Bob Iger named Disney CEO in shocking development

Via CNN Business
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In a move that shocked Hollywood, Bob Iger, one of the most notable CEOs in the history of the Walt Disney company, is returning to once again run the media empire.

Bob Chapek, who replaced Iger in 2020 as CEO, is stepping down immediately.

“We thank Bob Chapek for his service to Disney over his long career, including navigating the company through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic,” Susan Arnold, Chairman of the Board for Disney, said in a statement on Sunday night. “The Board has concluded that as Disney embarks on an increasingly complex period of industry transformation, Bob Iger is uniquely situated to lead the Company through this pivotal period.”

The announcement, while surprising to the media industry, comes at a time of great evolution for Disney. The company is coming off a lackluster earnings report that showed growth for its streaming endeavors. However, that came at a great cost. Disney’s streaming business lost $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter. That report sent Disney’s stock tumbling after a year of sluggish to bad performance.

Chapek guided the company through the pandemic, one of its most tumultuous periods in its nearly 100-year history, but ultimately Disney decided that its future was in better hands with Iger.

Away from the pandemic, Chapek had a short but bumpy tenure as the head of Disney. Chapek, who served as chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products before taking over for Iger, found himself dealing with issues regarding pay with Scarlett Johansson, one of the company’s biggest stars, as well as Disney’s battles with Florida, and its own employees, regarding the state’s controversial bill restricting certain LGBTQ topics in the classroom.

Disney’s stock has also taken a hit lately. It’s currently down roughly 40% this year.

As for Iger, he has an almost mythical status as the leader of Disney (DIS). He spent 15 years as CEO and was instrumental in acquiring major brands like Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, the home to Star Wars. Iger also closed the $71 billion deal to buy most of 21st Century Fox and kicked off the streaming revolution at Disney (DIS) with the creation of Disney (DIS)+ in November 2019.

Iger stayed on at Disney as executive chairman directing the company’s creative endeavors. He officially left the company after nearly 50 years at the end of last year.

Disney said Sunday that Iger has agreed to serve as CEO for two years with “a mandate from the Board to set the strategic direction for renewed growth and to work closely with the Board in developing a successor to lead the Company at the completion of his term.”

The move is also surprising since Chapek just renewed his contract. The company’s board of directors unanimously voted to extend Chapek’s contract as CEO for another three years, the company said in June. Chapek’s new contract began in July and was set to run until 2025.

Also, it appeared that Iger was set in retirement with his legacy as one of Disney’s most notable and successful CEOs. Now, he’s back.

“I am extremely optimistic for the future of this great company and thrilled to be asked by the Board to return as its CEO,” Iger said in a statement Sunday. “Disney and its incomparable brands and franchises hold a special place in the hearts of so many people around the globe—most especially in the hearts of our employees, whose dedication to this company and its mission is an inspiration.”

Iger added that he is “deeply honored to be asked to again lead this remarkable team, with a clear mission focused on creative excellence to inspire generations through unrivaled, bold storytelling.”

 

[SmugAutist]

People really need to unsubscribe from Doomcock and Midnights Edge

Nerdrotic really seems to be the one of the Fandom Menace that won the internet special olympics by just giving up and calling everyone in Hollywood retarded.

 

[northstar747]

People really need to unsubscribe from Doomcock and Midnights Edge

Doomcock sucks

The midnights edge channel had a few good editorials but they make more money just bitching about nerd shit

 

[Trigger Me Timbers]

I have to say, I really am shocked by this. I was fully expecting Iger to use his time at disney to launch into politcs.

Maybe he was but he left Disney in such a shit state that being the ex CEO of it holds little to no water with voters, maybe even actively damaging his rep.

 

[SBG]

I think the main reason Iger is coming back is Disney is paranoid about De Santis's re-election. Since it's entirely probable Florida will cut Disney World off from the privileges it has. Things like private policing/fire. If they do that they'd either need to shut the park down or remodel it so it's substantially smaller. Iger apparently has a lot of political connections (He was in-fact speculated at one point to be considering running for President of the USA) so I can imagine him being seen as better by the board there to try and negotiate with the government. I doubt it'll work though since it's unlikely Iger will slow down the woke nonsense anytime soon.

DeSantis’ people have stated they’d work something out with Disney since the alternative is the debt Disney owed would be transferred to Florida (it’s like a billion). Doubt Iger is necessary to make Florida act.

 

[Haramburger]

Also a reminder that Iger tried to negotiate with Newsom to lighten the COVID restrictions on Disneyland and Newsom didn't do it.

Iger's so old, he's just thinking about money. This would be seen as a republitard move by some(COVID mandates BAD!) but on the other hand I suspect the woke shit only came into Disney not because he's a raging libtard, but just for Blackrock ESG bucks.

It'll be interesting to see the short-term changes, Disney articles have been stupid and often the past 2-3 years

 

[AN/ALR56]

Chapek's had a chance to unwoke Disney and make a profit again, but all he did was cuck out to his own employees at the park and make slightly less degenerate films that still get banned in their main cashcow (China).
I'm not surprised Iger's got back, he was trying ever since Chapel got into his seat to organize a coup and sabotage him (if midnight's edge is any good, they did predict that)

I expect things to get worse, Obi wan was a complete mess, Andor is mediocre at best and Book of Boba had a strong start but still made a silent badass into a milquetoast cartoon villain that ended up joining the good guys.
I'm not even gonna bother with marvel, i expect shit that will make she hulk look like breaking bad in terms of narrative development.

 

[The Dude]

None of this shit would have happened if those in charge of Disney had stay true to Walt and always tried to do their best to follow his example. Walt was a business man and an entertainer. He understood that if you make your customers happy by offering them high quality entertainment, then you'll basically be printing money. Instead, Disney has been continually providing low quality crap where story telling and entertainment has been abandoned in favor of political agendas.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

People really need to unsubscribe from Doomcock and Midnights Edge

I watch both for entertainment, and offer no apologies. At least it isn't eight or nine talking heads laughing like hyenas in final stage syphilis, a la Friday Night Tights.

That weird shit in She-Hulk shows me that they're well aware of Doomcock and that he gets under their skin, as much as I can't think think of a single thing he's actually gotten right.

Kathleen took their franchise that used to print money and provably due to her own actions the brand is now worth substantially less. She also kept firing all of the A list directors they hired yet her contract kept getting renewed. The fact she kept failing upwards despite all of her bad decisions I can only imagine because she used to work for Spielberg and is a prominent woman executive in the space.

In November 2021 her contract was renewed for three years. LucasFilm seems to be in even more disarray now than it was prior to that. I assume she'll be allowed to serve out the term of her contract, but one never knows.

As an aside, speaking of which and with just a pinch of irony...

Disney CEO Bob Chapek gets new three year contract (June 2022)

So he's probably not going to be driving your next Uber ride any time soon, I'm guessing. It also wouldn't surprise me if there's some truly ugly language (for Disney) in the termination clause.

Personal opinion: I'm agnostic on Chapek getting canned, but bringing back Iger is a horrible idea. Dude spends money like he's permanently on a lost weekend in Vegas, is a knobslobberer at the altar of political correctness and, no, I don't think his (entirely misplaced) political aspirations are behind him. He's going to have to face the ugly reality of a huge debt service, parks in dire need of routine maintenance, a Star Wars franchise not exactly dead but certainly reduced to niche status, and an MCU that seems lost in the weeds. Dude is a wheeler-dealer, not somebody who has any interest in (or desire to spend $$ on) park plumbing.

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

Iger's so old, he's just thinking about money. This would be seen as a republitard move by some(COVID mandates BAD!) but on the other hand I suspect the woke shit only came into Disney not because he's a raging libtard, but just for Blackrock ESG bucks.

It'll be interesting to see the short-term changes, Disney articles have been stupid and often the past 2-3 years

I'm reasonably sure Iger was acting in the interest of California Disneyland in that one instance. My point is that his political pull isn't that much even with ostensibly friendly politicians. DeSantis doesn't have that much motivation to help Iger out. I also don't draw a distinction between doing things for ESG and being a libtard.

 

[Stoneheart]

DeSantis’ people have stated they’d work something out with Disney since the alternative is the debt Disney owed would be transferred to Florida (it’s like a billion). Doubt Iger is necessary to make Florida act.

That sounds like alot of BS... Florida is never on the hook for the debt, that would fall back on the towns that make up the district. those towns are 100% owned by disney...
also there is no need for huge talks, Disney will get the same deal as everyone else.


The Fall guy took the fall and Disney is super fucked, they will go belly up if they dont turn around.
They only have TV, ESPN and Parks making money for them while they burned billions of $ by destroying valuable IPs to the ground. their debt from the fox deal will crush them in the comming years.

 

[Product Placement]

Disney stock has went up, so seem stock market least likes this move. Doubt Iger will say for longer than 2 year, mostly about having someone with a proven track record and who the shareholders like until they find a better replacement.

But Disney have a lot of issues right now.
1. Unable to create new ips, and are over reliant on old ones
2. Disney+ is still bleeding billions
3. Hulu issue, Disney have to buy Comcast's 33% stake in Hulu in 2024 which isn't cheap and will add billions to Disney debt.
4. Total mismanagement of 20th century studios, with no idea on how to market titles, what titles to even greenlight and the total gutting of the amount of movies they make.
5. Disney+ growth as slow down considerably

After the Fox buyout, Disney can't afford losing billion a year like the $4 billion they did this year.

 

[TowinKarz]

Maybe he was but he left Disney in such a shit state that being the ex CEO of it holds little to no water with voters, maybe even actively damaging his rep.

That and the fact the current temperature of Florida politics right now means a person openly supporting the whole woke/ alphabet agenda might as well be radioactive and infected with ebola too. Even if Disney's embrace of IDPOL had worked and dug them out of debt? Instead of crashing their IPs? He'd still be unable to parlay that into success with voters.

The fact that Disney went broke under woke (and lost their sweetheart self-governing deal by poking the state with the tolerance stick) means it's even worse than just being a member of the raindow mafia, he's also an incompetent cheapskate.

He missed his chance to jump out of corporate America and into politics during the last days of the Obama era.

They only have TV, ESPN and Parks making money for them while they burned billions of $ by destroying valuable IPs to the ground. their debt from the fox deal will crush them in the comming years.

This is the albatross around their necks that nobody talks about but is the reason they do everything they do to wring money from stones, from a plan to do 50 phases of Marvel to charging fifty bucks for a glass of water at the parks. They took on MASSIVE debt overhead when they went on that shopping spree, and the IPs they've nuked into unprofitability by injecting them with woke politics and releasing them at a fever pace, burning everyone out, was done because things like Star Wars were supposed to be the magic money printing machines to pay that all off, but through spectacular mismanagement, they broke that machine by making it print rainbow $100 bills that no one will accept as actual money. And with the golden goose strangled by the "I SUPPORT CURRENT THING" sweater you tried to make it wear? There's no where else to get money from but jack up the prices on the rest of your domain, during a recession, after pissing off customers AND government you were depending on to pay those rates while cutting your tax obligations.

And the TV part you mention is probably doomed long-term, nobody will win the streaming wars, it's just reinventing cable with extra steps and higher prices.

 

[Vyse Inglebard]

Lol so Iger pulled a Hayao Miyazaki.

How fucking dare you compare a master animation director to a monopolizing, wokifying, talentless hack.

 

[SBG]

That sounds like alot of BS... Florida is never on the hook for the debt, that would fall back on the towns that make up the district. those towns are 100% owned by disney...
also there is no need for huge talks, Disney will get the same deal as everyone else.

The district is ‘currently’ owned by Disney. Florida’s government in their rush to legislate it away pretty much are risking absolving Disney of its debt for the district.

It’s up in the air which government body of Florida’s the debt would go, but Disney still is playing with the better hand in any talks going forward.

And there are tens of thousands of special districts in the US. It’s not really that special.

 

[Pendinelli]

It's a fine day for us Bob Iger fans

 

[Stoneheart]

The district is ‘currently’ owned by Disney. Florida’s government in their rush to legislate it away pretty much are risking absolving Disney of its debt for the district.

Are you watching CNN to much? the district has 2 towns inside that are both fully owned by Disney. the debt falls back on the landowners in those 2 towns, thats disney.
there is no way the state of flroida or even other parts of the counties being on the hook for the debt.

It’s up in the air which government body of Florida’s the debt would go, but Disney still is playing with the better hand in any talks going forward.

No its not, the debt will go to the citys of Bay lake and Buena Vista and Disney is super fucked, they need to change their whole operations. they will get a new special needs district, but it only can be a normal one and not some super duper special district.

And there are tens of thousands of special districts in the US. It’s not really that special.

the Disney one was very special, they could do pretty much everything they wanted in it. thats why the Florida government could take it away at all, its not a normal special district.

 

[northstar747]

This is the albatross around their necks that nobody talks about but is the reason they do everything they do to wring money from stones, from a plan to do 50 phases of Marvel to charging fifty bucks for a glass of water at the parks. They took on MASSIVE debt overhead when they went on that shopping spree, and the IPs they've nuked into unprofitability by injecting them with woke politics and releasing them at a fever pace, burning everyone out, was done because things like Star Wars were supposed to be the magic money printing machines to pay that all off, but through spectacular mismanagement, they broke that machine by making it print rainbow $100 bills that no one will accept as actual money. And with the golden goose strangled by the "I SUPPORT CURRENT THING" sweater you tried to make it wear? There's no where else to get money from but jack up the prices on the rest of your domain, during a recession, after pissing off customers AND government you were depending on to pay those rates while cutting your tax obligations

Good point

The dream of building disney+ and warners hbo max. for the streaming war has backfired for everyone involved.

Ted turner did well picking up MGM pre 1986 library.

ATT taking time warner for their library to run a streaming service was well stupid because they dont know how to run a studio.

Disney would have been better off making a company buying 20th century fox's library pulling the Marvel rights back to marvel and then spinning off 20th century studios.

honestly the best thing for consumer would be if disney, warner, fox, sony etc went in and created a company that had access to eachother libraries and just farm the royalties.

Star Wars was murdered for then just wokes shit. Lucas still owns the OG shit. Hence the kill an OG character everymovie and the push of shit no one likes.

also given the amount of money involved they coulda just written the trilogy first filmed all the movies back to back.

 

[SBG]

Are you watching CNN to much? the district has 2 towns inside that are both fully owned by Disney. the debt falls back on the landowners in those 2 towns, thats disney.
there is no way the state of flroida or even other parts of the counties being on the hook for the debt.


No its not, the debt will go to the citys of Bay lake and Buena Vista and Disney is super fucked, they need to change their whole operations. they will get a new special needs district, but it only can be a normal one and not some super duper special district.


the Disney one was very special, they could do pretty much everything they wanted in it. thats why the Florida government could take it away at all, its not a normal special district.

The debt, according to Florida’s statute, goes to the government if the district is dissolved. It doesn’t go to the land owners like Disney itself. It does go to the local government, but that’s still part of Florida’s government. It’s created a fucked situation which is why DeSantis’ government quickly started talking about trying to work something out with Disney.

Maybe DeSantis’ people are wrong and it’d work out great doing nothing at this point, but we may never get to see because the Florida GOP will probably quietly give into Disney.

https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2015/Chapter189/All

 

[Creep3r]

It's amazing how to this day Disneys problems seem to boil down to Kathleen Kennedy.

I tend to blame her, Alan Horn, Chapek and Iger most especially as the royal quartet who each contributed their own unique brand of self-absorbed fart huffing that would lead to the worsened image of their company.

Chapek sounds like the fall guy for Iger's gross negligence regarding the woke infestation during his time at Disney

That and Iger's completely reckless and selfish use of Disney profits to either give himself and his executive buddies multi-million dollar bonuses or throw Disney money away on pointless ventures like the FOX buyout which would naturally lead to budget cuts, and all the while regular disney employees and even VFX artists get treated worse than mules.

BTW Doomcuck is a snakeoil salesman and grifter who gets by solely on bogus "insider" rumors and nothing else. Only good thing of note he ever achieved was pissing off Indy 5's director (and Indy 5 is another horrible can of worms waiting to be opened).

 

[Dog-O-Tron 5000v5.0]

As for Iger, he has an almost mythical status as the leader of Disney (DIS). He spent 15 years as CEO and was instrumental in acquiring major brands like Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, the home to Star Wars. Iger also closed the $71 billion deal to buy most of 21st Century Fox and kicked off the streaming revolution at Disney (DIS) with the creation of Disney (DIS)+ in November 2019.

Iger stayed on at Disney as executive chairman directing the company’s creative endeavors. He officially left the company after nearly 50 years at the end of last year.

Disney said Sunday that Iger has agreed to serve as CEO for two years with “a mandate from the Board to set the strategic direction for renewed growth and to work closely with the Board in developing a successor to lead the Company at the completion of his term.”

Then he's become Chairman again so if the next guy tucks up he can jump back in. He's Putin at this point.