AI ROI: Show Me The Math | Disney Joins The AI Club
Paul Brzozowski
Co-founder • Olakai
Paul Brzozowski is co-founder of Olakai, where he leads the development of innovative solutions at the intersection of technology and business strategy. With a background in building and scaling technology ventures, Paul brings deep expertise in product development, entrepreneurship, and navigating the evolving landscape of digital transformation. His work focuses on creating practical applications that drive measurable business impact for organizations across industries.
LinkedIn ProfileBlock. Snap. Disney. Three memos. Three stock pops. One playbook.
I did not plan to write a trilogy. The material kept showing up.
Disney laid off approximately 1,000 people under new CEO Josh D'Amaro, 28 days into the job. The framing: "a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce." The reality, underneath:
-
A $1 billion OpenAI/Sora investment that collapsed three weeks before the memo. Disney learned about the Sora shutdown 30 minutes after a working meeting with OpenAI.
-
Marvel publicity teams on the chopping block, while Disney's own internal AI tool is literally named JARVIS, after the Iron Man character.
-
A new CEO on day 28 of the job doing what every new CEO in this environment has to do: signaling to Wall Street that he can cut.
Plus an honorable mention to Oracle, which cut 30,000 employees in March and actually said the quiet part out loud.
The founder-seat closer: three things that must be true before any CIO, CFO or board uses the AI efficiency narrative in their own memo.
This is episode 3 of AI ROI: Show Me The Math. If you missed Episode 1 (Block) or Episode 2 (Snap), check the trilogy links below.
Timestamps
- 0:00 Opening (yes, those are Mickey Mouse ears)
- 0:40 The trilogy setup - Block, Snap, Disney
- 1:10 What Disney actually announced
- 1:45 Red Flag 1: The $1B Sora deal that collapsed
- 2:45 Red Flag 2: Marvel publicists and the JARVIS irony
- 4:00 Red Flag 3: The 28-day new CEO signal
- 5:00 Honorable mention - Oracle said the quiet part out loud
- 6:00 The trilogy, closed
- 7:00 From the founder's seat - the three-question framework
- 9:00 Trilogy closed. Show me your Math.
The Trilogy
- Episode 1 (Block's $500M bet): AI ROI: Block's $500M Bet Stress Test
- Episode 2 (Snap's $500M cover story): AI ROI: Snap's $500M Cover Story
- Episode 3 (Disney - this episode): AI ROI: Disney Joins The Club
News Sources
- Disney layoffs (The Wrap)
- Sora shutdown and Disney deal collapse (Hollywood Reporter)
- Oracle layoffs (The Next Web)
- Snap layoffs (Reuters)
About
Paul Brzozowski is co-founder of Olakai, the Enterprise AI ROI Platform that helps organizations measure, govern, and scale their AI stack. He hosts Enterprise AI Unlocked and writes the AI ROI: Show Me The Math series.
DM "STRESS TEST" on LinkedIn if you want Paul to run the math on a workforce decision at your company.
Follow
- LinkedIn: Paul Brzozowski
- Podcast: Enterprise AI Unlocked (available wherever you get your podcasts)
- Olakai: Visit Olakai
