News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[MrPromey]

Here's the full memo from Bob Iger -

Dear DMED Employees,

As we embark on the transformative work that I mentioned to you in my email last night, I want to begin by offering my sincere appreciation and gratitude to each and every one of you.

Over the coming weeks, we will begin implementing organizational and operating changes within the company. It is my intention to restructure things in a way that honors and respects creativity as the heart and soul of who we are. As you know, this is a time of enormous change and challenges in our industry, and our work will also focus on creating a more efficient and cost-effective structure.

I’ve asked Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro, and Christine McCarthy to work together on the design of a new structure that puts more decision-making back in the hands of our creative teams and rationalizes costs, and this will necessitate a reorganization of Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution. As a result, Kareem Daniel will be leaving the company, and I hope you will all join me in thanking him for his many years of service to Disney.

Our goal is to have the new structure in place in the coming months. Without question, elements of DMED will remain, but I fundamentally believe that storytelling is what fuels this company, and it belongs at the center of how we organize our businesses.

This is a moment of great change and opportunity for our company as we begin our second century, and I am so proud to be leading this team again. I can’t say it enough: I’m incredibly grateful for the tremendous work you do each day, and for your commitment to maintaining the level of excellence Disney has always been known for.

I know change can be unsettling, but it is also necessary and even energizing, and so I ask for your patience as we develop a roadmap for this restructuring. More information will be shared over the coming weeks. Until a new structure is put in place, we will continue to operate under our existing structure. In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, and thank you again for all you do.

Bob

Regarding the parks and policies around them, we may not be able to expect a lot but this gives me hope for the future of the company, at least.

To me, this announcement shows that the path of trying to extract more and more blood from an ever-withering corpse like they're being run by a private equity firm is being corrected.

I think he honestly believes these particular changes under Bob C were a huge mistake and I agree with him, completely - the fact that this was the focus of his announcement on day one, reflects that.

I don't know about the next two years but this gives me hope they'll be looking in the right direction for the next replacement, this time.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

"When someone shows you who they are the first time, believe them," Maya Angelou said. Ellen showed who she was when she came out, when she stood at the vigil for Matthew Shepard. She's never stopped showing us. I believe her.

I don't have any strong anti-Ellen feelings, I was just tickled by the notion of Iger standing up at his first press conference and announcing an ABC News Prime Time Special featuring Diane Sawyer interviewing Ellen Degeneres. That would have all the financial and entertainment reporters scratching their heads!

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

Here's the full memo from Bob Iger -

Dear DMED Employees,

As we embark on the transformative work that I mentioned to you in my email last night, I want to begin by offering my sincere appreciation and gratitude to each and every one of you.

Over the coming weeks, we will begin implementing organizational and operating changes within the company. It is my intention to restructure things in a way that honors and respects creativity as the heart and soul of who we are. As you know, this is a time of enormous change and challenges in our industry, and our work will also focus on creating a more efficient and cost-effective structure.

I’ve asked Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro, and Christine McCarthy to work together on the design of a new structure that puts more decision-making back in the hands of our creative teams and rationalizes costs, and this will necessitate a reorganization of Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution. As a result, Kareem Daniel will be leaving the company, and I hope you will all join me in thanking him for his many years of service to Disney.

Our goal is to have the new structure in place in the coming months. Without question, elements of DMED will remain, but I fundamentally believe that storytelling is what fuels this company, and it belongs at the center of how we organize our businesses.

This is a moment of great change and opportunity for our company as we begin our second century, and I am so proud to be leading this team again. I can’t say it enough: I’m incredibly grateful for the tremendous work you do each day, and for your commitment to maintaining the level of excellence Disney has always been known for.

I know change can be unsettling, but it is also necessary and even energizing, and so I ask for your patience as we develop a roadmap for this restructuring. More information will be shared over the coming weeks. Until a new structure is put in place, we will continue to operate under our existing structure. In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, and thank you again for all you do.

Bob

Of those listed Dana Walden is the likeliest successor.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Of those listed Dana Walden is the likeliest successor.

What are the odds that Dana Walden has ever set foot in a theme park?

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

What are the odds that Dana Walden has ever set foot in a theme park?

What are the odds the next CEO has theme park credentials or managerial experience?

The only one that with that experience before his term as CEO was Chapek.

 

[el_super]

What are the odds that Dana Walden has ever set foot in a theme park?

Yeah ... pretty sure Chapek has closed the door on anyone associated with parks being promoted to CEO.

 

[Mmoore29]

I don't have any strong anti-Ellen feelings, I was just tickled by the notion of Iger standing up at his first press conference and announcing an ABC News Prime Time Special featuring Diane Sawyer interviewing Ellen Degeneres. That would have all the financial and entertainment reporters scratching their heads!

There's no proof she knew about or facilitated or directly participated in the toxic workplace, especially given there's 500 people on that set, so she could be very well siloed off. Moreover the whole "she wasn't bubbly and happy and all smiles when the cameras were off" is incredibly weak justification to say she's a fake. So being focused on the job and making sure things are right makes you "mean" and "phony."

This doesn't turn Ellen into being like Krusty the Clown, not by a long shot. And the whole idea of "one little thing, one minor incident is enough to ruin the reputation of someone considered nice," this whole saint-or-sinner binary choice, is just absurd. People are people, complex and interesting. You can be business-oriented and still be nice and warmhearted. This is very possible.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

What are the odds that Dana Walden has ever set foot in a theme park?

According to Wiki she’s born and raised in LA and got her degree at USC, and she also has 2 kids, is it possible to live in LA (to a middle class or higher family) and not go to DL?

Yeah ... pretty sure Chapek has closed the door on anyone associated with parks being promoted to CEO.

After the Chapek nightmare that may be a good thing, who would have thought the parks guy would be the most money driven, least creative driven, CEO the company’s ever had?

 

[HauntedPirate]

I wouldn't really say that entirely.

View attachment 680014

Of this list, Soul, Luca, and Turning Red were huge successes. I still see Turning Red memes from the twitter crowd, that amounts to a lot. It seems that the 3 misses: TS4, Onward, and Lightyear were just such huge on how they missed that they overshadow how well the hits turned out. What Pixar needs to work on is more original stories, less Toy Story sequels, and less stories that feel like they were churned out from a machine (Onward, Lightyear).

'Turning Red' was a dumpster full of set ablaze. Awful, awful movie.

 

[Henry Mystic]

Not praising Jim Cramer in general, but he actually hit the nail head-on with Disney.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Here's the full memo from Bob Iger -

Dear DMED Employees,

As we embark on the transformative work that I mentioned to you in my email last night, I want to begin by offering my sincere appreciation and gratitude to each and every one of you.

Over the coming weeks, we will begin implementing organizational and operating changes within the company. It is my intention to restructure things in a way that honors and respects creativity as the heart and soul of who we are. As you know, this is a time of enormous change and challenges in our industry, and our work will also focus on creating a more efficient and cost-effective structure.

I’ve asked Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro, and Christine McCarthy to work together on the design of a new structure that puts more decision-making back in the hands of our creative teams and rationalizes costs, and this will necessitate a reorganization of Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution. As a result, Kareem Daniel will be leaving the company, and I hope you will all join me in thanking him for his many years of service to Disney.

Our goal is to have the new structure in place in the coming months. Without question, elements of DMED will remain, but I fundamentally believe that storytelling is what fuels this company, and it belongs at the center of how we organize our businesses.

This is a moment of great change and opportunity for our company as we begin our second century, and I am so proud to be leading this team again. I can’t say it enough: I’m incredibly grateful for the tremendous work you do each day, and for your commitment to maintaining the level of excellence Disney has always been known for.

I know change can be unsettling, but it is also necessary and even energizing, and so I ask for your patience as we develop a roadmap for this restructuring. More information will be shared over the coming weeks. Until a new structure is put in place, we will continue to operate under our existing structure. In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, and thank you again for all you do.

Bob

So very much what I brought up earlier. Putting budgetary power back in the hands of creative executives, which is something Chapek took away.

 

[HauntedPirate]

What are the odds the next CEO has theme park credentials or managerial experience?

The only one that with that experience before his term as CEO was Chapek.

$lappie had zero theme park experience. Just because he ran P&R doesn't mean he knew anything about them (which he didn't).

 

[CaptainAmerica]

'Turning Red' was a dumpster full of set ablaze. Awful, awful movie.

Apparently it really resonates if you're a Chinese-Canadian woman between the ages of 33 and 35.* They really went after the widest possible demographic.

(I'm obviously being sarcastic, but that was basically the entire source of good press for the movie. The way it captured the experience of Chinese-Canadian tweens in Toronto in the early-00s.)

 

[MrPromey]

What are the odds the next CEO has theme park credentials or managerial experience?

The only one that with that experience before his term as CEO was Chapek.

Yeah ... pretty sure Chapek has closed the door on anyone associated with parks being promoted to CEO.

And Chapek tried to ruin run the company the way he tried to ruin run the parks.

To me the takeaway is he should never have risen to a senior level of any kind within the organization.

Clearly, he was good at something but leading a creative or guest facing team wasn't it.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Time to cut some wood

 

[TalkingHead]

Bob Iger “paused” any further SW theatrical projects after the release of Ep 8 and SOLO, in April of 2019, a full nine months before Ep 9 was released. But go off.

‘Star Wars’: Disney Will ‘Take a Pause’ On Films After Release of ‘Episode IX’

Disney head Bob Iger says the film franchise will go on a bit of a hiatus after the December release. But what about the other films?

www.indiewire.com

And why have they not put any more SW features into production while they continue churning out a new Marvel feature every six months? Figure it out.

 

[MrPromey]

... After the Chapek nightmare that may be a good thing, who would have thought the parks guy would be the most money driven, least creative driven, CEO the company’s ever had?

Anyone paying attention to the parks while he was in charge of them.

 

[brb1006]

Kareem Daniel just left

Kareem Daniel Exits Disney As Bob Iger Sets Restructuring Of Media And Entertainment Distribution Division

Kareem Daniel is exiting Disney as head of its Media and Entertainment Distribution division, one day after the ouster of CEO Bob Chapek.

deadline.com

 

[Todd H]

Daniel is out.

 

[BuddyThomas]

'Turning Red' was a dumpster full of set ablaze. Awful, awful movie.

95% positive on Rotten Tomatoes- 276 verified critic reviews.