So who won the Reedy Creek War? We can expect all sides to remain cagey about the details while declaring wins, but only one side truly needed this to get set aside in the short run. And that side doesn't work in Jacksonville Tallahassee [corrected].

The Associated Press calls this a "settlement" between Disney and Gov. Ron DeSantis:

Allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Disney reached a settlement agreement Wednesday in a lawsuit over who controls Walt Disney World’s governing district.

In a meeting, the members of the board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District approved the settlement agreement, ending almost two years of litigation that was sparked by DeSantis’ takeover of the district from Disney supporters following the company’s opposition to Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law.

The Tampa Free Press instead reports it as a full-scale retreat by Bob Iger:

Disney has withdrawn its lawsuits against the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and acknowledges that the development agreement made at the last minute is invalid and unenforceable. ...

"As usual, the media were wrong," said Florida Governor DeSantis' Communications Director Bryan Griffin Wednesday.

"Today’s settlement also includes acknowledgement from Disney that the last-minute Development Agreement is “null and void… hav[ing] no legal effect or enforceability” and stipulates the same to other similar restrictive covenants and comprehensive plan amendments made prior to CFTOD," said Griffin.

Which take is correct? The fact that one side plans to hold a press conference at 12:15 ET offers a big clue, and that presser will feature DeSantis, not Iger. This is only a "settlement" in the sense that the CFTOD agreed not to keep suing Disney over their fraudulent machinations if Disney ended its attempt to bully Florida out of its sovereignty in federal and state courts.

So much for the mainstream media declaration that Disney defeated DeSantis, eh?

But why now? Why did Iger order a full retreat and wave a white flag over the Matterhorn? Right now Iger has a much more existential war to fight, this one with an investor class fed up with Iger's woke direction and politicized approach to what had been the most reliable family entertainment brand. And Iger took a broadside amidships six days ago:

Iger has been pulling out all the stops to convince Disney shareholders (given its long history and high profile, Disney has a higher percentage of retail shareholders than most companies) that the company is in the middle of a turnaround, and that Peltz is a “distraction” that will ultimately hurt the company rather than help it. “This campaign is, in a way, designed to distract us, to take our eye off all those balls,” Iger said at a Morgan Stanley conference March 5.

But the endgame (to lean on a Marvel reference) remains uncertain. Iger and the Disney board have lined up a murderers’ row of public supporters, securing letters of support from not only Laurene Powell Jobs, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, but also Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas, who disagrees with Iger about the right approach for future films in the sci-fi universe. And Disney secured letters of support from the families of Walt Disney and Roy Disney, including Abigail Disney, who has long critiqued Iger over his pay packages and the company’s treatment of its employees.

But the surprise recommendation from Institutional Shareholder Services on March 21 to vote for Peltz over current Disney board member Maria Elena Lagomasino placed a level of uncertainty over the vote, giving Peltz’s campaign oxygen at a moment when it was on the verge of being snuffed out.

Iger's response was amusing indeed, since critics in the investor class accuse him of taking his eye off the ball with pointless political campaigning in what had been a financial paradise in the Reedy Creek Tax District. Following that up with the scummy attempt to impose a clearly illegitimate covenant and escalating the legal war with DeSantis made that situation worse, even apart from all of the box-office disasters and park-attendance declines over which Iger has ruled. And that clearly didn't impress Institutional Shareholder Services either.

The shareholder vote takes place a week from today, so Iger doesn't have much time to shore up his claim on leadership. He needs to pare down the distractions, especially the legal problems in Florida and the continued focus on its wokery and corporate chicanery. That matters more to Iger than his stupid attempt to revive the Reedy Creek Golden Goose he and Bob Chapek sacrificed to their activist employees.

So chalk up a big win for DeSantis, who will likely try to extend a hand to Disney for a better partnership going forward -- after he gets done reminding the media how they got this story wrong for years. If Iger's smart, he'll find a way to work with DeSantis and the CFTOD. If he's really smart, Iger will stay out of Florida politics from now on. Let's see if he learned the lesson too late.