Disney, Bob Iger, Bob Chapek Hit With Another Investors Suit Over “Fraudulent” Streaming Costs

deadline.com:

Disney has been hit again with another lawsuit from investors over the alleged sleight of hand accounting the company used to hide streaming losses.

And once again, some big names, Bobs past and present, are being spotlighted. “Plaintiff brings this action derivatively for the benefit of Nominal Defendant Disney against certain of the Company’s current executive officers and directors aiming to rectify the Defendants’ violations of the Exchange Act and breaches of fiduciary duties for issuing false and misleading statements and/or omitting material information in the Company’s public filings and proxy statements from approximately December 10, 2020 to the present,” says Stourbridge Investments in the August 23 filing over what it calls “materially misleading statements and/or omissions” the company and top executives made over the true financial state of affairs of Disney+ (read the Disney investors lawsuit here).

Thought Stourbridge says it is bring the action on behalf of Disney, the company itself is named in the complaint along with past and present CEO Bob Iger, axed CEO Bob Chapek, former CFO Christine McCarthy, ex-Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution chairman (and Chapek right-hand man) Kareem Daniels and more top level execs. “To conceal these adverse facts, defendants engaged in a fraudulent scheme designed to hide the extent of Disney+ losses and to make the growth trajectory of Disney+ subscribers appear sustainable and 2024 Disney+ targets appear achievable when they were not,” the New Jersey-based Mouse House shareholder claims, as others have in previous lawsuit. “Specifically, defendants used the newly created DMED to inappropriately shift costs out of the Disney+ platform and onto legacy