News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[DCBaker]

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

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Nice try, Ellen's publicist.

I would *love it* if Iger's first big announcement was that he had arranged for Diane Sawyer to interview Ellen so she could tell her side of the story. Oh, to watch the stock price crash!

 

[Slpy3270]

Per the SEC filing Chapek was terminated "without cause".

 

[teddiem]

Bye bye Dr Evil. You’ll have that much more time to tell everyone about that gigantic house you have now.

 

[el_super]

Iger is putting the band back together. Let the good times roll.

No word yet on any returning people. He's forming a committee to investigate the previous org changes of media content being separate from distribution. Which makes sense if you are going to pivot from focusing on Disney+.

 

[monothingie]

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.

1. While DMED wasn’t directly connected to Parks it did have influence in resource allocation.

Curious there was no mention of Josh…

2. These are the people who help the BOD show Chapek the door.

 

[el_super]

Also just read that Lake Nona was referenced specifically by the cabal as a reason Chapek had to go.

 

[MrPromey]

Bear hugs are not automatically creepy or harassment. He's just a friendly, lovable guy who got shafted and was not allowed to defend himself. I've always stood by to defend him, and it was a sad day for Disney to can him, against all evidence and brought forth by a hatchet job in THR.

Same reason I've stood by to defend Al Franken, James Franco, Aziz Ansari, Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, Paul Haggis and Marilyn Manson.

If reports are to be believed, it was a little more than bear hugs.

On a scale from awkward to monster, I'm not saying he was in the same league as Weinstein but it seems pretty clear he did engage in behavior that made female staff working beneath him uncomfortable and that's simply not acceptable.

Alcohol being involved and him not intending to be creepy doesn't excuse things.

Just the same, I can appreciate his work and accept that he did a lot of good for Disney while bringing a lot of happiness to children and their parents over the years while still being a flawed man.

The fallout with him may certainly be a case of the punishment being more than deserved but he was in a high enough position long enough to have known better and the fact that he apparently had "handlers" to try to steer him in the right direction on a regular basis certainly shows the problem he created for Disney and that they did make a good faith effort to help him stay on the straight and narrow.

I think a younger Lasater would have been embarrassed by "Luck", though. It feels like a reflection of how far he's fallen.

 

[BobPar]

Not to mention Iger would want to raise Disney stock to put more value in the hoard he already owns.

More cuts woohoo lol

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

No word yet on any returning people. He's forming a committee to investigate the previous org changes of media content being separate from distribution. Which makes sense if you are going to pivot from focusing on Disney+.

Or changing expectations for D+ to be a steady revenue stream rather than “the future of the company”, I never understood the concept of spending $30 Billion a year in new content to drive D+ growth, they’ve already got 200 million subscribers, even at $5 a month thats a billion a month, there’s no need to go billions into debt to grow D+, just spend $10 billion a year to keep subscribers happy and take your $2 billion profit.

One of the first things I’d do is push new movie release on D+ to 4 (or 6) months, get peoples butts back into the theater before using exclusivity to drive D+ growth, sacrificing box office for an extra month or 2 of D+ never made sense to me.

 

[BobPar]

If Iger wants to win back some theme park fans quickly, he can greenlight a great new version of Journey Into Imagination with both Figment and Dreamfinder. Then fix Epcot quickly.

& kill the Splash overlay refurb it and give Tiana her own ride…

 

[denyuntilcaught]

2. These are the people who help the BOD show Chapek the door.

Hence my note about McCarthy's off-putting statements not being accidental.

Iger is, at heart, a strategist. Amongst many things.

 

[Mmoore29]

I would *love it* if Iger's first big announcement was that he had arranged for Diane Sawyer to interview Ellen so she could tell her side of the story. Oh, to watch the stock price crash!

"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.

 

[mightynine]

Kareem's already out. Hope he didn't rack up a lot of long-term debt.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Curious there was no mention of Josh…

It was an email to DMED employees.

Not clear whether DPEP got something different or nothing at all.

 

[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!

 

[Tha Realest]

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?

 

[Tha Realest]

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.