations as well as panels for The Simpsons, Tron, Dancing With the Stars, Encanto, Bob’s Burgers…

A coalition of 1,425 showrunners and directors has raised $2.5 million to help women gain access to abortion services in states where they're now illegal. Organizers of Hollywood4AbortionAccess hope to raise another $2.5 million to help women across the country – not just those working in the entertainment industry…