News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[Captain Barbossa]

Iger wasnt the innocent bystander that left no fingerprints at the scene.

Thank you. I love how people are acting like Iger was always a perfect saint and that he never did anything wrong, and I’m lmao about it. Chapek learned how to up-charge and shoehorn IP into the parks from the person who groomed him to do so, and it wasn’t Michael Eisner. Iger isn’t some great hero sent from the ghost of Walt to save the company.

 

[JIMINYCR]

To get fired and leave with a $23M severance - my lips would be sealed.

Yeah... I wouldnt mind getting a cool $23M payout and sit back in ease while Iger cleans up the mess. Well played my man, well played.

 

[Rickcat96]

I am still done. Nothing Iger can do right now can fix my distaste for what these clowns have done to the brand. It's just no longer appealing.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Thank you. I love how people are acting like Iger was always a perfect saint and that he never did anything wrong, and I’m lmao about it. Chapek learned how to up-charge and shoehorn IP into the parks from the person who groomed him to do so, and it wasn’t Michael Eisner. Iger isn’t some great hero sent from the ghost of Walt to save the company.

Back then Eisner also made many blunders that set his downfall in place as well. And just like the present, Iger was in the right place to step into his shoes. Iger followed suit and started off fairly strong and then started to make mis steps. Then when the storm hit and he needed to bail, Chapek was conveniently there to step in. As they say... history repeats itself.
And all these guys miraculously keep getting richer and richer with their multi million $$ contracts with ending payouts they collect despite how theyve performed. Eisner, Iger, now Chepek made themselves buckets of money.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Not yet a full 180, but Eisner recognized that the parks were built around attractions and needed attractions. Iger’s response to the parks he inherited was to try and get rid of them. Dumping them seems a lot worse than slowly starting to fix them. He dramatically curbed that budding reinvest and then largely had to be forced by outside parties to actually do things like the Hong Kong Disneyland expansion and Disney’s California Adventure investment.

Eisner was showing the willingness to course correct and change. Why would that not apply to other areas? Is pumping out a bunch of streaming content really better than direct-to-video content? A bunch of needless remakes better than needless sequels?

Fair enough, I see what you're saying.

I guess my overall sentiment is that I understand being hard on Iger, but I really don't understand giving Eisner the benefit of the doubt. There were things about him that I preferred to Iger even at the end (for example, being willing to approve ambitious, original ideas for the parks), but overall the company seemed in terminal decline by the time he left and I find it hard to believe it would have avoided being swallowed up by a bigger company had he stayed much longer. I also feel that his respect for the brand is harder to read by the end. My personal impression is that he was far more willing to slap the Disney name on low-quality product to make a quick buck toward the end than Iger ever seemed to be.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Fair enough, I see what you're saying.

I guess my overall sentiment is that I understand being hard on Iger, but I really don't understand giving Eisner the benefit of the doubt. There were things about him that I preferred to Iger even at the end (for example, being willing to approve ambitious, original ideas for the parks), but overall the company seemed in terminal decline by the time he left and I find it hard to believe it would have avoided being swallowed up by a bigger company had he stayed much longer. I also feel that his respect for the brand is harder to read by the end. My personal impression is that he was far more willing to slap the Disney name on low-quality product to make a quick buck toward the end than Iger ever seemed to be.

Towards the end as it became apparent that Eisners end was nearing, he also made sure that on his way out he would be padding his bank account with a variety of payouts, stocks, incentives before and after he left the building.

 

[Br0ckford]

Thank you. I love how people are acting like Iger was always a perfect saint and that he never did anything wrong, and I’m lmao about it. Chapek learned how to up-charge and shoehorn IP into the parks from the person who groomed him to do so, and it wasn’t Michael Eisner. Iger isn’t some great hero sent from the ghost of Walt to save the company.

I think more for me its at least Iger romances before he has his way with you. Bob C answers the door with his whip and handcuffs.

 

[Tha Realest]

Whether it was Bob I, Bob II, certain policy changes, or a combination thereof, Disney’s reputation has taken a precipitous drop over the last year. To reduce qualms about their positions to a vocal minority (pro or against these changes) obscures this is a company brand in deep, deep trouble.

https://theharrispoll.com/partners/media/axios-harrispoll-100/

 

[lazyboy97o]

Fair enough, I see what you're saying.

I guess my overall sentiment is that I understand being hard on Iger, but I really don't understand giving Eisner the benefit of the doubt. There were things about him that I preferred to Iger even at the end (for example, being willing to approve ambitious, original ideas for the parks), but overall the company seemed in terminal decline by the time he left and I find it hard to believe it would have avoided being swallowed up by a bigger company had he stayed much longer. I also feel that his respect for the brand is harder to read by the end. My personal impression is that he was far more willing to slap the Disney name on low-quality product to make a quick buck toward the end than Iger ever seemed to be.

The reason I give Eisner the benefit of the doubt is that he was starting to make those changes in some areas, changes people now misattribute to Iger. You don’t get that at all with Iger. It’s always someone else’s fault (Chapek now) or he wasn’t involved (being COO). We don’t even get third party books about his tenure and leadership like we did with Eisner lest someone say something undesired.

Eisner successfully fended off Comcast’s hostile takeover attempt, and again, Iger want to sell off the parks as a near first order of business. He was absolutely fine with selling off visible, profitable parts of the company.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Or that they need to manufacture some dirty laundry to justify an incredibly unusual sequence of events that makes the company appear panicky and unstable.

One or the other.

Maybe, but I do think it is notable that I haven't seen anybody who has worked for the company past or present either defend Chapek or unhappy that he is being replaced by Iger. That suggests to me that, whatever Iger's flaws, Chapek was noticeably worse to work for and this isn't entirely a whisper campaign led by Iger.

 

[donaldtoo]

Thank you. I love how people are acting like Iger was always a perfect saint and that he never did anything wrong, and I’m lmao about it. Chapek learned how to up-charge and shoehorn IP into the parks from the person who groomed him to do so, and it wasn’t Michael Eisner. Iger isn’t some great hero sent from the ghost of Walt to save the company.

Yep, like I posted earlier in this thread…
Iger is a crafty little devil, and planned his moves to his advantage ahead of time, for sure.
Take a step back, set that clown Chapek up for certain failure, and now Iger is perceived (by himself, and many others) as the savior.
It’s real life, and better than any movie…!!!!!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This the traditional game after a personnel change - everything bad is shoveled up.and placed at the feet of the predecessor.

Chapek was only following through on the business transformation started under Iger. While Iger was still.behind the curtain as playing Snoke.

What still gets me, Why is the CEO of DIS serving as the face and champion of WDW & DL other than an ego stroke.by being able to play "Walt".

Is there not a President of P&R?? This is the person who should be the face of P&R.

It’s possible there no longer is a head of P&R…just saying

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Looking at just the parks, I understand your perspective.

For me, I've kind of written off the parks unless something changes.

I'm a fan of how they were which is why I'm still here right now - not holding my breath anything will improve but will be happy if something does.

It seems Iger's biggest mistake with the parks was putting Chapek in charge of them. I just don't think they held much attention in Iger's mind one way or another for most of his tenure except when he could use them for strategy like the move in China where the theme park was mostly a chess piece.

But stepping back from just the parks, to me, the work that Chapek was doing, was hollowing out the company and I expect that to stop with Iger back.

The reality is, this is chance for Iger to get a do-over on selecting his replacement.

Whoever it is, I expect it will be someone better than Chapek... and god help us, can you imagine if Chapek were to have been around long enough to help select his own replacement?

Which is a fair assessment. Things may have gone exactly as they did. I'm just pointing out why I imagine some people are perhaps more optimistic than the average poster here. Also, it's just generally more pleasant working for someone who has a modicum of emotional intelligence.

I feel very much this way.

On here, understandably, people seem to think of Disney just in terms of the parks and evaluate the CEO on their perception of how the parks are being managed. The company is far more than that, though, and I find it hard to argue that Iger wasn't overall a positive in setting up Disney for the future in a way where it was to be one of if not the major player in the entertainment industry rather than a target for being swallowed up by another company that wanted to strip-mine its IP for their own ventures. Even this notion that he just acquired other IPs seems off to me, as if it were that simple every CEO of a major company would be doing that. The things Iger acquired (Pixar, Marvel, & Star Wars) with the possible exception of Fox were good fits for Disney that ultimately strengthened the company. I kind of scratch my head when people dismiss all of that and focus on the death of Touchstone Pictures.

I also feel very strongly that Iger's possession of at least some EQ, empathy, or whatever you want to call it counts for something. Iger seemed to at least realise he was dealing with human beings, both in terms of talent and customers. In that respect, the extreme turbocharging of nickle-and-diming with no regard for how it looks or feels for the customer under Chapek is probably at least less likely to happen under Iger. One thing Iger was good at unlike Chapek was attracting and keeping talent, which is overall a bonus for the company.

In sum, I find all this reflexive negativity suggesting Iger is just as bad as Chapek and things will be no better under him a little too gloomy. He's certainly not the saviour of the parks and doesn't seem to really care that much about them, but Chapek was objectively terrible in a way at least I don't think Iger was when you look at the company as a whole.

 

[Tha Realest]

It’s possible there no longer is a head of P&R…just saying

…?

He hasn’t posted on Instagram since Nov 11, no sappy “I’m thankful for all the Parks CMs working today around the world,” nothing about Shanghai reopening…

 

[John]

He may be the next domino to fall...........not that he deserves it. You need as many 'scape goats as possible.

…?

He hasn’t posted on Instagram since Nov 11, no sappy “I’m thankful for all the Parks CMs working today around the world,” nothing about Shanghai reopening…

 

[fgmnt]

Yikes... This is cringe people!!
View attachment 680618

I get it; this is how I would feel if I came on here to see a new thread from WDW1974/spirit.

It’s possible there no longer is a head of P&R…just saying

That would be pretty shocking.

 

[Captain Barbossa]

So what’s the chance of D’Amaro getting promoted instead of Disney going outside of the company?

 

[Sir_Cliff]

The reason I give Eisner the benefit of the doubt is that he was starting to make those changes in some areas, changes people now misattribute to Iger. You don’t get that at all with Iger. It’s always someone else’s fault (Chapek now) or he wasn’t involved (being COO). We don’t even get third party books about his tenure and leadership like we did with Eisner lest someone say something undesired.

Eisner successfully fended off Comcast’s hostile takeover attempt, and again, Iger want to sell off the parks as a near first order of business. He was absolutely fine with selling off visible, profitable parts of the company.

I really didn't get the impression Eisner was at all agile in adjusting to the challenges Disney was facing toward the end. He seemed to struggle even with simple things like realising that DVDs were replacing VHS. I appreciate your perspective, but comparing Iger's term to Eisner's last 5-10 years, I find it hard to reach the same conclusion that Iger was on some kind of autopilot building on the positive changes instituted by Eisner... except for all the bad stuff, which was mostly Iger's doing.

The fact that Disney was a target for a takeover by Comcast tells you where Disney was at toward the end of Eisner's tenure. I'm sure Iger did consider selling off the parks, but he didn't do it. So, I find it hard to blame Iger for selling off the parks when it never happened.

I must be coming off as a huge Iger defender here when I really don't have particularly warm and fuzzy feelings about him. I just feel like a lot of the interpretations being offered of certain things don't match up with what I have seen following Disney over the years.

 

[Dan Deesnee]

What's with the massive amount of "news" articles I'm seeing about Iger selling Disney to Apple?

Talk about killing the soul of Disney...

 

[Lilofan]

What's with the massive amount of "news" articles I'm seeing about Iger selling Disney to Apple?

Talk about killing the soul of Disney...

11/28 Company town hall with Iger to discuss the future of TWDC.