樂園營運疲軟 暴露迪士尼罩門

In The Walt Disney Co.’s seemingly never-ending game of corporate Whac-a-Mole, a new trouble spot has arisen: Americans have less money to spend on amusement, imperiling growth at Disney theme parks.

在迪士尼公司看似無止境的企業打地鼠遊戲中，新的問題點出現了：美國人花在娛樂上的錢變少，危及迪士尼主題樂園成長。

Theme parks have taken on much greater financial importance at Disney over the past decade. They have been the ATMs that have paid for Disney’s costly expansion into streaming and picked up the slack for the company’s atrophying cable television business. Last year, Disney Experiences, a division that includes theme parks and cruise ships, contributed 70% of Disney’s operating profit, up from about 30% a decade ago.

過去10年，主題樂園在迪士尼財務方面變得更重要。它們一直充當提款機，為迪士尼跨入串流的昂貴擴展埋單，還填補該公司有線電視業務萎縮造成的缺口。去年，涵蓋主題樂園和郵輪的迪士尼體驗部門，貢獻了迪士尼70%的營業利潤，比10年前的30%大幅增加。

Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, has called theme parks and cruise ships “a key growth engine.” Last year, Disney said it would spend roughly $60 billion over the next decade to expand its parks and to continue building Disney Cruise Line. Josh D’Amaro, chair of Disney Experiences, is expected to unveil an array of specific expansion projects Saturday at a fan convention in Anaheim, California.

迪士尼執行長艾格曾稱主題樂園和郵輪是「關鍵成長引擎」。去年，迪士尼表示，會在未來10年花費約600億美元，拓展旗下樂園並持續打造迪士尼郵輪。體驗部門主管達馬羅預計周六將在加州安那罕的粉絲大會介紹一系列具體擴建計畫。

But there are reasons to worry that the U.S. economy could be headed toward a recession. In addition, the global postpandemic surge in travel is largely over.

不過，有理由擔心美國經濟可能走向衰退。此外，後疫情時代全球旅遊暴增的狀況幾乎已結束。

Iger has been trying to move Disney beyond a tumultuous period when activist investors sought to alter the company’s direction. Disney fended off the attacks, but its share price has fallen more than 25% since early April.

艾格一直試圖將迪士尼帶離積極投資人尋求改變公司發展方向的動盪時期。迪士尼抵禦了這些攻擊，但股價自4月初以來下跌逾25%。

The remainder of Disney’s quarter was solid. Companywide revenue increased 4% from a year earlier, to $23.2 billion, slightly above Wall Street expectations. Adjusted per-share income increased 35%, to $1.39, beating expectations by 20 cents. Disney lifted its full-year target for adjusted earnings growth to 30%. Disney previously told investors to expect 25%.

迪士尼季度的其餘項目表現穩健。營收較上一年同期成長4%，達232億美元，略高於華爾街預期。調整後每股盈餘增35%，達1.39美元，比預期高出20美分。迪士尼提高其調整後全年盈餘成長目標至30%，他們先前告訴投資人預期目標是25%。

Movies provided some of the quarterly upside. “Inside Out 2,” released in June, took in $1.6 billion worldwide and reversed a slump at Disney-owned Pixar. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” from Disney’s 20th Century Studios, was a hit in May, collecting nearly $400 million.

電影提供一些季度成長。6月上映的「腦筋急轉彎2」全球票房收入16億美元，扭轉迪士尼旗下皮克斯動畫工作室頹勢。迪士尼旗下20世紀影業的「猩球崛起：王國誕生」在5月則賺進近4億美元。

假訊息氾濫成災 選務官員小心應戰

Tate Fall is overwhelmed.

塔特．福爾快撐不住了。

When she signed on to be director of elections in Cobb County, Georgia, last year, she knew she’d be registering voters and recruiting poll workers, maybe fixing up voting machines.

她去年受雇為喬治亞州科布郡選務主任時，她知道自己要負責登記選民和招募投票站工作人員，或許還要維修投票機。

She didn’t expect the unending flood of disinformation — or at least, she wasn’t prepared for how much it would overtake her job. She has had election deniers shout at her at public meetings, fielded weekend calls from politicians panicked about a newly circulating falsehood, and even reviewed conspiracy theories circulating on Nextdoor forums that might worsen skepticism among distrustful constituents already doubtful that the democratic system is reliable and secure.

她沒有預料到假訊息會源源不絕湧來，或者該說，她對這些事如此占據她的工作沒有做好準備。她曾在公開會議上被選舉否認派大吼，周末接聽政治人物對新流傳的假訊息感到驚慌的電話，甚至還要檢視在Nextdoor論壇流傳的陰謀論。一些抱持懷疑的選民早就質疑這套民主制度是否可靠安全，這些陰謀論可能加劇他們的懷疑。

And that was before the election went sideways.

而這些狀況還是在選舉出問題之前。

In the weeks since former President Donald Trump was targeted in an assassination attempt and Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, adding Tim Walz to the ticket, conspiracy theories have surged. The claims were pushed by pundits and politicians like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican known for promoting far-right conspiracy theories, who represents part of Fall’s jurisdiction.

自從前總統川普成為一樁刺殺案的目標，以及賀錦麗取代拜登總統成為民主黨提名人，加上選擇副手華茲，幾周來陰謀論激增。這些說法是由專家和眾議員格林等政治人物推動。格林是個以宣揚極右派陰謀論聞名的共和黨人，代表福爾的選區。

The implications for Fall’s workload will not be good, she said, noting that conspiracy theories can make it harder to reach constituents who already find elections to be mystifying, like “magical” events.

福爾表示，這對她工作量的影響不會很好，並指出一些選民已對選舉感到迷惑，認為它像「魔幻」事件，陰謀論可能讓接觸這些選民更加困難。

“Anytime there’s a big event, that’s an opportunity for bad actors to seize on that and act on it,” said Fall, 30. “It’s our job to make sure we’re answering those questions effectively and communicating to our voters.”

30歲的福爾說：「無論何時，只要發生重大事件，都是壞人把握並採取行動的機會。我們的工作是確保我們有效回答這些問題，並和選民溝通。」

Increasingly, her generation of elections officials must multitask as defenders against disinformation and its consequences. On any given day, they are debunking claims that masses of dead people are contaminating the voting pool or that mail-in balloting is susceptible to fraud. In just the past year, they have been flooded with inane demands for details about their employees, faced harassment campaigns targeted at their female family members, received intimidating letters laced with fentanyl and been subjected to fake threats of bombings and break-ins.

她的世代的選舉官員逐漸必須承擔多重任務，以作為抵擋者對抗假訊息和其後果。每一天，他們都在駁斥不實說法，這些說法宣稱大量已死的人汙染選民名單，或郵寄投票容易出現詐欺。僅在過去一年，他們就接到大量無聊的要求，想知道員工細節，還要面對針對其女性家庭成員的騷擾活動，接到含芬太尼的恐嚇信件，以及關於炸彈和入侵的虛假威脅。