Good morning. That video is certainly a nice way to kick off this morning. As many of you know, we hold our shareholder meeting in a different city every year. This year, we're in a place with a deep connection to our company. Walt Disney spent what he called the best years of his childhood just a couple of hundred miles away in Marceline, and he opened his first animation studio in Kansas City, all of which makes being here today quite special. By the way, we got some folks from Marceline here this morning. Thanks for coming. Let me just give you a sense for the agenda this morning. I'm going to cover a few topics, our General Counsel, Alan Braverman, is going to conduct the business portion of the meeting.
I'm going to return to share some exciting things with you, we'll open the floor to questions. As many of you, I think, know, it's been a busy, productive, but also quite a successful year at Disney, we're proud of what we accomplished and certainly optimistic about what lies ahead. We're in the final stages of our acquisition of 21st Century Fox, we expect to gain final regulatory approval soon. We look forward to welcoming the 21st Century Fox businesses to Disney, along with their wealth of proven management talent. Our new corporate structure is designed to integrate these assets and maximize their long-term value. We spent most of this year on integration planning so that we will hit the ground running as soon as the deal closes. We've also had our share of creative success this past year.
We released some of the most successful movies of the year, in fact, generating more than $7.3 billion in total global box office. In 2018, was actually the second time our studio delivered more than $7 billion in box office, we remain the only studio to ever do so. That kind of success is the result of talent, vision, passion, and courage, the qualities that define the leaders and the storytellers of the Walt Disney Studios and across our company. It's vitally important that the stories that we tell reflect the world around us, which is critical to our ability to thrive in a changing market. Historic Oscar-winning successes like Marvel's Black Panther and Bao are two obvious examples of the power and the importance of including and encouraging a variety of voices and perspectives. We're committed to greater gender inclusion as well.
In fact, it's an integral part of our commitment to diversity at all levels of our workforce to ensure that we have the best people in every role. Speaking of hiring the best people, we employ almost 10,000 military veterans, we spend millions annually with veteran-owned businesses. That's a great story. We've spoken about it often at various shareholder meetings, we're certainly very proud of it. Thank you. In terms of financial performance, we delivered record results in 2018. Revenue was up 8% to a record $59.4 billion. Net income rose 40% to a record $12.6 billion, earnings per share increased 47% to an all-time high of $8.36. Over the last 10 years, we delivered an average annual shareholder return of almost 24%, that's about six percentage points higher than the S&P 500.
As a result, our total shareholder return for the last decade is 732%. That's compared to 400% for the S&P 500 during the same period. Now this sustained performance reflects the strength of our strategy. It also reflects our willingness to make bold moves and our commitment to creativity, to innovation, and of course, to excellence. Above all, our results reflect the collective talent and dedication of more than 200,000 cast members around the world. We continue to create new opportunities for their growth and advancement. Now last fall, we launched a groundbreaking initiative to provide free tuition for every Disney hourly cast member in the country so that they can access the education that they need to build the careers that they want. That's from vocational skills to undergraduate and graduate degrees.
We call this program Disney Aspire, and we've committed up to $150 million to fund it over the next five years. We're going to add $25 million more each year after that. About 40% of our 85,000 hourly employees have signed up for Disney Aspire in just the first six months. Thousands are already taking classes free of charge, and we're adding more every day. I'm incredibly proud of this program, and nothing would make me happier if we had 100% of our eligible cast members take full advantage of this opportunity to advance their careers and hopefully to pursue their dreams. Now, at this meeting last year, we also committed $100 million, along with some great creativity, to improve the experience for young patients and their families at children's hospitals around the world.
We'll unveil the first phase of this initiative just this next month in Texas, the Texas Children's Hospital, which is based actually in Houston. We also continue to reduce our environmental impact around the world. For example, our recent decision to ban plastic straws and stirrers in all of our locations means that almost 200 million fewer of those items will be thrown away each year. We're also in the process of getting rid of other plastic items, and we're getting rid of polystyrene cups as well, and working on a program, in fact, to recycle plastic bottles from our parks and resorts into our consumer products. Our new solar facility in Florida is now online, and that's going to generate enough clean energy to power two of the four parts of Walt Disney World, which eliminates almost 60,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the process.
That's roughly equivalent to taking almost 10,000 cars off the road. Thank you. Our parks and resorts actually present the most obvious opportunities to reduce our environmental footprint, but all of our businesses are actively engaged in efforts to minimize our environmental impact, even as we grow our operations around the world. Now, before we move on to the business agenda, I'd like to acknowledge three longtime board members who are retiring this year: Aylwin Lewis, John Chen, and Fred Langhammer. I want to thank them all for their service during a transformational and extremely successful era in our company's history. I'd also like to introduce our current board of directors. Hold your applause until I introduce them all, starting with our lead director, Susan Arnold.
In addition to Susan, we have Mary Barra, Safra Catz, Francis deSouza, Michael Froman, Mel Lagomasino, Mark Parker, and our incoming board member, Derica Rice, who could not be with us today. Derica is the Executive Vice President of CVS Health and President of CVS Caremark. At this time, I'd like to ask the board to stand and be recognized. Thank you. I also want to acknowledge a very special guest that comes to our annual shareholder meetings every year, and that's Roy P. Disney. Roy, please stand. Thank you. Always nice to have a Disney in the house. Thank you all for coming today. I'm going to come back in just a few minutes. First, I'm going to turn the stage over to our Secretary and General Counsel to conduct the business portion of the meeting.
When he's done with the official business, I'll be back to share some pretty exciting things that we're working on, I'm going to take your questions. Please welcome our General Counsel, Alan Braverman.
Thank you, Bob, good morning. This meeting has been duly called and is being conducted in conformity with the laws of Delaware and the company's charter and bylaws. If you've already voted by proxy, you don't need to vote again now, but if you haven't voted yet or you want to change your vote, you can do that here today. Please raise your hand if you need a ballot to vote. We'll have someone collecting any ballots today at the end of the business portion of the meeting. Copies of the rules of the meeting were provided at the registration table, and we would ask that everyone please respect the rules. We have five items on the agenda today, including two shareholder proposals. I'll introduce each of the three items, and the shareholder representatives who are present will present the two shareholder proposals. The polls will close.
We'll have a preliminary report from the Inspector of Elections and adjourn the business portion of the meeting. The company has retained Broadridge Investor Communication Solutions as the Inspector of Elections for this meeting. I would now like to introduce Belinda Massafra, a representative of Broadridge, and ask her to report on the number of outstanding shares present and voting today.
Thank you, Mr. Braverman. As of the close of business on January 7th, 2019, the record date for this meeting, there were 1,490,678,790 shares of common stock outstanding, each of which is entitled to one vote. There are at least 1,303,621,247 shares of common stock represented by proxy at this meeting, which represents at least 87% of the total number of shares entitled to vote.
Thank you. Based on this report, I declare that a quorum is present, that this meeting is qualified to proceed, and that the polls are now open. The first item is the election of nine members of the board of directors. Each director holds office for a term of one year. Those nominated for election at this meeting are Susan Arnold, Mary Barra, Safra Catz, Francis deSouza, Michael Froman, Bob Iger, Mel Lagomasino, Mark Parker, and Derica Rice. The board recommends a vote for the election of all of these nominees. The next item is the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's independent registered accountants for the current fiscal year, as recommended by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.
Bob Barrett, a representative of PwC, is here today to respond to any questions. The board recommends a vote for the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's independent registered accountants for fiscal 2019. The next item is an advisory vote on executive compensation. We're seeking advisory shareholder approval of the compensation of the named executive officers, and the board recommends a vote for that proposal. The next item is a shareholder proposal presented by Zevin Asset Management. The full text of that proposal is set forth in the proxy statement. I understand that Sister Barbara Jennings, a representative of the shareholder, is here to present the proposal, and I would like to invite her now to do so. I would just ask that she limit the presentation to five minutes at most.
Thank you, Mr. Chairperson. My name is Sister Barbara Jennings. I'm a Sister of St. Joseph. I live here in St. Louis. Zevin Asset Management is located in Boston. I hereby move proposal number 4, number one in your book, which asks our company to provide a comprehensive report on its lobbying expenditures, including indirect funding of lobbying through trade associations. As shareholders, we encourage transparency and accountability in the use of staff time and corporate funds used to influence legislation, both directly and indirectly. As such, we remain concerned that Disney's disclosure of lobbying lacks transparency and accountability. Disney does not issue a comprehensive report of its own direct lobbying. That data is scattered among federal and state regulators and is difficult to obtain.
Disney also fails to provide comprehensive disclosure of its memberships and payments to trade associations, as well as the portions of those dues payments used for lobbying. Given Disney's lack of disclosure, shareholders remain concerned that company assets could be used for objectives that are contrary to Disney's long-term mission, interests, and that might ultimately harm share value. Disney has attracted negative media attention in some of these areas. Investors are especially concerned about risks arising when trade associations and coalitions supported by Disney lobby on issues which are contrary to Disney's belief and values. For example, Disney is reportedly a member of the United States Chamber of Commerce. Our company and its board should be alarmed that the Chamber actively sought to undermine the Paris Agreement on climate change, despite leadership from Disney. Disney is also listed as a member of the National Restaurant Association.
This group has spent millions on the state level over sick leave policies and worked with the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council to stop local measures to enact paid sick leave laws. Consumers would be alarmed to learn that such lobbying is enabled by Disney. Disney is a member of the Florida Retail Federation, a lobbying group that has recently pushed for draconian felony penalties for petty theft crimes in Florida. Such activity is not only potentially at odds with the company's long-term interests and objectives, it also endangers Disney's reputation. This proposal is not about limiting lobbying for legitimate Disney advantage. It is about transparency and managing the risk associated with undisclosed, unexamined political activity. Publicly available data currently does not provide a complete picture of Disney's lobbying expenditures. We ask you to vote for this proposal asking Disney to be more transparent. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for those comments. The board of directors has recommended a vote against this proposal for the reasons that are set out in the proxy statement. The next item is a shareholder proposal presented by James McRitchie. The full text of that proposal is also set forth in the proxy statement. I understand that Sister Krzastek, a representative of the shareholder, is here to present this proposal, and I would like to ask her to do so at this time. Again, please limit your comments to five minutes at most.
Thank you. My name is Sister Janet Krzastek. I am a Sister of St. Joseph, and I live in St. Louis. I am presenting proposal two in your book, the report on cybersecurity and data privacy on behalf of James McRitchie. Disney links senior executive compensation to various performance metrics. Cybersecurity and data privacy are vitally important issues to Disney. They should be integrated as appropriate into senior executive compensation to incentivize leadership, to reduce needless risk, enhance financial performance, and increase accountability. In its opposition statement, Disney argues their current program allows the compensation committee to incentivize those executives with direct responsibility for data security and data privacy on an individual basis. Although senior executives may not have direct responsibility for data security and privacy, they are responsible for managing the work of those who do. Let me give you an example.
Legally, parents might be charged with child endangerment if they do not properly vet the babysitter or go over what to do in an emergency. If parents do not ask the babysitter the right questions or discuss likely contingencies, they are liable. High-profile cyberattacks and allegations have given the entertainment industry an image problem. Disney has adopted systems to address these issues. We have seen at companies like Equifax, Facebook, Target, and many others, even the best plans can be improved. Disney's opposition statement evidenced a board that is too willing to assign blame and reluctant to accept responsibility for a critically important risk. Shareholders prefer not to hear about costly breaches in data security and privacy in the media. Please vote for proposal two in your books to protect children and better ensure cybersecurity and data privacy. Thank you.
Thank you. The board of directors has recommended a vote against this proposal for the reasons set forth in the proxy statement. If anyone hasn't yet voted and you're holding a ballot, please raise your hand. We'll have someone coming through the audience to collect your ballot. The polls will now close. I would like to ask the Inspector of Elections to give us her report based on the proxies received at the opening of the polls at today's meeting. Inspector, may we have your report?
Thank you, Mr. Braverman. For item one, the election of directors, we have received proxies voting for each director, representing at least 94% of the votes cast. For item two, ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers, we have received proxies for 97% of shares voting to approve the appointment. For item three, relating to executive compensation, we have received proxies for 57% of shares voting to approve the advisory resolution. For item four, relating to disclosure of lobbying policies and activities, we have received proxies for 39% of shares voting to approve the proposal. For item five, relating to the use of cybersecurity and data privacy metrics in determining executive compensation, we have received proxies for 26% of the shares voting to approve the proposal. That concludes my report.
Thank you. Based on that report and subject to the counting of ballots presented at this meeting and the final confirmation of voting results by the Inspector of Elections, I declare that all the nominees for the election to the board have been duly elected, that the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers has been duly ratified, that the advisory resolution on executive compensation is approved, and that neither shareholder proposals were approved. That concludes the business portion of the meeting, which is now adjourned. We hope you'll enjoy today's presentation. Thank you.
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For the entertainment portion of our meeting. ESPN created that video because St. Louis is such a huge sports town, it certainly illustrates why ESPN remains the undisputed leader in sports. No one serves fans better. ESPN+ takes that commitment to a whole new level with a compelling collection of content, including great original programming and a rapidly expanding mix of live sports events. ESPN+ amassed more than 2 million subscribers in less than a year, sports fans are now drawn to premier events on ESPN+, from UFC, top-ranked boxing, Major League Baseball, the NHL, MLS soccer, and Italy's Serie A soccer, along with thousands of college sports match-ups. Building our direct-to-consumer business remains one of our top priorities as a company, we're investing in technology and in content to deliver great streaming experiences.
The success of ESPN+ certainly bodes well for our Disney+ service, which is going to be launching just later this year. The teams are creating original programming for Disney+, basically the same teams behind the successes at Disney and Pixar, Marvel, and at Lucasfilm. We look forward to adding National Geographic to the mix of great library and original content for the Disney+ service. We're going to be showcasing Disney+ along with an incredible collection of iconic content and original programming at an investor day taking place on April 11th in Los Angeles. Turning to our parks and resorts, I've got some very exciting news to share with all of you. We're nearing completion of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in Anaheim and in Orlando, which are by far the largest lands that we have ever built. The excitement and the anticipation for these lands, just unbelievable.
In light of the tremendous demand, we're going to let guests explore those lands a bit earlier than we had originally planned. I'm happy to announce that Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is going to open up at Disneyland on May 31st and then at Disney World on August 29th. Wait, there's more. On opening day, we'll transport guests to a galaxy far away to live their own Star Wars adventure, exploring the planet Batuu and mingling with famous and some infamous characters, hanging out at the cantina, building a droid, or flying the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy in our phenomenal Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction. That's just the first phase. We're going to have a second big opening later in the year when we debut the land's second big E-ticket attraction, which we're calling Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
This is the most technologically advanced and immersive attraction that we have ever imagined, and we're pushing the limits of imagination and innovation. We'll actually blur the lines for our guests between fantasy and put them sort of right in reality and put them right in the middle of the rebellion and give them an active role in a fight against the First Order. No one has ever attempted anything of this magnitude, and so it's somewhat daunting even by our standards, but we're really proud of what we're building at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Words simply can't do it justice, which is why I brought you an exclusive video peek at just what we're building. Enjoy.
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Soon after we bought Lucasfilm in late 2012, I met with the Imagineers and we started the planning process and the development process to actually create these lands. They asked me what did I want the Star Wars lands to be. I said one thing, "Make sure they're ambitious." I think they certainly have taken that word seriously. As you know, Walt Disney famously said that Disneyland would never be completed as long as there is imagination left in the world, and we apply that same view to all of our parks and resorts around the world. With that in mind, let me just give you a sense for what's going on. We're currently transforming Epcot, and we're adding a Tron-inspired rollercoaster in the Magic Kingdom in Orlando. That's just like the one that's in Shanghai, actually, for those of you who have visited Shanghai Disneyland.
We're also building a new Marvel-themed land at Disney's California Adventure, and we're creating our first-ever Zootopia-themed land in Shanghai. We're opening a Marvel-themed hotel and adding more Star Wars and Frozen content at Disneyland Paris. In Hong Kong, we're re-imagining the castle, and we're expanding the Marvel presence and adding a new Frozen experience as well. We're also bringing Beauty and the Beast to Tokyo Disneyland. We're building a new Toy Story-themed hotel there. Our plans for Tokyo DisneySea also include a new hotel at Tokyo DisneySea. We're also extremely excited about three spectacular new cruise ships that are on the way, and we'll soon have a second island destination in The Bahamas for our cruise ship guests to enjoy. All of this adds up to the biggest expansion our Parks and Resorts team has ever created.
Earlier, I talked about our studio's incredible performance, and believe it or not, our 2019 slate may be even better. Starting with "Captain Marvel," which is our first female superhero movie. It just premiered earlier this week to strong reviews, and you'll have a chance to see what all the buzz is about when it opens in theaters a few hours from now, tonight. Next up is Tim Burton's "Dumbo," which is a live remake of a Disney classic. We're going to follow that with "Avengers: Endgame," which is the highly anticipated, gigantic conclusion to the Avengers story before releasing "Aladdin," another reinterpretation of an animated favorite. After "Aladdin" comes "Toy Story 4," the ever-charming and humorous Toy Story movies. Take a look.
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You can see that that's quite a lineup, but we're only halfway through the year. The year is so strong that I brought a few other things that I thought you would enjoy seeing. Back in 1994, when we launched "The Lion King," it became an instant Disney classic. It had great characters and, of course, a compelling story and unforgettable music. Our live-action version of "Lion King" is going to continue that tradition, thanks to the brilliance of visionary director Jon Favreau, who's the genius behind Disney's "Jungle Book." Once again, he's using innovative technology to elevate storytelling to a new level, something we do a lot at Disney. This movie is still in production, but I brought an exclusive scene to share with you today. It's not a trailer, it's a scene.
It's a bit unfinished, as you're going to see, but it's also breathtaking, and I know that it's going to just blow people away when it comes out this summer. Exclusive first clip from "The Lion King.
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I'd love to show you more of that film, but we have to wait a little bit. Yesterday, we announced the sequel to Disney's "Maleficent" will be in theaters this year instead of 2020 as planned. I thought I'd show you an exclusive first look at "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.
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Our first trailer for the long-awaited sequel to Frozen was seen more than 116 million times in its first 24 hours. It's never been released in big theaters. It's only been seen on small screens until right now. Take a look at the trailer for Frozen 2 on the big screen.
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When you look at all of those phenomenal movies that we're releasing this year, it's hard to imagine all of that great creativity, all of that wonderful storytelling, all of that technical genius in just one company, and it's really something that could only happen at Disney. Believe it or not, we actually left something out of our 2019 collection. We're going to close the year with Star Wars Episode IX. J.J. Abrams is back in the director's chair, doing a fantastic job bringing 40 years of iconic Skywalker storytelling to a satisfying close. His filming is complete. Editing has just begun, so we don't have finished footage to show you, but we knew we couldn't come here empty-handed when it came to Star Wars, so J.J. put together a special piece just for you. Take a look.
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It's quite a year. By the way, all of the movies that you've seen today will be available on Disney+ within its first year of launch. Our studio, like our entire company, has benefited tremendously from the creativity and the innovation of Pixar and Marvel, of course, Disney and Star Wars. We're really excited that James Cameron's Avatar will soon be coming to Disney as part of the 21st Century Fox acquisition. It's the biggest grossing movie of all time, and that's saying something in a world that includes the Marvel Cinematic Universe and, of course, Star Wars.
If you've seen the original movie or visited Pandora at the World of Avatar at Disney World's Animal Kingdom, you can appreciate how fantastic this franchise is and how thrilled we are to be part of its future and to continue our relationship with Jim Cameron, especially with the series of new Avatar films that he's currently working on. Jim was kind enough to share a very early glimpse at the next generation of Avatar storytelling, and we thought you'd like to be the first to see it.
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The next Avatar movie will be in theaters in late 2020. I suspect we'll have a lot more to show at our next year annual shareholder meeting. We started this morning with a video showcasing The Walt Disney Company. As we prepare to welcome 21st Century Fox, it seems only fitting to end this presentation with a look at the valuable assets and the great storytelling that will be part of our company.
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When you consider everything that you've seen today, plus 21st Century Fox, it is an unbelievable collection of creative brilliance that speaks to our rich legacy, our exciting present, and a future that seems limitless. I'm reminded in countless ways every day what a profound privilege it is to lead this phenomenal organization, and to work with so many incredibly creative, talented, and dedicated people. Now I'll be happy to take your questions. As always, if you want to be heard, please line up at one of the numbered stations in the aisles and wait to be recognized. We're going to try to get as many people in as possible. To be fair to everyone, I'm going to ask you to be relatively brief, and please refrain from airing personal grievances.
If you've got a personal concern that you'd like to raise, please let one of the staff members here know, and they'll connect you with someone, hopefully, who can address it. With that, I'd be glad to take your questions. I'll start with number one.
Hi. My name's Shana Jones. I'm from Los Angeles. My question's in regards to the Fox deal. 20th Century Fox was created in 1935 when Darryl Zanuck and William Fox merged. Now that it's going under the Disney umbrella, do you have plans to rebrand that company name, 20th Century Fox, since, as we know, they're still going to be a Fox Corporation?
Well, the company itself will be The Walt Disney Company, but there'll be businesses within the company that will still have the Fox name on them, particularly on the movie side. We'll continue to make movies under the Fox brand, under the Fox Searchlight brand as well. FX, which is not Fox, but sounds like it, will continue to keep its name, too.
Okay. It is keeping its name. Thank you.
Number 2.
Good morning. My name is Dwight Morgan. I usually come with a question having to do with the parks. Today, I have something a little special to ask. I was asked by a friend if I would take his daughter and granddaughter to Disneyland. I said, "Sure. I'd love to show off the park." When I called the daughter to make the arrangements, I found that the granddaughter was a 10-year-old with autism. We went and we had a great time. While we were having lunch, I asked the mother, "What do you think of the way that Disney handles disabilities?" She said, "Great. They do a wonderful job.
They've done better than any of the other parks I've visited." I said, "If you could address an issue, what would you bring up?" She said, "Restrooms." I asked her to explain, and she said, "When you have a caregiver and a patient, for lack of a better term, that are not the same sex, we have a problem. The problem is there are not enough family restrooms in the park, and they are not where you can get to them easily." I said I would bring that to your attention.
All right. Well, thank you very much, Dwight. We're proud of the services that we provide to people with many different types of disabilities, including autism. The request that you just made is not one that I've heard, but I certainly will have our parks people look into it. If you'd like to either be directly in touch with someone on the parks side that would know more about it than I do, or if you'd like to put the parent of the child with autism in touch with us directly, I'd be glad to make that connection.
Thank you.
Thank you. I know you've been to many of our meetings. Welcome back.
Thanks.
I'll go back to number 1.
Hello.
Good morning.
My name is Sabrina Jones. I am also from L.A. My question is in regards to Disney+. Can fans expect to see films that are currently locked away in the Disney Vault appearing on Disney+, and what kind of push will you make for exclusive original content to compete against other streaming services such as Amazon and especially Netflix, which saw a lot of Oscar nominations and wins this year?
The service, which I mentioned earlier, is going to launch later in the year. It is going to combine what we call library product, movies and television, with a lot of original product as well, movies and television. At some point, fairly soon after launch, it will house the entire Disney motion picture library. The movies that you speak of that have traditionally been kept in a vault and have been brought out basically every few years will be on the service. Then, of course, we're producing a number of original movies and original television shows as well that will be Disney branded. It's going to combine both the old and the new. As I mentioned, all of the films that we're releasing, starting this year's slate with Captain Marvel, will also be on the service.
Thank you. I look forward to adding another streaming service to my bill.
Thank you very much. We'll try to make it easy for you to do that. Tell a friend too, please. Number 2.
Hello, I'm Allie Aberson. I was wondering if there are any plans to renovate Tomorrowland at Walt Disney World Resort?
That's a very good question. We've been working with the Imagineers to consider a number of different concepts for Tomorrowland. They've got some great plans that we've recently reviewed. Nothing that we're ready to announce at this point. Expect that in the years ahead, there'll be a lot of Tomorrowland activity. A lot of Tomorrowland activity tomorrow. All right?
Thank you.
Thank you.
I look forward to going to the park and seeing it.
All right. Thank you. Back to number 1. Hi, sir.
Tom Kessen from Cincinnati, Ohio. I got one question for you reference the 21st Century Fox merger with us. Are we going to get their studio space that they have, their sound stages and stuff? Because I know personally, I have somebody in the film business, and he always talks about the cost of how it is to rent space, and I know we rent space in Georgia, and we just rent space in Australia for Thor. I was just curious.
Right. We do productions all over the world. The transaction does not include a purchase of the property, 20th Century Fox or the 20th Century Fox lot, but we have access to it through a lease agreement that will last for quite a long time, including the stages that are on that lot.
Okay. Well, thank you very much.
Thank you. Back to 2. Good morning.
Good morning. My question is about, I heard that you having a streaming service. Can you give us some details on it?
Yes. We've talked about that this morning. We're going to be launching Disney+ later in the year. I'm extremely excited about it. Its primary features will be Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and ultimately National Geographic product, and it's going to have a mix, as I've said earlier, of things that people have already seen before on television and in the movies, and a lot of original programming as well, including a remake of "Lady and the Tramp," just to name one of many different projects underway. A High School Musical series. I don't know. Did you watch High School Musical?
No, I haven't watched.
You're too young. You'll have to catch up to the three High School Musical movies that we've made, which will be on the service, and then the new High School Musical television series. It'll be launching later this year. All right?
Thank you.
Thank you. I'm glad there's a lot of interest in that, by the way. Bodes well. Good morning.
Good morning, Mr. Iger. My name is Justin Danhof with the National Center for Public Policy Research. I'm a Virginia resident. My state has recently been embroiled in political scandal over the use of blackface. Governor Ralph Northam has come under fire for one of his medical school yearbook photos, which depicted an individual in blackface and another in a KKK hood. Disgusting. Individuals and organizations across the political spectrum have called for his resignation, including Hillary Clinton, the Congressional Black Caucus, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Planned Parenthood, and the entire Virginia congressional delegation, and many others. Additionally, in Florida, the Secretary of State recently resigned after a photo from 15 years ago surfaced of him wearing blackface at a party.
At NBC, a rival network to ABC, morning host Megyn Kelly lost her job, not for actually wearing blackface, but for having an insensitive discussion about the topic. ABC News hosts were very critical of Kelly's comments at the time and were part of the media backlash that led to her ouster. Two premier ABC hosts have their own sordid past with blackface. While on another network, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel donned blackface to mock a former professional athlete using what many would consider a racist minstrel dialect. The View host Joy Behar recently had a photo emerge in which she was donned in blackface as well at a party.
Mr. Iger, with all of the pride that's quite clear to everyone in this room that the diversity that you place on Disney, the diversity of the characters in your films, the pride that you have when you talk about Black Panther, both at this meeting and on media interviews, I find it puzzling that the company seems okay with Kimmel and Behar's past racist actions and behaviors. Can you comment to us on their use of blackface? Are they simply held to a different standard than politicians and newscasters because they're comedians?
First of all, thank you for coming again. I know you've attended these meetings in the past. We don't condone the use of blackface under any circumstances in our world today. We take into account context in all cases when we become aware of people that have been in blackface in public, and the specific incidents that you raised, we chose to deal with privately. We did not feel that it required any particular comment, and nor do we have anything to say about what actions we may have taken in that regard. We have no comment about the actions that were taken by others that you cited, except to say that it is something that we don't condone.
Okay, thanks. I just would put it out there that you are the most powerful man in Hollywood, so your public statements do mean a lot.
I don't know.
I'm just offering that.
I think that's a compliment.
It is.
Thank you. We obviously take situations like this very seriously. We've taken swift action as a company at any point when we feel the behavior of someone that works for us is a discredit to our company, themselves, people who work for us, our customers, or society. We've got a great track record there in this particular incident, but we chose to deal with it as a private matter.
Okay, thank you.
Back to number 2.
Good morning, Mr. Iger. Thank you very much for coming to St. Louis. We're happy to have you. I'm excited to be at my first shareholder meeting. Question I have is in reference to the Disney parks. I know that recently Disney just announced a price increase for certain days of the year with the admission prices. I'm asking you, what are the steps that Disney's taking to ensure that Walt Disney World and Disneyland continues to be affordable for the middle class? I have a wife and a daughter that I want to take as well. I want to make sure that it's not only affordable for me but also affordable for other families as well as my children's children. Can you speak to that?
Well, you're correct in that we've recently announced those price increases in our parks. Along with that announcement, we also announced a significantly more flexible pricing strategy that provides greater access and much more flexibility to people or guests who want to come to Walt Disney World or to Disneyland. Essentially giving the ability to avoid peak periods when our prices typically are higher and to take advantage of the new pricing structure and go at times when basically there aren't as many people that want to attend, the price is obviously lower accordingly. Essentially what we've tried to do is we're trying to manage demand. We have the luxury of having product that is extremely popular. In doing so, we price accordingly, it's all designed so that we can try to preserve the guest experience, which is extremely important to us.
In other words, we're trying to contend with demand, and the pricing strategy essentially parallels or mirrors the demand that we have. We believe that particularly in Orlando, we've built in far more flexibility for people to pick and choose dates that they may want to come under circumstances that are more affordable than peak periods of time when obviously the demand on those parks is substantially greater.
Thank you, sir.
Hi, my name is Georgia, and I want to ask how old is Disney or how long has it been around?
That's a good question. Disney was founded in 1923 by Walt and Roy Disney, his brother. If you do the math Well, actually, our anniversary is in October, so we'll be 96 years old in October of 2019. That means that we're going to have 100th anniversary or birthday in just a little over four years, which we're already planning for, by the way. We don't want to give any of those secrets away. We don't look 96 years old, right? How old are you?
I'm five.
I see. Okay. Good. Well, thank you, Georgia. Back to two.
Good morning. My name is Clifford Croder. I'm a volunteer wish granter with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I have a new wish child named Angela, who is eight years old and is a huge Star Wars fan. Her favorite character is Darth Vader. In light of the ongoing projects for Star Wars and now hearing about Rise of the Resistance, when and where do you think Angela should go to have a magical Star Wars experience?
Where does she live?
In Chicago.
Well, as I mentioned earlier, we're going to announce Galaxy's Edge opening in May in California and then in late August in Orlando. I know we're making provisions for very, very special access to both of those lands for people with disabilities because we know that they're going to be incredibly popular when they open and thus fairly busy. But we want to make sure that they're accessible to some of our most important guests, like children that are in the Make-A-Wish program. We're actually the largest granter of wishes to Make-A-Wish.
Another thing that we're extremely proud of.
I think I've actually talked to Bob Chapek, who's chairman of our Parks and Resorts group, and we've talked about making space and time available specifically for kids like the child that you described.
That's great. I have been a volunteer for over 25 years. My partners and I have granted over 100 wishes, and Disney wishes are more than half of those. Thank you very much.
Something we're very proud of.
For your generosity and your benevolence. I appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Anyone at one? Oh, a few more people.
Hi, my name is Corey, and I'm a shareholder from Arizona. I have two-
How many shareholder meetings, Corey?
Have you been.
I'm not so sure. I haven't been coming since like.
A few. You've grown up.
12. Yeah.
Twelve?
Twelve. I have two short questions. My first one is, as CEO, I know you have to make a lot of decisions. How do you know when you're making the right decisions? My second question is, I'm planning to be in L.A. in June, and I was wondering if I could take you out to lunch.
Maybe I should use that opportunity to tell you how I make decisions. I'm fortunate that I have a team of incredibly talented, smart, hardworking, knowledgeable people that are a part of the decision-making process at the company. Yes, I make a lot of decisions, but I typically make them with a significant amount of input from the great group of people that work for me. Some of the decisions that we all make are based on research and experience, and some are based on pure instinct, particularly when it comes to the creative decisions that we make. We probably make more creative decisions as a company than business decisions, which is why we're so happy in the jobs that we have. In terms of lunch, I'm looking at my team here. We can negotiate that.
Okay. Thank you.
Okay. Is that a rejection? I don't know. I may sound mean. Back to number two.
My name is Karen Loftus. At the 2016 shareholder meeting, I asked you about the possibility of a third movie in the National Treasure franchise. Three years later, I'm still hoping. Should I give up hope?
I know that Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced National Treasures one and two, would like to make a third movie. I know that discussions about that film have gone on probably since 2016 with our studio. I know that they have not green-lit such a film. They've talked about a number of different possibilities, both on the creative side and from a timing perspective. I just don't have anything to announce. Although I did speak with Mr. Bruckheimer not long ago about it. I know his passion for that franchise remains pretty strong. We love those first two films, too. We're not quite there yet.
Okay.
Thank you. Time for a couple more.
My name is Christina Hornsby. I'm from Lakewood, California. I was a former cast member. One of my favorite parts of working for Disney, any part of Disney, was the ideas. If somebody had an idea, whether a cast member, a stockholder, or somebody visiting a park or watching a film, where would they take their idea?
Well, it depends on the type of idea. There's many ideas that actually get to me, typically through a public email address. That is, I don't see every email that goes into that mailbox, but anything that's of particular importance typically gets to me or is handled by someone that works for me. If it's more specific, like something in the parks, there are people that run our parks that are also fairly accessible publicly, and they can be taken there. Is there a specific request?
Part of it is sections of the park that can be used to promote for guest experience.
In Florida?
In Disneyland.
Okay.
In Anaheim.
You can speak with one of my team that's here today, Nancy Lee, if you have something very specific, and she can put you in touch with someone directly at-
on-
the parks organization.
On a side note, in light of Mr. Dave Smith, will there be any memorial for him in the parks?
I'm not aware of plans for a memorial for Dave in the parks.
His window, per se.
Well, that's interesting. She referenced the window. We have commemorative. We have windows on Main Street, on buildings on Main Street at all of our parks that typically give credit to or cite people who have contributed heavily to parks and resorts around the world. I don't know specifically whether there are plans for a Dave Smith window, but if there aren't, it's a good idea. It's a very good idea. Thank you. Okay. Back to two.
Good morning. My name is Joshua Dersh. You've mentioned multiple times on the stage about storytelling and characters. I feel like though we have as much content and the quantity that we have, in general, we are losing a lot of quality, not just necessarily Disney. I think the movies on Disney's side are great, whenever we look at ABC, Hulu, all the Fox properties we're getting. Are there plans to try to emphasize the stories we love, not just like, and characters that we connect with and root for?
Well, I don't want to get into too much of a debate or take exception to what you said. Generally speaking, we're proud of the quality of the product that we make across the board. That doesn't mean that there are some things that fall below even our high standards, some things that we wish could have been better. The good news is that with the Fox acquisition, we bring on some great talent that has a lot of experience managing both television and motion picture creativity. We happen to believe that even though we don't believe we have a problem, that the infusion of that talent at The Walt Disney Company will improve the quality of our output across the board on top of what we consider to be an already high-quality set of products.
I agree that Disney movies are fantastic and they're things we look forward to, it's trying to find a lot of that, especially across the entire industry seems to be very mediocre. Things that you like, you don't love. Like a lot of the trailers we saw, we are going to love a lot of that content.
I hope so. I don't know. I sat at the Academy Awards this year, we do a little counting, between Fox and Disney, we had 37 nominations, which is extraordinary. Fox had 20, Disney had 17, if you watched them, we won a bunch. Black Panther won three, as a for instance, the Best Actress went to an actress from "The Favourite," which is Fox Searchlight. Best Documentary came from National Geographic, which was "Free Solo," "Bohemian Rhapsody" won a few, including Best Actor in Rami Malek. I left there feeling extremely proud of the overall creative quality or quality of creativity at the company today and the company that is soon to be. I believe given all the talent that we're bringing into the company, that we have an opportunity to raise the bar even higher, which is extraordinary.
Thank you. Okay, I'll do one more question.
Hi, my name is Chris O'Horro. I'm a 30-year cast member, 30-year stockholder. I started on March 8th, filling out my Disney paperwork, and started at the Indiana Jones Show on March 14th.
Do you still work there?
I am. Yeah, I do still work there. I worked at Indiana Jones. I was a dolly grip and worked my way up to the prop master, and I think I've probably been in about between 35,000 and 40,000 shows. The creativity the company has, I want to thank you for all you do for the company because during the 2000 rehab epic, I was able to design a lot of props and stuff, and the team we had was great, and a lot of my props are still in the show. I just want to thank you for all that you do for our company. I also wanted to let you know that I'm doing Disney Aspire on March 11th. I filled out my paperwork in the fall, The old people kept me going and stuff, so I'm very excited about that.
I would like to see, though, could we get more like UCF and Valencia involved? They've already added more classes since October from other schools. I want to thank you for all the work you've done, and I'm proud to be a cast member.
Thank you.
I also want to say one thing about people talking about diversity. Orlando, the 70,000 cast members at Orlando have always led in diversity for the area in everything we do, and I want to thank you.
Thank you very much. I know I talked about Disney Aspire earlier. I can't say enough about it in terms of the opportunity we're creating, and I want to give a special thanks to Jayne Parker, who's our head of HR here, who brought that idea to me, I think about a year ago. The idea was we should pay for education to enable our 80-plus thousand cast members in the United States, hourly cast members, to improve their education, as I said earlier, whether it's vocational or whether it's college or whether it's post-graduate. It's been incredibly popular. I think one of the most important things we can do as a company is to give people the opportunity to advance. Ultimately, that accrues to our benefit.
Even though we realize we're being very generous to the people who are taking advantage of this program, we obviously believe that generosity will come back and pay great dividends to our company over time. It's a wonderful initiative and I just can't say enough about the opportunity that it presents and the potential for it ultimately to benefit so many people. Thank you, though. Okay. Thank you very much. It's been a nice morning. Great to be here in St. Louis. Looking forward to getting back and working on all those movies that you saw this morning, thanks again. Please enjoy. Thank you.