- The company cited ‘new leadership and changing business conditions’
- The firm planned to move tech jobs from California
- It comes days before DeSantis launches his presidential campaign
The Walt Disney Co. and its powerful CEO took its war with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to a new level Thursday, announcing it will scrap a new $1billion planned Orlando campus that would have brought 2,000 jobs to the state.
The brash move comes after a series of skirmishes that began with Florida’s so-called ‘don’t say gay’ bill and culminated with battles over the theme park’s special tax status and some creative legal attacks.
The move comes as it was revealed DeSantis plans to make his long rumored presidential campaign official next week, as he continues to absorb blows from former President Donald Trump.
The company that has become a lightning rod in the Republicans presidential primary announced that it was scrapping plans to build a new office development campus in central Florida and relocate 2,000 employees from Southern California to work in digital technology, finance and product development.
Development officials said the average salary there would be $120,000 in a complex totaling $1 billion – the type of home-state development politicians might tout at a ribbon cutting or brandish as proof of their political juice.
The stunning decision by the company follows a year of attacks from Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida legislature, with Disney filing a First Amendment lawsuit against him and other officials last month.
The company cited ‘changing business conditions.’
Disney had planned to build the campus about 20 miles from the giant Walt Disney World theme park resort, but Josh D´Amaro, chairman of the parks, experiences and products division, said in a memo to employees that ‘new leadership and changing business conditions’ prompted the company to abandon those plans.
‘I remain optimistic about the direction of our Walt Disney World business,’ D´Amaro said. ‘We have plans to invest $17 billion and create 13,000 jobs over the next ten years. I hope we’re able to do so.’
The governor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the announcement.
Disney and DeSantis have been engaged in a tug-of-war for more than a year that has engulfed the GOP governor in criticism as he prepares to launch an expected presidential bid in the coming weeks.
The company sued DeSantis in late April, charging his actions violated its free speech rights and ability to carry out its business, in a case filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
The company has accused DeSantis of running a ‘retribution campaign.’
It expanded its suit this month after the GOP-controlled state legislature voided its 30-year agreement on development around Orlando when it dissolved the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
DeSantis says no company should get special treatment, and has used his battles with the company to highlight culture war issues as he moves toward his announcement.
The company also accuses DeSantis and his allies in the legislature of improperly going after the Disney monorail and making it subject to state inspections. The monorail covers nearly 15 miles and carries 50 million passengers a year.
The latest battle comes as longtime Disney CEO Bob Iger has been getting the star treatment in newspaper profiles amid his running clash with DeSantis.
The feud started after Disney, in the face of significant pressure, publicly opposed a state law that bans classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades, a policy critics call ‘Don´t Say Gay.’
As punishment, DeSantis took over Disney World´s self-governing district through legislation passed by lawmakers and appointed a new board of supervisors. Before the new board came in, the company signed agreements with the old board stripping the new supervisors of design and construction authority.
In response, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature passed legislation allowing the DeSantis-appointed board to repeal those agreements and made the theme park resort´s monorail system subject to state inspection, when it previously had been done in-house.
Disney’s suit against DeSantis alleges the governor waged a ‘targeted campaign of government retaliation.’ It asks a federal judge to void the takeover of the theme park district, as well as the DeSantis oversight board´s actions, on the grounds that they were violations of the company´s free speech rights.
The creation of Disney´s self-governing district by the Florida Legislature was instrumental in the company´s decision in the 1960s to build near Orlando. Disney told the state at the time that it planned to build a futuristic city that would include a transit system and urban planning innovations, so the company needed autonomy. The futuristic city never materialized, however, and instead morphed into a second theme park that opened in 1982.