The Magic Kingdom goes to war
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2023
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Walt Disney sued Florida governor Ron DeSantis over the state’s ‘retaliation’ for the company’s stance on ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, UK regulators have blocked Microsoft’s $75bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and the FT’s Harriet Agnew explains why conservative UK pension funds are leading start-ups to look for capital in different countries.
Mentioned in this podcast:
US growth set to have cooled in first quarter as Fed pushed rates higher
Walt Disney sues Ron DeSantis over ‘retaliation’ for ‘Don’t Say Gay’ stance
Activision blasts UK as ‘closed for business’ after regulator blocks $75bn Microsoft deal
Britain’s ‘capitalism without capital’: the pension funds that shun risk
The FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson and Marc Filippino. The show’s editor is Jess Smith. Additional help by Katie McMurran, Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Topher Forhecz is the FT’s executive producer. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show’s theme song is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The FT News Briefing is supported by Equinole, the UK's energy partner. |
| 0:06.3 | Learn more at equinole.co.uk |
| 0:10.3 | Good morning from the Financial Times. |
| 0:11.9 | Today is Thursday, April 27th, and this is your FT News Briefing. |
| 0:19.2 | What would have been Microsoft's biggest ever deal just got squashed? |
| 0:23.9 | British companies are fleeing abroad for a startup capital, and one reason is the UK |
| 0:28.7 | pension system. Pension funds have had the risks to be tonight of them. |
| 0:34.0 | Plus, break out the popcorn. Disney is taking on the governor of Florida. |
| 0:39.2 | I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:48.8 | We'll get the latest snapshot of the US economy this morning. |
| 0:52.5 | Economists expect gross domestic product to have expanded a modest 2% in the first quarter. |
| 0:58.9 | That's on an annual basis, and it would be slower than the 2.6% growth of the previous quarter. |
| 1:05.1 | The number will give us an idea of how effective the Federal Reserve's interest rate rises have been. |
| 1:16.0 | Disney is suing the governor of the US state of Florida. |
| 1:19.4 | It says Ron DeSantis violated the company's right to free speech when he allegedly retaliated |
| 1:24.9 | against it for speaking out against the so-called Don't Say Gay Law. |
| 1:29.2 | The law bans public schools from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity. |
| 1:34.4 | Since then, the Republican governor has been targeting Disney's longstanding tax privileges |
| 1:38.9 | in the state. I'm joined now by the FT's Chris Grimes for more. Hey, Chris. |
| 1:43.7 | Hey, how are you? |
| 1:45.2 | So, Chris, just a sum of it all up. Disney executives have spoken out against the Don't Say Gay Law. |
| 1:50.8 | That angered Ron DeSantis, who then starts going after Disney's economic privileges in the state. |
... |
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