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.”

 

[Mr. Zed da Robot Poon Fed]

No you're not crazy, Disney just isn't releasing very many movies, and the ones they do release are mostly mediocre and would have been direct-to-video in an earlier era.
Here is a list of every single movie Disney released in 2022:
View attachment 3912612
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View attachment 3912618
Look at the sheer number of sequels and remakes. The only movies that aren't sequels are the documentaries (The Beatles, Polar Bears, and Rise), Turning Red (Pixar), Better Nate Than Ever (musical), and Strange World. Everything else is a sequel or remake. None of the original movies have broad appeal and Better Nate is the only live-action non-documentary new movie. It's no wonder they're losing money; Disney is a movie company that refuses to make new movies.

I like this.

View attachment 3914673

There's just no faith in Disney products now. Look at the Rotten Tomatoes consensus for Strange World, which will surely be a flop:

"Strange World is a Disney milestone in terms of representation -- but as a storytelling experience, this dazzlingly animated adventure offers little audiences haven't already seen."

This sums up perfectly everything wrong with Disney. Points for muh diversity and representation, but improvement on literally nothing else.

 

[Halmaz]

Star Wars has paid for itself already, and because of the same reasons Lucas made billions from it. Licensing.

I am not so sure about this.
Few can afford and/or have the will to buy 800$ SW Lego sets, which are nothing, but flimsy display pieces. Hasbro's Black Series and Vintage Collection lines are horribly overpriced and have tons of pegwarmers. Turns out SW fans are not interested in Nu-Wars characters and only buy OT and Clone Wars merch, maybe with some Mando on the side. Even the HasLab crowdfunding projects are lackluster and fail as a result.
In my experience, children are not that interested in the franchise anymore. Where I live, most toy stores only have a limited selection of basic bitch, cheapo SW toys on their shelves, which is unusual, cause these places used to be filled to the brim with all kinds of SW merch, back in the 90s and early 00s.
I think Star Wars is on its last legs. It sure feels like it.

 

[Jaimas]

A major problem with the house of mouse as a whole right now is that while some of it is ostensibly generating revenue, it's not generating much revenue. Certainly not enough to offset the complete collapse of its industry or combat years of enervation and fatigue. This last part is a direct consequence of its embrace of wokeness, which is, in turn, Iger's fault, though he'll punt blame along to his successor.

 

[SmugAutist]

Apple isn't buying Disney. For one, it's a recession and they're going to get hit especially bad now that China is on an economic downturn. All the other companies have either strated to bring manufacturing back to the US or to a country with a younger workforce than China like Mexico. The other reason is that Disney isn't just an entertainment company. They have real estate, hotels, cruises, etc. Things that Apple has no experience in nor are willing to take a risk on. Apple is more likely to buy something like Paramount or Columbia, not Universal or Disney.

Disney has been doing terrible with their IPs and their parks, but they're still doing fairly well in their biggest source of revenue, which is sports. All talk of them collapsing is nothing but rainbows. They've gotten through worse with less. That said, there's a lot of things that can make even the rat bleed. The CCP taking their Shanghai Park comes to mind.

 

[George Floyd Sneed]

I am not so sure about this.
Few can afford and/or have the will to buy 800$ SW Lego sets, which are nothing, but flimsy display pieces. Hasbro's Black Series and Vintage Collection lines are horribly overpriced and have tons of pegwarmers. Turns out SW fans are not interested in Nu-Wars characters and only buy OT and Clone Wars merch, maybe with some Mando on the side. Even the HasLab crowdfunding projects are lackluster and fail as a result.
In my experience, children are not that interested in the franchise anymore. Where I live, most toy stores only have a limited selection of basic bitch, cheapo SW toys on their shelves, which is unusual, cause these places used to be filled to the brim with all kinds of SW merch, back in the 90s and early 00s.
I think Star Wars is on its last legs. It sure feels like it.

I agree with this. There have been various stories that bitch about how toys are not selling like they used to and the shitty new trilogy not having memorable enough characters to sell toys for. Also the rights were bought for $4.05 billion and getting $4.06 billion in revenue doesn’t mean the purchase was a wild success either. That means it has to be $4.05 billion in net income just to break even. There are various cost of capital models that they factor in where there is the cost of Star Wars versus investing it elsewhere.

Chances are to keep Disney afloat and to have made it worth their while, Star Wars would have to bring in at least a couple billion in net income annually in perpetuity and there’s no way that’s happening right now. Chances are very good Star Wars has not come close to breaking even or meeting forecasts which is why the new trilogy that would be directed by the two Jews who were the show runners for Game of Thrones has been shelved. Disney loves milking IPs like this for all it’s worth but it’s like getting blood from a turnip at this point.

To bring it back around, the shitty trilogy bombed under Bob Iger’s watch. He is not going to be able to turn things around unless he starts selling unprofitable chunks of the company, which counters his past vision of growth for growth’s sake.

 

[Vyse Inglebard]

Strange World is a Disney milestone in terms of representation

News flash, dip-shit "critics": THAT'S THE FUCKING PROBLEM. Disney’s storymen nowadays focus so much on "diversity" and "representation" that they leave little room for....anything else, including the actual story. And you, by being Disney’s gay cheerleaders, are entirely to blame for it. Don't come complaining now that your rainbow colored chickens have come home to roost.

edit: grammar

 

[Duke Nukem]

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

Darth Syphilis ruined Star Wars, yes people, I know it's a ploy to sell overpriced plastic spaceships to your kids and to emotionally stunted manchildren, but to see what was once the biggest franchise in history annihilated in the space of a few years is kind of sad.

I loved the classic movies and video games growing up, and Star Wars without Darth Vader isn't fucking Star Wars.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

This sums up perfectly everything wrong with Disney. Points for muh diversity and representation, but improvement on literally nothing else.

"Diversity and representation" aka how to kill a good storyline to a movie or tv show.

 

[Duke Nukem]

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.

The people that run Disney now are very much real life Sith Lords, but without the Force.

"Diversity and representation" aka how to kill a good storyline to a movie or tv show.

That and inexplicably bringing back a dead villain from a franchise's better years just because you didn't have any better ideas. I know I'm lightsabering a dead youngling at this point but Force damnit all the bad decisions I've seen in Episodes VII-IX put the same level of disbelief in me that I imagine Obi-Wan had when he heard Anakin speak of "his new empire."

It seems oh so bad already, but it's only going to get worse from here.

 

[namelesstacotruck]

I agree with this. There have been various stories that bitch about how toys are not selling like they used to and the shitty new trilogy not having memorable enough characters to sell toys for. Also the rights were bought for $4.05 billion and getting $4.06 billion in revenue doesn’t mean the purchase was a wild success either. That means it has to be $4.05 billion in net income just to break even. There are various cost of capital models that they factor in where there is the cost of Star Wars versus investing it elsewhere.

Chances are to keep Disney afloat and to have made it worth their while, Star Wars would have to bring in at least a couple billion in net income annually in perpetuity and there’s no way that’s happening right now. Chances are very good Star Wars has not come close to breaking even or meeting forecasts which is why the new trilogy that would be directed by the two Jews who were the show runners for Game of Thrones has been shelved. Disney loves milking IPs like this for all it’s worth but it’s like getting blood from a turnip at this point.

To bring it back around, the shitty trilogy bombed under Bob Iger’s watch. He is not going to be able to turn things around unless he starts selling unprofitable chunks of the company, which counters his past vision of growth for growth’s sake.

Sell off what to who though? Everything good is attached to the hip to crap. They could try to rip Marvel and Avatar out of Fox and try to sell it. But who would buy? Disney has destroyed that organizations ability to make movies, any actual useful IPs Disney would try to keep. And who would even buy? Warner/HBO/Zazlav is dealing with the recent merger and is no position to acquire. Paramount is closer to being acquired vs doing acquiring.

Universal Comcast might. But why bail out an enemy who is flailing?

 

[tehpope]

Apple isn't buying Disney. For one, it's a recession and they're going to get hit especially bad now that China is on an economic downturn. All the other companies have either strated to bring manufacturing back to the US or to a country with a younger workforce than China like Mexico. The other reason is that Disney isn't just an entertainment company. They have real estate, hotels, cruises, etc. Things that Apple has no experience in nor are willing to take a risk on. Apple is more likely to buy something like Paramount or Columbia, not Universal or Disney.

Disney has been doing terrible with their IPs and their parks, but they're still doing fairly well in their biggest source of revenue, which is sports. All talk of them collapsing is nothing but rainbows. They've gotten through worse with less. That said, there's a lot of things that can make even the rat bleed. The CCP taking their Shanghai Park comes to mind.

Sony already owns Columbia. So no.
Also, last I heard ESPN lost them money too.

Sell off what to who though? Everything good is attached to the hip to crap. They could try to rip Marvel and Avatar out of Fox and try to sell it. But who would buy? Disney has destroyed that organizations ability to make movies, any actual useful IPs Disney would try to keep. And who would even buy? Warner/HBO/Zazlav is dealing with the recent merger and is no position to acquire. Paramount is closer to being acquired vs doing acquiring.

Universal Comcast might. But why bail out an enemy who is flailing?

Is Avatar owned by Disney? I assumed Jim Cameron owns it.

At this point, Disney would have to sink lower for them to sell anything off. With the recession, I doubt anyone will buy anything unless they can get it for cheap. Like 7 digits.

 

[kcbbq]

I agree with this. There have been various stories that bitch about how toys are not selling like they used to and the shitty new trilogy not having memorable enough characters to sell toys for. Also the rights were bought for $4.05 billion and getting $4.06 billion in revenue doesn’t mean the purchase was a wild success either. That means it has to be $4.05 billion in net income just to break even. There are various cost of capital models that they factor in where there is the cost of Star Wars versus investing it elsewhere.

Chances are to keep Disney afloat and to have made it worth their while, Star Wars would have to bring in at least a couple billion in net income annually in perpetuity and there’s no way that’s happening right now. Chances are very good Star Wars has not come close to breaking even or meeting forecasts which is why the new trilogy that would be directed by the two Jews who were the show runners for Game of Thrones has been shelved. Disney loves milking IPs like this for all it’s worth but it’s like getting blood from a turnip at this point.

To bring it back around, the shitty trilogy bombed under Bob Iger’s watch. He is not going to be able to turn things around unless he starts selling unprofitable chunks of the company, which counters his past vision of growth for growth’s sake.

Yes, selling so many baby yodas that they cover the entire planet was them losing money.

 

[TowinKarz]

I am not so sure about this.
Few can afford and/or have the will to buy 800$ SW Lego sets, which are nothing, but flimsy display pieces. Hasbro's Black Series and Vintage Collection lines are horribly overpriced and have tons of pegwarmers. Turns out SW fans are not interested in Nu-Wars characters and only buy OT and Clone Wars merch, maybe with some Mando on the side. Even the HasLab crowdfunding projects are lackluster and fail as a result.
In my experience, children are not that interested in the franchise anymore. Where I live, most toy stores only have a limited selection of basic bitch, cheapo SW toys on their shelves, which is unusual, cause these places used to be filled to the brim with all kinds of SW merch, back in the 90s and early 00s.
I think Star Wars is on its last legs. It sure feels like it.

Ollie's still has pegs and pegs worth of Disney Star Wars figures..... they didn't disappear off the shelves of Wal Mart and Target because people bought them, they gave up on clearing out that stock and sent it at heavy discount to clearance.

Yes, some Disney die-hards online say those pictures are photoshop.....

Yes, selling so many baby yodas that they cover the entire planet was them losing money.

For every Baby Yoda, there's 40,000 Admiral Dangerhairs...... the merch line is underperforming, at best.

 

[Tanner Glass]

I don't see Disney ever outright failing to the point where they'd be stripmined by other companies but I could see them downsizing most of their business to try and stay afloat.

Yeah - that. I can see Disney trying to spin off some of it's "uninteresting" lines of business.

Marvel would get spun down to some other comic book studio (

Yes, selling so many baby yodas that they cover the entire planet was them losing money.

You don't know what % of those sales Disney is getting of those sales though - they're just licensing the character out to some third party company. The Mandalorian TV show (and Book of Boba) also cost huge amounts of money to produce with no return so Baby Yoda merch sales are just a drop in the bucket comparitvely.

Star Wars made Lucas billions for sure - but I think the part that people sleep on is that in addition to toys/shirts/stickers/whatever - that Lucas Films had a game studio that pumped out like ten Star Wars games that were all fucking gigantic bangers (Battlefront, KOTOR, X-Wing/Tie Fighter, Jedi Knight, Rogue Squadron) that Lucas Films was making 100% of that profit for like a full decade or more.

Now the video game division is considered really bad - it's a gigantic line of revenue that Lucas had that Disney does not.

 

[SmugAutist]

For every Baby Yoda, there's 40,000 Admiral Dangerhairs...... the merch line is underperforming, at best.

It really tells you something when Disney will contact manufacturers to create millions of figures of Admiral Women's Studies, Marvel's Katie, and Action Black Girl #3345 but they didn't think to have Baby Yoda merch ready for the Mandalorian when it came out.

We used to have smart people.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

Ollie's still has pegs and pegs worth of Disney Star Wars figures..... they didn't disappear off the shelves of Wal Mart and Target because people bought them, they gave up on clearing out that stock and sent it at heavy discount to clearance.

Not to sound like I'm defending Star Wars or anything...but there have *always* been peg warmers when it comes to Star Wars and other action figure lines.

 

[namelesstacotruck]

Not to sound like I'm defending Star Wars or anything...but there have *always* been peg warmers when it comes to Star Wars and other action figure lines.

Not having Baby Yoda merch ready to go when Mandalorian dropped was malfeasance when it came to merch. There was a huge underground for bootleg merch because Disney had none ready to go.

Star Wars has probably paid for itself by now. But it wasnt picked up to be a franchise that made a reasonably tidy profit. And Disney spent more than just what they paid Lucas. They paid billions for the Disneyland and Disneyworld parks, and the hotel is a huge flop. When they do sell Star Wars, its stuff that is closer to Lucas's work than the sequel trilogy. And if the rumour Lucas gets a slice for his OT and Prequel work then its even less profit.

Anyone who thought they were gonna jettison the sequel trilogy after investing billions on it in theme parks alone was a retard though. That was the mother of sunk cost fallacies. They are trying to soft retheme Star Wars Disneyland to Mandalorian though. But with Iger i expect triple down in sequel trilogy. Expect to see Rians trilogy come out.

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

Not to sound like I'm defending Star Wars or anything...but there have *always* been peg warmers when it comes to Star Wars and other action figure lines.

But in the past, peg warmers were Prune Face or Nien Nubb or Jett Porkins or some other background extra. Now pegwarmers are leads like Rey and Finn.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

Star Wars has probably paid for itself by now. But it wasnt picked up to be a franchise that made a reasonably tidy profit. And Disney spent more than just what they paid Lucas. They paid billions for the Disneyland and Disneyworld parks, and the hotel is a huge flop.

Agreed.

Star Wars is becoming a money sink for Disney, but it isn't because they aren't selling every single action figure produced like World Class Bullshitter and other Fandom Menace fags like to cry about.

But in the past, peg warmers were Prune Face or Nien Nubb or Jett Porkins or some other background extra. Now pegwarmers are leads like Rey and Finn.

This has a lot more to do with toy trends than a lot of people want to believe. Without getting too autistic about it, toy companies are missing the forest for the trees in a similar way that comic book publishers started to in the late 80's and early 90's.

 

[Gar For Archer]

There are rumors circulating rn that Disney brought Bob Iger back in so they can sell the company to Apple.

Why Bob Iger’s Ultimate Power Move May Be Selling Disney to Apple

"This is the pinnacle deal for the ultimate dealmaker," one studio insider says

ca.sports.yahoo.com

I do think this would be extremely controversial and Apple would likely not go through with it. Apple switching businesses from just making computers and phones to making media and running theme parks would probably get them under attack from regulation companies.

The only way this happens is if Apple only acquires the movie division and rolls it under their Apple TV stuff. Antitrust regulations aside, I fail to see why Apple would even want everything else under Disney.