Disney, DeSantis allies reach settlement over special district

Walt Disney (DIS) and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (which replaced the Reedy Creek Improvement District) have reached a settlement. Disney and the CFTOD board, appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, had been fighting in the courts over control of the district. The feud stems from Disney's opposition to Florida's passage of the so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill, which was backed by DeSantis.

In the video above, Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Rick Newman discusses the settlement and DeSantis's political future.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination.

Editor's note: This article was written by Stephanie Mikulich.

Video transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

JARED BLIKRE: Time now for the days trending. Tickers as we draw closer to the closing bell on Wall Street. Taking a look at shares of Disney, the company reaching a settlement agreement with allies of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a lawsuit over control of Walt Disney World's governing district. Yahoo Finance's Rick Newman is joining us here to discuss. Rick.

RICK NEWMAN: Hey, guys. So this had a lot of political overtones because DeSantis made this move. He basically got the legislature to pass a law that removed Disney's sort of governmental autonomy while he we knew he was running for president. So in his book that came out a year ago.

He spent a chapter talking about how he's taking on woke corporations. So, Disney, I guess, he kind of decided Disney was going to be his target, his poster child for his attack on woke corporations and his attack on wokeness. That was going to be the thing that distinguished him as a presidential candidate.

Well, it didn't. He didn't really get any traction as a presidential candidate went back to governing in Florida. And now, they have wrapped up this case with both sides saying they've settled this out of court.

We don't really know the terms of how much governmental autonomy Disney is going to get back. So both sides are saying this is a mutual agreement. We're happy this is settled. We want to just get on with business.

But we don't really know what's going to happen yet. And there are some things-- there are some things in this agreement that say there is an agreement to come in 30 days, some rights involving what seemed to be water rights and land use rights that will revert to Disney. But I think what's going to happen here is both sides are going to say we got what we want. And let's move on.

JOSH LIPTON: DeSantis is back in '28?

RICK NEWMAN: Yes.

JOSH LIPTON: You do?

RICK NEWMAN: Yeah, absolutely.

JARED BLIKRE: That was my question. That's all I want to know.

RICK NEWMAN: Absolutely. He's going to be back in '28.

JOSH LIPTON: So that's a long time, Rick. New heroes come to the party. New villains. I don't know.

JARED BLIKRE: It's been four years since the last one.

RICK NEWMAN: Well, Joe Biden first ran for president in 1988. And he did not get elected until 2020.

JARED BLIKRE: Does that Dukakis or Mondale?

RICK NEWMAN: His third time. Yeah, that was against Dukakis. So and he didn't even he wasn't even the candidate. He didn't even make it through the primaries.

So DeSantis is young. He's got plenty of time. He's got a political future ahead of him.

I think that what DeSantis needs to figure out, I mean, if you're DeSantis, you're thinking, well, one way or another, Trump will be out of the way by 2028. Either he will be finishing his second term as president. Or if he loses in '24 he'll kind of go away as a political force over time.

So then how does Ron DeSantis either capture those Trump voters or offer them something new? And the idea was he would be Trumpy without the baggage of Trump in 2024. And he wasn't that at all.

I mean, he was stiff. He did not engage people. He seems to have no charisma. Not a great stage presence. So is he going to come back with the same act or is he going to revise his act?

JOSH LIPTON: All of that is true. But also, Rick, don't you think like, listen, this time around, Republican primary voters knew who they wanted from the get go?

RICK NEWMAN: Yeah, I think so. The thing about DeSantis is he starts with a great resume. I mean, he's self-made. He grew up poor.

He went to Yale. He was the captain of the baseball team. He served as a Judge Advocate General, I think, in the Marine Corps, in a combat zone in Iraq.

I mean, how can-- I mean he's just got a golden resume. And he completely flubbed it. And you know, what I've been paying attention to is, does this war on woke corporations? Does this really have any traction?

And I just don't think it does. I think it's just one of those things where you're preaching to the choir. The choir is pretty small.

Most Americans out there are kind of thinking, well, businesses don't always get it right. But they are trying to address the concerns Americans have about diversity, inclusiveness, and things like that. They stumble sometimes.

JOSH LIPTON: That was sort of the knock. The idea is listen he was such an effective governor and executive. He should have just focused on that.

RICK NEWMAN: He could have. Yeah. Yeah. And he decided he needed to have this other thing to go on.

JOSH LIPTON: Listen, maybe in '28.

RICK NEWMAN: Maybe there will still be woke corporations for him to go after in '28.