News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

Rteetz

Well-Known Member
If the CNBC report is accurate, the sheer impulsiveness of the BOD to just revert back to old and not even consider anyone else shows a bigger structural problem within corporate Disney. One that is only going to get worse now that Iger is back.
CNBC did say they looked internally. There isn’t anyone internally ready. I agree tho there are some structural problems. They need to come up with a plan.
 

Phicinfan

Well-Known Member
The board and Iger need to develop a serious succession plan this time.
Iger has 2 years. This is so Susan Arnold driven its sad. I have personal experience working under Susan Arnold, and I posted way back when, when the "board" posted its support of Iger and re-upped him this is deja vu for me and working for P&G.

Basically if you read the Disney release - the succession won't just be Iger, it clearly states he will work closely with the board to find the next successor. That is old P&G speak for we are using Iger as a shield as we start moving the pieces.

To me and this is only my opinion, this smacks of the BOD going to Iger and saying - You started this mess, especially with the Fox purchase, we will bring you back, YOU have to fix it, set the future and my gut says they are paying him tons to do so. Then he and board will pick the succession and work to get that person ready
 

SteamboatJoe

Well-Known Member
IMO content is king in streaming but its all about quality, not quantity. Casual viewers will flock to streaming services for that one can't miss cultural phenomenon of a show....Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, etc. Many leave after those runs are over but many don't. Disney is blessed with ability and resources to create a show of such quality but also with decades of a back catalogue of material they own to serve as filler material, some of which they haven't even made available yet.
I forgot to add that Disney+ is really at its best when they take the time and money to produce quality material that appeal to the loyalists of their respective fan bases (Disney history, parks, Star Wars, and Marvel). Streaming has made content that would otherwise not have been feasible under older models possible, or at least more common.
 

monothingie

Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
Premium Member
CNBC did say they looked internally. There isn’t anyone internally ready. I agree tho there are some structural problems. They need to come up with a plan.
If that's the case then this was quite the coup. The timeline presented by CNBC makes it seem like this all went down in a couple of hours. I'd find it hard to believe that they sacked Chapek without having a replacement on board. Unless they let Chapek know before hand to have his office cleaned out by Friday. Whatever it was, it's a good thing for the BOD that Iger said yes.
 

mwlillie

Member
So, you must wonder how to solve the current issues. Two to Three new E-tickets in each park in the next 2-3 years (to fight Universal expansions)? Return FastPass but make lightning link an option to go to the FastPass line immediately? Return Disney Express? Remove Park reservations? Bring back true Park Hopping? Remove parking fees at hotels? Free Dining packages? Meaningful Hotel discounts? Ticket promotions (2 for one maybe). Implementing all the above will not cost Disney much and will fix all the dreadful things of the last 10 years. I think that implementing three or more of the above will make Disney World able to keep profits up in the coming 18 to 36 months of recession. A fifth park would be easy just replicate Disney Seas?
 

Rteetz

Well-Known Member
If that's the case then this was quite the coup. The timeline presented by CNBC makes it seem like this all went down in a couple of hours. I'd find it hard to believe that they sacked Chapek without having a replacement on board. Unless they let Chapek know before hand to have his office cleaned out by Friday. Whatever it was, it's a good thing for the BOD that Iger said yes.
They most certainly floated this idea of a return to Iger prior to this weekend.
 

LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
Alphabet person here.
Another alphabet person here.

What’s happened to this thread boggles my mind. Much of it has been cleaned up, but not all, and the poster in question is still, it seems, at large.

LGBTQI posters shouldn’t be subjected to this sort of nonsense. No-one should. No reasonable person would come to a thread about Chapek’s removal and expect to find pages and pages of homophobic and transphobic vitriol. It’s disgusting and totally beyond the pale.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
So you have to wonder how to solve the current issues. Two to Three new E-tickets in each park in the next 2-3 years (to fight Universal expansions)? Return FastPass but make lightning link and option to go to the fastpass line immediately? Return Disney Express? Remove Park reservations? Bring back true Park Hopping? Remove parking fees at hotels? Free Dining packages? Meaningful Hotel discounts? Ticket promotions (2 for 1 maybe). Implementing all of the above won't cost Disney much and will fix all the bad things of the last 10 years. I think that implementing 3 or more of the above will make DisneyWorld able to keep profits up in the coming 18 to 36 months of recession.
Two of these are likely because there's a recession looming. Two of them are possible if the staff-to-guest ratios sort themselves out (either more staff, fewer guests, or both). The others aren't gonna happen.
 

mwlillie

Member
If that's the case then this was quite the coup. The timeline presented by CNBC makes it seem like this all went down in a couple of hours. I'd find it hard to believe that they sacked Chapek without having a replacement on board. Unless they let Chapek know before hand to have his office cleaned out by Friday. Whatever it was, it's a good thing for the BOD that Iger said yes.
You have to consider that Iger negoiations have been on-going for weeks if not months.
 

ctrlaltdel

Well-Known Member
While investors like optimizing money makers, they certainly need to see some large future investments as well to get excited about. Otherwise you live and die only on the quarterly results. Chapek clearly died with that last quarterly report. I think that ultimately the Board/investors saw there was nothing Chapek was looking at as a long-term strategy, just cost-cutting and price gouging to the limit on Disney's current big money maker: parks. But there is nothing in the pipeline there, nothing to keep investors engaged, it's all wait patiently for a few years before Disney+ supposedly turns a profit. Very perilous way to run a company whose main competitor in their actual moneymaking industry is seeing record profits and a massive theme park on the way.

With weakening demand in the parks evident and streaming's stock boost no longer a premium it was time to quickly cut the cord. Streaming-wise, Disney is in a solid position with the amount of subs, but they desperately need price increases (on the way) and cutting back content costs/shifting movies back to theatrical.

It's completely obvious, but Iger is miles better at the actual back room dealing than Chapek and is completely willing to make splashy purchases/investments to build excitement among investors. Think his priorities are likely:

1. Try to get theatrical/streaming mix back on track. The mix is off, and it is clear that too many movies that could be decent hits theatrically are going straight to D+, which has very little value add compared to a TV show.
2. Do everything he can to use his connections to get China back in the fold and repair that relationship.
3. Appease the parks fans with some rollbacks of Chapek-era initiatives (convinced the actual moneymaking stuff won't be cut like Genie, but park reservations will be axed, park hopping anytime will be reinstated, etc.) and announcing some big investments there to generate excitement both among fans and investors.
4. Look for another big potential purchase, could be another studio/streamer.
 

monothingie

Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
Premium Member
You have to consider that Iger negoiations have been on-going for weeks if not months.
If that were the case, they would have silenced Chapek and reduced his exposure weeks if not months ago.

This happened very quickly (for a company that moves as glacially as Disney this may have given some whiplash), I think the Q4 earnings fiasco was the lynch pin to trigger the change.
 

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