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Yes, Bob Iger has been thinking about his retirement for a while. He’s been asked to stay by Disney for much longer than his initial contract limits were, and had signed multiple extensions. On the other hand, it does seem odd that on a random Tuesday afternoon at the end of February, Disney makes the announcement that Iger is stepping down as CEO effective immediately, and will be replaced by Bob Chapek. Chapek most recently served as chairman of Parks, Experiences, and Products – which means the creation of Galaxy’s Edge happened under his watch.
The unusual timing necessitated a hastily arranged call with Wall Street investors – one of whom sounded like he was calling in from a bar! – to ask what everyone wanted to know: Why now? And what does this mean for the future of Disney?
On today’s episode, I’m sharing Iger’s answers to these questions, and introducing you to Chapek. Punch it!
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Quite a few people seem to be disappointed with Bob Chapek’s being named CEO of Disney. I didn’t really know much about him until he was named as CEO.
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Thanks for the comment, Aldo! I’ve heard a lot about a guy named Kevin Mayer, who’s the head of their DTC division – meaning, in charge of Disney +. I guess the thought was, if that’s the most important part of the company’s long-term success, then that’s the guy you want in the top position.
But this article makes a really good case for why it was Chapek and not Mayer: https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/26/21153579/disney-ceo-bob-iger-chapek-mayer-streaming-succession-tim-cook-steve-jobs
The tl;dr is that 1) Chapek has more experience with the entire breadth of the company, which is important for a CEO; 2) They need Mayer to stay where he’s needed most, in this burgeoning new business line; and 3) they kept saying the strategy has been deployed already, so they just need someone to manage it, which is more Chapek’s skill set than Mayer, apparently.
It’s not sexy – and Wall Street certainly likes sexy – but it doesn’t have to be for them to keep being successful.