News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[Dan Deesnee]

For the people thinking this move will lead to Iger jettisoning Genie+ and ILL and other revenue-generating parks changes -- you are dreaming. There is no reason Disney would ditch those revenue streams at a time when other segments of the company were piling up scary enough results that the CEO got fired.

I certainly understand the Chapek hate, but have some perspective and do not equate Iger being back to "everything I wanted to happen in the parks will happen now!"

Unless the board viewed, rightfully so, that Chapek was killing their golden goose...

Boards mostly exist to think mid to long term for the company. It's very clear from the official statements that they saw the direction Chapek was heading and knew that it was not good for the parks or their brand.

 

[Tha Realest]

I was just thinking about how the press release says two years and it's November 2022 now. What happens in November 2024?

Bob Iger wanted to be here to inaugurate Tiana's Bayou Adventure.

 

[Casper Gutman]

lol, farthest thing from it

He was a mediocre executive totally unequal to the role he was thrust into by the machinations of a cagey veteran CEO who had caused long term damage to the company and a panicky, confused board. He was set up as a fall guy, a patsy, a dupe, thrust into the firing line of the worst series of disasters to hit Disney in decades so an accomplished manipulator could save his personal reputation at the expense of a company he was supposed to guide. It’s almost a noir film storyline - Chapeks weak, incompetent, and unlikeable, but he’s the best of a bad lot.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Robinson's was a troubled production.

The Pixar acquisition happened near the end of it and Lasseter stepped in with his new company role to try helping punch it up but I think they knew that one was a bit of a lost cause.

Watching objectively, you can see how all over the place it really was.*

Two things I remember most vividly about my theater viewing of that one was the new Walt Disney Pictures intro and the way they kept hitting us over the head with the Walt line "... keep moving forward".

That last part, especially how it was used in the movie, felt like a message to the audience not to judge the future on the movie they had just seen, by that point, made by a different organization from the past.


*I'll admit I liked the Tom Selleck meta joke, though.

_

I really like "Meet the Robinson's". Not that it doesn't stumble in a few places, but it's quite enjoyable. I still cringe to think of what it would have been like without Lasseter's involvement.

 

[jpinkc]

Unless the board viewed, rightfully so, that Chapek was killing their golden goose...

Boards mostly exist to think mid to long term for the company. It's very clear from the official statements that they saw the direction Chapek was heading and knew that it was not good for the parks or their brand.

That would require foresight on the part of this board. Something they have not shown any ability to do. I would love to see any board of directors that understood what older Boards of Directors understood. Are we making Money? Bottomline are we making money and is it enough for continued growth and etc. Then we are good, we cant take in all the money, because then our customer has NONE!!! Which isnt good for long term.

 

[HauntedPirate]

He was a mediocre executive totally unequal to the role he was thrust into by the machinations of a cagey veteran CEO who had caused long term damage to the company and a panicky, confused board. He was set up as a fall guy, a patsy, a dupe, thrust into the firing line of the worst series of disasters to hit Disney in decades so an accomplished manipulator could save his personal reputation at the expense of a company he was supposed to guide. It’s almost a noir film storyline - Chapeks weak, incompetent, and unlikeable, but he’s the best of a bad lot.

Chapek is what happens when Iger pushed out everyone who could do the job far better than he could.

 

[FigmentFan82]

He was a mediocre executive totally unequal to the role he was thrust into by the machinations of a cagey veteran CEO who had caused long term damage to the company and a panicky, confused board. He was set up as a fall guy, a patsy, a dupe, thrust into the firing line of the worst series of disasters to hit Disney in decades so an accomplished manipulator could save his personal reputation at the expense of a company he was supposed to guide. It’s almost a noir film storyline - Chapeks weak, incompetent, and unlikeable, but he’s the best of a bad lot.

oh wow you've been diving into some rabbit holes i see

 

[Tha Realest]

I know this move was done to inspire confidence in Wall Street, but it really suggests some deep, deep problems that are maybe far worse than even us Disney fanatics realize or comprehend

Some chatter online is that there was some imminent announcement/decision lined up for this week and they needed to act fast (in confluence with the dreadful last week or so). If this urgency is correct, it would make sense that it’s a decision not easily walked back, and in the streaming realm. A sudden fire sale of ESPN? Some boneheaded decision re: the rest of the Hulu acquisition?

 

[Hakunamatata]

Purely an attempt to stabilize stock prices.

On a side note, what new IP is available to purchase?

 

[HauntedPirate]

If you want a poster child for what's wrong with the MBA-obsessed Disney, $lappie is your hands-down, slam-dunk, can't-miss #1 overall pick. No feel for anything. No idea what makes anything special. No charisma. All the charm of a piece of charcoal. No public speaking ability. Makes Bob "More Trees" Iger look creative by comparison.

 

[Dan Deesnee]

Marvel could use a tuneup. I wonder if Chapek's insistence on synergy was adding minutes to the movies--Black Panther 2 might be doing a bit better if there wasn't so much Disney+ content stuffed into the plot.

The MCU is dying. Compare box office numbers to 6 years ago. Costs to bake the movies is way up, revenue is way down. They've lost the script, there is no coherent big storyline tying anything together.

They own the Fantastic 4 and Xmen and have done next to nothing with them so this situation can be easily salvaged.

Expect a huge return to massive MCU box office numbers in a few years.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Purely an attempt to stabilize stock prices.

On a side note, what new IP is available to purchase?

"Disney will never be complete as long as there are other companies to purchase" - Anonymous former Disney CEO who recently was re-hired as CEO

 

[Chip Chipperson]

I wonder how much his performance during the last Quarterly Earnings Call spurred his ouster. Perhaps it was just the last straw. I just can't imagine that the Board or big investors were feeling confident in him after he said D+ is still expected to become profitable in 2024 "if there's not a recession next year." That's like a weather report calling for sunshine "as long as that hurricane off the coast does a 180 and heads back out to sea."

 

[Casper Gutman]

oh wow you've been diving into some rabbit holes i see

I’ve asked this before, but can you name one bad development for which Chapek bears sole or even primary responsibility?

 

[Laketravis]

I wonder how much his performance during the last Quarterly Earnings Call spurred his ouster. Perhaps it was just the last straw. I just can't imagine that the Board or big investors were feeling confident in him after he said D+ is still expected to become profitable in 2024 "if there's not a recession next year." That's like a weather report calling for sunshine "as long as that hurricane off the coast does a 180 and heads back out to sea."

The board doesn't take it's cues from earnings calls. Rest assured that whatever utterances are made during an earnings call, the board is already acutely aware of the background details minus the spin. Chapek may very well have already known the earnings call was his own eulogy.

Inside Bob Iger's return to Disney: A senior executive's outreach to the former chief followed months of complaints to the board about CEO Bob Chapek

Top Disney leaders told the company's board over the past few months that they were considering leaving the company if CEO Bob Chapek remained in the role. Now former chief Bob Iger has taken the reins again.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[CaptainAmerica]

The MCU is dying. Compare box office numbers to 6 years ago. Costs to bake the movies is way up, revenue is way down. They've lost the script, there is no coherent big storyline tying anything together.

They own the Fantastic 4 and Xmen and have done next to nothing with them so this situation can be easily salvaged.

Expect a huge return to massive MCU box office numbers in a few years.

They burned too brightly going into Endgame. Their megastars retired from the franchise before the new generation was ready to step into their shoes.

 

[phillip9698]

Yes, those are wins. Unfortunately she's done more harm than good. The current state of the franchise shows that. They have no directions for theatrical star wars. Whatever props she gets for ep7 is all undone with how terribly 8 and 9 were handled. Only 1 movie had a smooth production and that was 8. And we all know how that went. More productions have been scrapped than finished. It's been more bad than good in my opinion. Now is a good time to start fresh. They have nothing official coming to theaters, so they won't need to publicly cancel anything. But if Iger wouldn't do it then, I don't see it changing now.

Theatrical Star Wars is a mess, you are absolutely right. Its amazing that in an IP with limitless potential they have no idea how to pivot away from Skywalker and Palpatine. They twist themselves into knots trying to tie everything back to the original movies. Then they went and created an entire land in numerous parks around movies people dont like.

 

[HMF]

Chapek is what happens when Iger pushed out everyone who could do the job far better than he could.

Let's not pretend Staggs and Rasulo did not have their problems.

 

[The Colonel]

An empire is built from nothing by a visionary creator/businessman and is eventually driven into the ground by his dim-witted, ivy league educated sons with their fancy MBAs.

Maybe a bit too dramatic.

 

[PaulZ]

This song and video is what popped in my mind when I saw the news this morning.