Disney has been looking to replace Bob Iger as CEO. Iger’s contracted to remain as CEO until December of 2026. This gives the company plenty of time to vet candidates before a decision needs to be made.
A lot of talk is purported to excuse the appointment of Bob Chapek as CEO in 2020, saying the board failed to vet him before the appointment. He was Iger’s personal pick to succeed him for the role.
Various news networks including Variety are promoting this idea. If true, this shows the internal division and lack of leadership currently steering The Walt Disney Company. Did they fail to vet the man who would lead the then 280 Billion Dollar company with around 203,000 employees and millions of shareholders?
If that is true they have grossly failed in their responsibilities to employees, fans and shareholders. Trying to justify failed leadership from Bob Chapek with a lack of leadership in appointing him does not send the message they hope it would.
The truth is Iger never retired. In an official capacity, Bob Iger remained the Executive Chairman and was the head of all creative decisions. Chapek was repeatedly undercut on major decisions that Iger took into his own hands.
According to the Times, Chapek was completely powerless at the company and his wife told him he was little more than Iger’s “lap dog”.
More likely than the board failing to vet Chapek, is Bob Iger used his influence and the loyalty of the board that he selected to appoint a successor he knew he could push around.
The Times reported that Iger had more than $100 million in stock options during the succession. He intended for Chapek to handle more of the mundane tasks while Iger maintained creative control.
Iger went so far as to keep his physical office for himself. The office was built for the former CEO Michael Eisner and had a vanity and a shower. According to people familiar with it, Iger lived for his “two shower days”. In the evenings when Iger headed out for a Disney premiere or awards show, he would have an evening shower to prepare.
Both Iger and Chapek agreed that Chapek wouldn’t need an office with a shower and he settled into a smaller office down the hall. Another sign of Iger maintaining his presence over Chapek at the head of the company.
Bob Iger has been consistently promoting and defending his DEI policies. Once Chapek took over it was business as usual. What confirmed that was the mess of legal battles between Disney and the State of Florida early in Chapek’s Tenure.
Some Disney Employees lobbied Chapek to denounce Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law that banned the teaching of sexual and gender identity for young elementary school kids.
The pressure from Chapek led Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis into a legislative fight with the company.
After almost 2 years of declines in stock price and customer sentiment towards Disney, the Board ousted Chapek and Brought Iger back in full force.
Since then, the Company has been the poster child of woke propaganda and Iger has waged an assault on parents who dare stand up for traditional family values.
They have repeatedly delayed the release of the live-action Snow White because of the backlash of public sentiment. Instead of addressing the concerns of the public, they make changes to the movie behind the scenes in an attempt to save the film from boycott.
Early on set photos of the remake showed a mess of characters of all shapes and races in place of the dwarves. The company denies the legitimacy of it but speculation is that the company added the dwarves in during the more than 1 year delay in its release.
There is a lot of anticipation from all sides for the remake of Snow White. The Walt Disney Company bears a heavy burden with this reimagining of Walt’s very first live-action animated movie.
Walt Disney was involved in every aspect of the original cartoon that came out in 1938 which could solidify just how far the company has strayed from Walt’s original vision.
The current leadership at Disney is desperate for you to believe that Bob Chapek is the cause of all the problems currently going on. But in 2 years Bob Iger has failed to fix public sentiment and reverse the decline in box office and Disney+ performance.
Bob Iger called his succession a “critical priority” and said that he is “obsessed” with finding his replacement.
Will the next CEO continue the destructive path that Disney is on? Will the leadership continue to ignore fans for the sake of promoting DEI?
We will continue to keep an eye on all things Disney.
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