Wow... if that's true, it's some real amateur hour idiocy. As much as I like the brand, I'd trivially stick with Nate, especially if he somehow got the old band back together: Harry, Claire, etc.
I'm not sure how much I'd read into that. Maybe some Disney execs have seller's remorse (or never wanted to sell in the first place). But, at the end of the day, a lot of the "IP" is pretty much public in considerable detail. (That said, having some explicit ownership is a good way to avoid unnecessary haggling with lawyers.) And if Disney had actually wanted the full analytic and writing ability of FiveThirtyEight surely even an entertainment exec would realize you're giving that up if you let those people go.
