Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, reportedly on the precipice of announcing his 2024 presidential campaign, has achieved what he may not have thought possible: He’s driving Disney’s business out of the state.
The company announced Thursday that it was scrapping plans for a $1 billion development in Orlando near Lake Nona Town Center that would have involved the creation of a new office complex, importing a division from California, and generating 2,000 new jobs. The move comes after DeSantis signed legislation that voided agreements allowing Disney to continue to develop its properties in Florida with relative independence, a law the company is now battling in court.
It’s part of a long-running culture war feud that started last year when Disney publicly opposed DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, which prevents teachers from talking about LGBTQ+ issues or people. Disney has claimed that DeSantis and his Republican allies have orchestrated a campaign of political retaliation, while the governor maintains that he’s merely ending the company’s long reign of operating in Florida with special privileges.
Disney parks chief Josh D’Amaro said in a statement Thursday that “changing business conditions” motivated the decision to cancel the development, under which Disney intended to relocate its famed Imagineering department over the protests of its employees to take advantage of Florida tax incentives. Though D’Amaro didn’t specify whether the fight with DeSantis was part of those changing conditions, Disney CEO Bob Iger was explicit in a call with investors last week: “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people and pay more taxes, or not?”
For DeSantis, the fight may have gotten too hot. While it may have initially favored him politically to go after a company that was perceived as pursuing a progressive cultural agenda, the conflict has become “more personal and petty,” and he’s “definitely lost some…
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