Plans for a new $1 billion Florida campus by Disney have been abandoned

Disney increased its pressure on Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, on Thursday, costing his state 2,000 white-collar jobs.

Disney is abandoning plans to construct a $1 billion office building in Florida due to "changing business conditions," a Disney official said in a memo.

The choice was made at a time when the business is openly at odds with DeSantis, who is anticipated to formally enter the GOP presidential primary for 2024 next week.

The project's cancellation by Disney was "unsurprising," according to a DeSantis spokeswoman, "given the company's financial difficulties, declining market cap, and declining stock price."

Disney is struggling with a challenging advertising market and a significant writers strike, just like the rest of the media sector. It made a cost-cutting announcement earlier this year that it would be eliminating 7,000 employees.

Separately, the business said on Thursday that, less than a year after it launched, it would close its Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser resort at Disney World.

Disney announced that the well-liked attraction "will take its final voyage" at the end of September and that it is assisting visitors in reserving reservations for later in the year.

2,000 new jobs, many of which were slated to be relocated from California, were anticipated at the site in Lake Nona, Florida, which is part of the larger Orlando area.

Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings issued a statement saying, "It is unfortunate that Disney will not be moving forward with construction of the Lake Nona campus." But when there isn't a welcoming and cooperative working atmosphere between the state of Florida and the business community, these are the results. We will keep up our tight collaboration with Disney, one of our important partners.

A "unhinged personal vendetta against Disney" by the governor was criticised by the leader of the state's Democratic party as having cost Florida 2,000 jobs and millions in additional revenue.

Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, declared in a statement that DeSantis "has single-handedly and categorically made Florida an anti-business state." "Unfortunately, for those of us who have been living through his reign of terror, today's news isn't a shock, and Floridians are already paying a high price,"

DeSantis and Disney (DIS) have been at one other's throats for more than a year over the governor's contentious signing of legislation that limits the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. The law is referred to by critics as "Don't Say Gay."

After DeSantis moved to take over the organization's special tax district establishing regulations for Disney World and the neighbouring areas, the conflict has heated up recently. DeSantis has attempted to appoint a personally chosen board to run the district. Disney and the departing board had agreements in place before the Florida government chose the board in February that restricted the authority of DeSantis' appointments.

The two parties are currently engaged in litigation, with Disney asserting in its federal complaint that DeSantis' and Florida's actions violated its First Amendment rights to free expression.

At the company's annual shareholders meeting last month, Disney CEO Bob Iger expressed his opinion that DeSantis' efforts to penalise Disney, one of the biggest jobs in the state, were "anti-business" and "anti-Florida."

And last week, when the firm released its quarterly profits report, Iger said that DeSantis and Florida's legislature were jeopardising the company's intentions to invest $17 billion in Florida over the next ten years and generate 13,000 jobs there.

"Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes, or not?" During that investor call, Iger posed a rhetorical question.

Inquiries about whether Disney was altering its Florida investment plans after these remarks received no response from Disney. The announcement made on Thursday was maybe the beginning of revising those plans.

Following its statement, Disney's stock marginally increased.