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☆ 'Kidults' age 12 and up are buying more toys than ever, with teens and adults driving significant growth for the industry thanks to the pandemic and TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

'Kidults' age 12 and above are comprising a growing sector of the toy industry, according to NPD Group. NPD Group's Juli Lennett told Insider the growth is largely due to the pandemic and social media. "Now many of them are hooked," Lennett said of kidults who purchased toys early in the pandemic. Today, Lego now sells 100 adult Lego sets, according to the Associated Press, including a replica of Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night and a functional roller coaster. "We make LEGO sets specifically for adults with more detail, challenging building techniques, and cool ways to display."

☆ 6 key Disney executives working with Bob Iger to remake former CEO Bob Chapek's business structure
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Lucia Moses | Alison Brower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Disney CEO Bob Iger has returned to a company facing significant pressures on its linear and streaming businesses. He'll also need to unwind the business structure implemented in 2020 by his short-lived predecessor, Bob Chapek — which separated budgeting and distribution decisions from creative content development. Alan Bergman, chairman, Disney Studios ContentAlan Bergman. Disney Interactive/Reuters/Jonathan AlcornPitaro is close to Iger, has a long tenure at Disney, and has a foot in both creative and business sides. Dana Walden, chairman, Disney General Entertainment ContentDana Walden.

☆ Reinstated Disney CEO Bob Iger spent months undermining his now-ousted successor Bob Chapek by keeping an office and criticizing his leadership, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Disney CEO Bob Iger spent months undermining his successor Bob Chapek, the Wall Street Journal reported. Disney's board dramatically reinstated Iger as CEO last month amid broader dissatisfaction with Chapek's leadership. Other execs were considering leaving if Chapek stayed in the CEO role, a senior figure at Disney told Insider, expressing frustration with his leadership and decision-making. He was criticized internally and by industry figures for making decisions without enough information, the Disney insider told Insider last month. Disney and Iger were not immediately available to respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of US working hours.

☆ A former Disney Imagineer started out carving iconic theme-park signs from wood. Now he's a craftsman making custom works of art for Disney fans that cost $50,000 and take 350 hours.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A recent commission of a "Beauty and the Beast"-themed mantel face measuring 6 feet by 14 inches took Kinman, by his estimate, around 350 hours from August to November. 2022 — 'Beauty and the Beast' mantel face (private collection)Kinman's 'Beauty and the Beast' mantel face was for a private collection in Oregon. The other side of the mantel face depicts the characters Mrs. Potts and Chip. Here he's carving a door out of mahogany. He's also excited about a carving he's been commissioned to do of Scrooge McDuck sitting in his money room.

☆ Shanghai Disneyland Reopens as Businesses in China Welcome Covid-Control Easing
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Dan Strumpf | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Shanghai Disneyland reopened Thursday as cautious optimism spread across foreign businesses operating in China following the easing of some of Beijing’s most-draconian pandemic measures, even as hurdles remained in the country’s exit from zero-Covid. Foreign companies from Walt Disney Co. to Starbucks Corp. and Apple Inc. have taken revenue hits or endured business or supply-chain upheavals in the wake of China’s harsh Covid-control measures, which included citywide lockdowns, mass testing and widespread quarantines.

☆ Take Five: The grand 2022 central bank finale
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

1/TWICE THE FUNInvestors will be fed a huge helping of year-end U.S. news when Tuesday's release of November consumer inflation data is followed by the Federal Reserve's last rate decision of 2022 on Wednesday. Reuters Graphics2/ SUPER THURSDAYIt's super Thursday in Europe, where central banks in the euro area, Britain, Switzerland and Norway all meet. The pace of aggressive rate hikes from big central banks is slowing but the fight against inflation is not over yet. Surging energy and food costs propelled consumer price inflation to a 41-year high of 11.1% in the year to October. Wednesday's UK inflation data may hint at price rises having peaked, following trends in the eurozone and the U.S.

☆ I went to Starbucks' newest flagship store in the Empire State Building and had one of the best coffees I've ever tasted, but I probably won't be back
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Brittany Chang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

But for people who are already fans of the brand, going to a Reserve is the equivalent of going to Disneyland. It's an immersion into a brand they love. Brittany Chang/Insider

☆ Exclusive: Musk’s Neuralink faces federal probe, employee backlash over animal tests
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Rachael Levy | Thomson Reuters | Award-Winning Journalist Covering Corporate Governance. Her Reporting Has Prompted Federal Investigations | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +16 min

Reuters could not determine the full scope of the federal investigation or whether it involved the same alleged problems with animal testing identified by employees in Reuters interviews. Musk has pushed hard to accelerate Neuralink’s progress, which depends heavily on animal testing, current and former employees said. Delcianna Winders, director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at the Vermont Law and Graduate School, said it is “very unusual” for the USDA inspector general to investigate animal research facilities. In September, the company responded to employee concerns about its animal testing by holding a town hall to explain its processes. “We’re extremely careful,” he said, to make sure that testing is “confirmatory, not exploratory,” using animal testing as a last resort after trying other methods.

☆ 6 Disney executives Bob Iger will trust to drive his new strategy as he radically remakes the business structure implemented by former CEO Bob Chapek
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Lucia Moses | Alison Brower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The returning CEO will have to unwind the business structure implemented by Bob Chapek while finding a successor. Disney CEO Bob Iger returns to a company facing significant pressures on its linear and streaming businesses. He'll also need to unwind the business structure implemented in 2020 by his short-lived predecessor, Bob Chapek — which separated budgeting and distribution decisions from creative content development. Alan Bergman, chairman, Disney Studios ContentAlan Bergman. Dana Walden, chairman, Disney General Entertainment ContentDana Walden.

While the protests were largely tamped down, there continued to be scattered incidents of unrest. Experts say China will have a tough time navigating its way out of the pandemic without getting more people inoculated. The National Health Commission said Tuesday that it was especially focused on increasing vaccinations among people older than 80, though it did not announce a mandate. With new, mostly asymptomatic infections still being reported across China — 38,421 on Tuesday, down from a record 40,052 the day before — some Covid restrictions are still tightening. An opinion article Tuesday in People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, said officials at all levels must “unswervingly implement” the government’s Covid policies.

☆ I make around $14,000 a month ghostwriting on Fiverr and work around 5 hours a day. Here's how I got started and built up a clientele.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

I also offer pitch writing and business-plan writing, from "Shark Tank" to angel-investor pitches. When I set up a website, I went on Fiverr to get a logo designed for it. By November, I had made enough money to leave the warehouse job and focus on Fiverr full time. I can write 1,000 words in an hour and 10,000 words, including interviews and outlines, in 12 to 15 hours. I went to the Bahamas in 2019 and I got to spend most of my time on the beach, but I had some client work to keep up with.

☆ Hoping to beat the tourist crowd on your trip to Japan? That ship has sailed
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Abigail Ng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

I thought I managed to beat the tourist crowds on my recent trip to Japan. Visitors gather on a terrace near the Kiyomizu-dera to watch the sunset and autumn leaves in Kyoto, Japan. In the months before those rules were lifted on Oct. 11, there were fewer traffic jams and queues, said Aw. Tokudaw's Aw said bookings with her company remain strong for the year-end period, at around 85% of pre-Covid levels. Travel, however, told CNBC Travel that its customers from Singapore have made bookings all the way through to April.

☆ As China grapples with rare protests, Shanghai Disneyland shuts over Covid curbs once again
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN Business —Shanghai Disneyland has been closed again because of China’s Covid restrictions, just days after reopening following a previous pandemic-related closure. Shanghai Disneyland had just reopened on November 25 after a pandemic-related closure on October 31, according to a notice from Shanghai Municipal People’s Government on November 26. Disneytown, Wishing Star Park and Shanghai Disneyland Hotel reopened earlier on November 17, but November 25 marked the resort’s return to full operations after the closure on October 31, according to the notice. Shanghai Disneyland had also taken a three-month hiatus earlier this year. The decision to close Disneyland once again comes following nationwide protests over the weekend in a rare show of dissent against the ruling Communist Party.

☆ I'm a Disney World expert who runs my own travel agency. Here are my best tips for an affordable — and headache-free — trip to the parks.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Julie Halpert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

I've been to Disney World more than 50 times, and I go to Disneyland every few weeks. The first time I went to Disney World was when I was nine months old. I became an expert in planning Disney trips not just through my own excursions but by planning vacations for friends and family who asked for help. I plan trips for all Disney destinations, including Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, Aulani, and Adventures by Disney. Planning Disney trips was a side hustle that became a full-time careerMertzman with Minnie Mouse.

☆ China's Covid infections drop for the first time in more than a week
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Covid control workers disinfect an area in Beijing on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022, where a day earlier locals had gathered to protest stringent Covid measures. BEIJING — Mainland China reported the first decline in daily Covid infections in more than a week on Monday. Local infections fell in Guangdong and Chongqing, two of the hardest-hit regions in the latest Covid wave. But the capital city of Beijing saw infections rise Monday from a day earlier, as did Shanghai, albeit at a far smaller scale. Over the weekend, students and groups of people across China held public demonstrations to protest the country's stringent zero-Covid policy.

☆ Opinion: Abigail Disney: 125 billionaires control our climate future
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Abigail Disney | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Editor’s Note: Abigail E. Disney is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and activist. According to new Oxfam research, the company investments of just 125 billionaires emit 393 million metric tons of CO2 each year, equivalent to the emissions of France. Let that sink in: 125 individuals, no better, no worse and certainly no more important than any other 125 individuals, are responsible for hundreds of millions of metric tons of carbon emissions. Those same 125 billionaires also sit on the boards of various charities and foundations. We have the power to create a society that prioritizes care of communities over the pocketbooks of fossil fuel companies.

☆ Top tips for saving money at Disney parks while traveling with a family on a budget
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Gabrielle Reeder | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

For non-Florida residents who want to visit Disney World, purchasing a vacation package is cost-effective, travel agent Shannon Devine told Insider. For non-Florida residents, purchasing a Disney World vacation package is cost-effective, Shannon Devine, an independent travel agent with Academy Travel who specializes in planning Disney family vacations told Insider. A view of Disney's Grand Floridian Resort main entrance at Walt Disney World. Disney Tsum Tsums or smaller stuffed animals are at Walmart or Target for a fraction of Disney parks' costs. For an estimate of Disney trip costs, visit the Disney World Coast Calculator.

The factory’s iPhone 14 production has been slowed by a labor shortage that began last month, when a Covid outbreak and an accompanying lockdown sent workers fleeing back to their hometowns. China’s “dynamic zero-Covid” measures make it an outlier among the world’s major economies, causing growing public frustration and economic pain. Though officials announced new “optimized” measures this month, they are struggling to ease the burden without setting off a major exit wave. Despite the purported easing of measures in China, a single case can still bring targeted lockdowns and sudden quarantines. Covid measures were further tightened on Thursday in the capital, Beijing, which is already in near-lockdown with schools, parks and shopping malls closed and a negative Covid test required every 48 hours to enter public places anywhere in the city.

☆ It's not just you. Disney's CEO reportedly thinks its theme parks have gotten too expensive.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Disney's CEO was alarmed by rising prices at its theme parks, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bob Iger made a surprise comeback as Disney's CEO on Sunday, returning less than a year after leaving the company. Daily admission prices at Disney's theme parks have risen to $189 this year. Disney's top executive Bob Iger thinks prices at the company's theme parks have gotten too high, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people close to him. Chapek told investors in May that people were spending 40% more at Disney's theme parks than before the pandemic.

[1/3] FILEPHOTO: Executive Chairman of the Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger arrives at the world premiere for the film 'The King's Man' at Leicester Square in London, Britain December 6, 2021. In his 15 years as Disney chief executive, Iger postponed his retirement four times, sidelining would-be successors. read more Part of his mandate, according to Disney, is to work with the board to develop a successor to lead the company. Chapek was among a shortlist of internal candidates vying for Iger's job, according to a source familiar with discussions. Another seen as a top contender was Kevin Mayer, Disney's longtime head of strategic planning who had shepherded the successful launch of Disney+, according to sources.

Easing Covid measures means accepting a rise in cases that is likely to get worse as winter approaches. Residents buy medications at a pharmacy in Shijiazhuang, China, last week. “There will always be complaints.”Though many people in China still support “zero-Covid,” the strict measures have also stoked growing resentment. China is thus now facing a dual challenge, said Donald Low, a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “You’re going to see the Hong Kong story played out on a much larger scale” in mainland China, Low said.

☆ Can Bob Iger fix Disney?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Frank Pallotta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

But If anyone can bring back the magic to the Walt Disney Company, the company believes Bob Iger may be uniquely qualified to do it. StreamingIn a shocking move, Bob Iger is returning as Disney's CEO. Disney’s streaming service — which includes ESPN+, Hulu and most importantly, Disney+ — had been the most vital part of the company’s vast media kingdom. In its statement reintroducing Iger as CEO, Disney said he was “uniquely situated to lead the company through this pivotal period.”Iger was instrumental in forming the modern Disney. With the media industry in turmoil, Disney hope Iger is up to the tall task of righting its ship.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Disney, Carvana, Diamondback Energy and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Disney — Shares jumped 5% after the company reappointed Bob Iger as chief executive officer, effective immediately and 11 months after he left Disney. Carvana — Shares of the used car company slid 13% after Argus downgraded the stock to sell from hold. Energy stocks — Energy stocks were the biggest losers in the S&P 500 midday after oil prices fell to their lowest levels since early January following a Wall Street Journal report that Saudi Arabia and other OPEC oil producers are discussing an output increase. Still, Diamondback Energy and Halliburton fell 4% and 2.9%, respectively. Intel — Shares dipped more than 2% after Cowen downgraded Intel to market perform from outperform, according to StreetAccount.

☆ Here's what Bob Iger's return as Disney CEO means for the company's theme parks
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bob Chapek's tenure as Disney CEO abruptly ended, and Bob Iger will resume the role. A former Parks exec, Chapek angered many theme park fans by jacking up prices and axing free services. Chapek's time at Disney was marked by criticism of his handling of Disney's theme parks and park employees, and many Disney fans took to social media to celebrate Iger's return. He expanded the company's theme park offerings – opening an Avatar world, Toy Story Land, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, and Shanghai Disneyland – all while keeping many services comparatively low-cost or free. Not all Disney watchers believe Iger will radically change the direction Chapek had led Disney's theme parks, though.

☆ Disney Parks’ Ride Stoppages and Wait Times Grow as Ticket Prices Rise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Robbie Whelan | Jacob Passy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance has grown into a major draw for visitors to Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.Amie Gasabyan was riding the Indiana Jones Adventure thrill ride at Disneyland with her 9-year-old daughter Ella on a recent weekday when it lurched to a halt in a pitch-black tunnel. Ms. Gasabyan told her daughter to stay calm and that this happens all the time. The ride started up again after about seven minutes.

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