If Bob Iger can’t stand a free speech fight against Trump, can anyone?

A version of this story appeared in CNN Business’ Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free, here.


New York
CNN

The ABC defamation settlement with Donald Trump, which has emboldened the president-elect in his crusade against businesses he dislikes and outraged journalists across the industry, was a decision that reportedly came down to one man: Bob Iger, the formidable CEO of Walt Disney. Company.

According to New York Times and The Wall Street JournalABC rank-and-file are outraged by the settlement, which was recommended by the general counsel of the network’s parent company and signed by Iger. (It was not brought to a vote, according to the Times’ Brooks Barnes.)

There is much we do not know about what went into Iger’s decision. The view from the cheap seats has been that while the case seemed extremely winnable, Disney (which did not respond to CNN’s request for comment) may have been trying to avoid clarifications that would have sent some embarrassing internal communications.

But for Disney to so easily back away from a free speech fight before Trump is even in the White House? That suggests anyone hoping for some form of Corporate America-led resistance can go ahead and exhale. Few companies are as well positioned as Disney—with its Jedi-level brand power and a veritable army of the best white-shoe lawyers money can buy—to withstand such a battle.

Tech and media CEOs have been practically tripping over each other to make the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago since Trump won re-election last month. Since Thanksgiving, Trump has met with Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Apple’s Tim Cook, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, TikTok’s Shou Chew and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, among others. A few of these leaders have also thrown in $1 million in donations to Trump’s inaugural fund, just for good measure.

“In the first term, everybody was fighting me,” Trump said at a news conference this week. “During this period, everyone wants to be my friend.”

“Ven” may be overstating what they’re after, but call it what you will. The reality is that no one wants to risk angering Trump, who has historically been able to tank a company’s stock with a single tweet.

Iger, like any manager with a fiduciary duty to shareholders, is taking no chances. With less than two years left on his contract, he has a laundry list of issues to deal with before Trump wins. (Like figure out the future of streaming, make Marvel and Lucasfilm great again, and install a successor to take the reins of one of the biggest media companies on the planet. No pressure!)

Still, it’s foolish to suggest that Iger and Disney are somehow immune to the Trump effect. Sure, Iger isn’t flying down to Palm Beach like his fellow CEOs to have dinner with the incoming president. And no, he’s not making any lavish donations to the inaugural fund.

There are other ways to buy insurance in the Trump era. Like maybe leading ABC to a settlement that commits $15 million to the president-elect’s future presidential museum.

Coincidentally, the ABC settlement came days before The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Disney had edited out a transgender storyline from its new Pixar series “Win or Lose.” When CNN’s Liam Reilly asked Disney if this decision could be interpreted as the company distancing itself from diversity initiatives in anticipation of another Trump administration, the company declined to comment.

Liam also notes that the trans character will remain in the series, according to a person familiar with the matter, who added that the decision to remove the plot point was made a few months ago.

Bottom line: Iger won’t kiss the ring quite as transparently as some of his peers. But he seems to be betting that the media empire he has helped build over the past two decades can only survive the next four years if it treads carefully along the path of least resistance.