News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[senor_jorge]

Because anyone who thinks this just started on Friday afternoon is the silliest of gooses.

No doubt. I wondered if someone had been whispering to Cramer when he called for Chapek to get the axe, but didn’t remotely expect anything this quickly.

 

[JohnD]

Chadwick Boseman was meant to be the centerpiece and you can't blame them for that part, at least.

Overall I hear the reviews were good. Not everyone can see it opening weekend. I'm seeing it tomorrow with others.

 

[The Colonel]

Aside from smoothing some ruffled feathers on Wall Street, I don't see anything good coming from this. Chapek was just a bumbling, oafish version of Iger. More of the same with less foot in mouth.

 

[Hitchens]

"STORYTELLING" is Disney's most overused marketing word.​

Yes, Iger was & will better than Chapek.

And even better than Eisner
AFTER Eisner's first ten years with the late Frank Wells (despite their leading the trend of overpaying American corp. leaders relative to other full-time American workers in their companies),
but Iger already got on my nerves during his first day back as CEO.

Exactly like Chapek (& like Iger himself soon before Chapek took his place), Iger wrote something yesterday about the primacy of storytelling.

Fine. But don't replace old fashioned, theme-appropriate candy from the candy store that fit better with a Main Street store 120 years ago,
and then say, "But now the Main Street candy shop has a back STOOOOORRRRRYYYYY!" Owwwwww, story!

And don't rip out the cool theme/time appropriate antique pre-cinema machines where you put in a coin then turn the handle to see movie images
just so there is more room on Main Street for overpriced things sold all over the resort, and then claim, "But we've come up with a story for this store now!!!

"
Story was a good title for Robert McKee's old seminar & book (made even more famous in "Adaptation" with Nicholas Cage, directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman), but I think every time Iger says "story" or "storytelling" it'll be time for a shot of tequila, whiskey, brandy or vodka.

THEME OVER STORY!!!! Hell, yeah I'm a theme guy!

 

[SpoiledBlueMilk]

Overall I hear the reviews were good. Not everyone can see it opening weekend. I'm seeing it tomorrow with others.

It's a serviceable movie. Nothing as captivating as the first one. Far too long.

 

[mightynine]

Bob Iger’s Disney challenge: Solve the problem he helped create

Disney and the rest of the media business chased Netflix with Wall Street’s approval. Now things are different.

www.vox.com

Some good thoughts about Iger, Round 2:

But the most important thing to understand about Iger’s return has less to do with Disney’s particulars than with the media industry in general: When Iger left Disney, everyone in media was trying to become Netflix — fast-growing, all-in on streaming, and willing to burn big piles of money to make it work — because that’s what Wall Street wanted them to become.

Now Wall Street has changed its mind. Which is why Disney stock — along with that of most big media companies, including Netflix — has plummeted. A share of Disney was worth nearly $200 in the spring of 2021; now it goes for half of that, and that’s after investors gave it a quick bump this morning after Iger’s return was announced.

“It’s a very different landscape than even 18 months ago,” an executive at one of Disney’s competitors texted to me. “Hopefully he can figure out the model. No one has yet.”

The new, theoretical model: Figure out how to create a streaming service people will pay for, but without burning a gazillion dollars — over the last nine months, Disney has lost more than $2.5 billion on streaming, and it lost another $1 billion a year earlier — while continuing to prop up existing businesses, like cable TV, that make a lot of money but are in permanent decline.

While Iger is rightly praised for three acquisitions he made that transformed the company — Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Marvel, all snapped up within a few years of each other — that’s no guarantee of future performance.

It’s quite reasonable, for instance, to argue that Iger dramatically overpaid for the Fox assets he acquired, which have yet to yield much benefit beyond removing a competitor. And Iger came very, very close to buying both Vice and Twitter — two moves that would have guaranteed enormous headaches and quite possibly real losses.

Welcome back, Bob! No pressure or anything!

ETA: Man, even Christine threw Chappie under the bus, according to CNBC:

The board’s outreach to Iger and discussion to replace Chapek came after the board married internal complaints about Chapek’s leadership with concerns following Disney’s most recent quarterly earnings report, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. One of the executives to express a lack of confidence in Chapek was Christine McCarthy, Disney’s chief financial officer, two of the people said.

McCarthy was Iger’s CFO before he departed as CEO in 2020. She has held the role since 2015. She has an established relationship with the board given her longevity in the position, the people said.

 

[Poly1974]

Remember folks. We have simply gone from worse back to bad.

You are correct Sir. Iger did serious damage to the parks and Chapek simply kept going in that direction and then some. I don't see any major changes at the parks as a result of this.

 

[JusticeDisney]

...and Im saying a great deal of Chapek's bad, was really Iger's bad.

So while I agree that anything over Chapek, the fact of the matter is that bringing Iger back is very much a doubling down on alot of the things that were ushered in on Chapek's watch. It's just going to be candy coated now.

Maybe. Maybe not. Time will tell.

 

[thomas998]

While the rest of the world also saw a 30% drop too... righhhhht

Industrial average dropped about 8%... so not sure what world you are looking at. Were you chasing Metaverse or something?

 

[thomas998]

You are correct Sir. Iger did serious damage to the parks and Chapek simply kept going in that direction and then some. I don't see any major changes at the parks as a result of this.

Maybe no changes... and maybe Iger will have reflected on what he did last time around and change some things. Being out of the role of CEO for a while gives him the opportunity to do things differently without admitting he was wrong the first time. Few CEOs would ever admit they were wrong while they were still CEOs sailing the same direction.

 

[JohnD]

It's a serviceable movie. Nothing as captivating as the first one. Far too long.

Of that I'm sure. Boseman, sadly, isn't in it. As for length, I believe it. Andor is also praised for being a great series. But I think you could have told the story in half the episodes.

 

[flynnibus]

I think the bigger question here is not Iger... but what on earth the board of directors want this company to be and go in the next 5 years? The Board are the ones that are the constant here... the ones that have said NO to one path.. so what is the path they want Iger and the successor they will pick to take? Do they even have a plan?

This type of rash move feels like either they don't and this is a panic move based on investor pressure. But where do they go from here?

If you're Iger, you gotta imagine he has to layout some immediate stabaliziation plans to address the different fronts
Investors
- Dump some stuff to fix some of this debt issue?
- D+ roadmap for the business
- Buybacks or promise dividends?
Studios
- Find your gems and put them on a pedestal
- (D+ vs theatrical topics? Probably too risky right now)
Parks Customers
- Come out with a AP plan that doesn't involve sales cutoffs
- Build sentiment for customer sat by reverting fixing a handful of recent changes.. like maybe park hopping or other lesser thing
- Build sentiment by cleaning up in-flight stuff and tighen up to splash finishes... like Tron, Splash Mountain, etc

I'm not sure investors will cut the stock and board any slack until they address what their go forward strategy is. They've basically said it's not Iger, so what is it, and get on that train quickly with a clear vision that extends BEYOND the name of someone you hire.

 

[Mmoore29]

Time certainly is the arbiter of fate. Remember, Roy and Stan Gold didn't think highly of Iger as a possible replacement for Eisner back in 2004, but he certainly exceeded their expectations in many respects. It could happen again, and Iger could find a really good successor this time around.

One things' for sure: with Chapek out of the picture, this means that David Zaslav's days at WBD are surely numbered.

 

[Disney Analyst]

It seems those inside the walls are thrilled about this.

Based on what I've been reading, it seems Chapek is a micromanager, who took budgetary power away from creative executives, as opposed to Iger who is more of a delegater, and allowed them to have budgetary power.

There's been a lot of discourse about D'amaro, but I was reading the D'amaro was very much against paid fastpass, until he no longer was able to be against it. That he was very constrained under Chapek, and had to keep a low profile and follow his lead.

Based on what I have been reading, Iger gave them room to make decisions themselves. So Chapek was able to have much more power as park lead, where as D'amaro had WAY less power under Chapek as park lead.

So now we see if Iger goes back to his way of leading, and how D'amaro works under that.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

This thread is moving really quickly but I have some honest questions to those that are happy about this..

Are you shareholder?
Do you think you're going to get back what was lost under Chapek?
Do you think the parks will see any benefit to this change?

Not a shareholder, question 2 depends on what we’re trying to get back, if you mean Magical Express, FP, etc I doubt it but if you mean a return of the beloved Disney brand I think the answer is yes, question 3 is also yes, it may only be better maintenance and happier CMs but that’s still a win.

What exactly did Iger do that was amazing?

DCA 2.0, Pandora, New Fantasyland, Galaxy’s Edge, Shanghai, HK DL 2.0, bought Marvel, bought Pixar, D+… was it enough for 20 years? Probably not, but every park improved under him. Can’t say the same for Chapeks 3 years.

Most importantly though… he maintained the respect for the Disney brand, the most valuable part of the Disney company is the Disney name, Chapek was tarnishing Walt’s company, Iger will stop that.

 

[Tha Realest]

It seems those inside the walls are thrilled about this.

Based on what I've been reading, it seems Chapek is a micromanager, who took budgetary power away from creative executives, as opposed to Iger who is more of a delegater, and allowed them to have budgetary power.

There's been a lot of discourse about D'amaro, but I was reading the D'amaro was very much against paid fastpass, until he no longer was able to be against it. That he was very constrained under Chapek, and had to keep a low profile and follow his lead.

Based on what I have been reading, Iger gave them room to make decisions themselves. So Chapek was able to have much more power as park lead, where as D'amaro had WAY less power under Chapek as park lead.

So now we see if Iger goes back to his way of leading, and how D'amaro works under that.

D'Amaro likely has an existing relationship with Iger.

This all leaves me wonder what role Kareem Daniel has going forward, especially given his close proximity to Chapek and the very person that micromanaged the budgetary power away from the other executives.

 

[jasminethecat]

It seems those inside the walls are thrilled about this.

Based on what I've been reading, it seems Chapek is a micromanager, who took budgetary power away from creative executives, as opposed to Iger who is more of a delegater, and allowed them to have budgetary power.

There's been a lot of discourse about D'amaro, but I was reading the D'amaro was very much against paid fastpass, until he no longer was able to be against it. That he was very constrained under Chapek, and had to keep a low profile and follow his lead.

Based on what I have been reading, Iger gave them room to make decisions themselves. So Chapek was able to have much more power as park lead, where as D'amaro had WAY less power under Chapek as park lead.

So now we see if Iger goes back to his way of leading, and how D'amaro works under that.

I don't think overall vacation prices will come down, but i would love it if they rolled genie+ revenue back into hotel/ticket prices and gave FP+ as a free reservation system another shot. Split it between advanced reservations and day-of reservations. They just need to limit the number of passes per hour better than before, from what i understand genie+ gives out fewer passes and the standby lines do move faster now than pre-covid.

 

[HMF]

DCA 2.0,

DCA 2.0 was indeed a success but that was messed up by DCA 3.0 which was also under Iger's watch.

Disney California Adventure

Failure, Success, and Back to Failure

vocal.media

 

[Disney Analyst]

D'Amaro likely has an existing relationship with Iger.

This all leaves me wonder what role Kareem Daniel has going forward, especially given his close proximity to Chapek and the very person that micromanaged the budgetary power away from the other executives.

And D'Amaro was VERY well liked when he was President of Disneyland, and then WDW under Iger.

I am curious to see what happens now that Chapek's restraints may be lifted off of him, I always got the sense he cared about the parks deeply, and the Cast Members.

Maybe he's just a charming showman though?

 

[flynnibus]

Industrial average dropped about 8%... so not sure what world you are looking at. Were you chasing Metaverse or something?

NASDAQ - YTD -26%
S&P - YTD -16%
WarnerBros - YTD -72%
Netflix YTD -48%
Comcast YTD -32%

You act like Disney tanked in a vacuum... during what is shaping up to be the next big recession and the larger markets have been brutalized all year.