News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[ToTBellHop]

He will provide stability for the company, which it needs. Chapek’s impact on the overall business this year has been terrible and would certainly have impacted the parks. Hopefully Iger can right the ship before riding a dinghy into retirement.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I’ve wanted this since Chapek did away with Disney’s Magical Express. Never seen a man ruin a company as fast as Chapek did. Wecome Back Igor!!!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

What is the answer to those 2 issues with Star Wars? Again it is mindboggling how they bungler literally one of if not the worst biggest best and most popular IP…

Retheme is the logical move.

It was built to two awful new movie blocks that they flopped on before they ever got to the screen…

So you ingratiate yourself to what has carried your franchise since day one. So obvious…it could work

 

[Sir_Cliff]

You don’t remember 2008-2012?

That was darkest time for parks. Iger owned that.

Under Iger park ops were always the first thing cut. Go back through this forum detailing it all.

Chapek was terrible, but Iger was not much better.

There is something of a contest there, at least regarding WDW (at DLR, things got a lot rosier). By the end of Eisner's term, however, the best they could come up with as a new park was HKDL, which was a Magic Kingdom park without any of the major attractions but that at least looked nice. The other new stuff they were building (DCA and WDSP) didn't even look visually appealing. For all his supposed sensibility for the parks, Eisner was also perfectly happy to completely destroy their theming with giant novelty icons smack bang in the middle of the parks. Maintenance, particularly at Disneyland, also became embarrassing under Eisner. Admittedly, WDW seemed better managed... until Eisner promoted the head of DLR to head of Parks & Resorts. In general, Disney parks were kind of cheap and tacky by the end of Eisner's term.

Again, I agree that Iger is not the knight in shining armour that people hope he will be for the parks and he's not going to unwind a lot of the changes that were introduced under Chapek's watch. In part, as far as I know, because they were probably planned while Iger was CEO. I hold out a little bit of hope, however, that he reads the room a lot better than Chapek did on any issue that came before him and will at least make an effort not to actively antagonise guests. In this regard, I do think the aggressiveness of the changes under Chapek will slow down. I also hold out a little bit of hope that after his late-in-life realisation of the parks' potential to generate massive earnings that he might be a little less timid than Chapek would have been in expanding capacity.

We shall see.

 

[rioriz]

It's Christmas morning for us!!!

 

[networkpro]

I know this is not going to happen but Disney needs to totally gut the company from horrible movies and Disney Plus stuff to theme parks (the last good non-IP theme park ride was under Eisner).

Iger is Chapek but with a smile.

IMHO, you'll see most of the Chapek appointees be replaced, hopefully by business people and not idealogues.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I did some digging and have learned that the straw that broke the Board’s back was the beard. The second that loser walked out on stage looking like a back-up mall Santa, discussions began on how to remove the beard.

Should have shaved, Paycheck!

 

[LSLS]

"Unfavorable attendance mix" was not a tactical slip-up or a poor choice of words. Any CFO who had to explain that quarter's results would have been obligated to say the same thing. It's a financial term of art and I guarantee you there's nobody in the company or on the BoD who ding her for using it.

Eh, I think there were poor choices of words given the society we live in now (and how badly that went for Six Flags and their PR). No, I don't think the board thought much of it, nor do I think that is something that gets her fired. I'm just commenting that I think that word got out more than I think maybe you are giving credit for. Back in the day, this stuff would be stuck to a few message boards. But now, it ends up all over social media, with a lot of groups of people who might just casually follow Disney stuff cause it was suggested on their feeds.

 

[Trauma]

Ok I know I’m not the smartest, so someone explain this to me like I’m 8.

I get firing Chapek, that makes sense.

Why bring back they guy who started all these problems ?

 

[BobPar]

Retheme is the logical move.

It was built to two awful new movie blocks that they flopped on before they ever got to the screen…

So you ingratiate yourself to what has carried your franchise since day one. So obvious…it could work

I agree they used the wrong set of movies. Shouldhave stuck with the classics for sure. RISE would be tougher to retheme tho right? MfSR should be an easier fix? What about expanding the land cant it hold another ride or 2 and i dont know maybe take away Muppets and make that entire area SW by adding another proper ride/attraction and give Muppets the love they deserve elsewhere? Spitballing out loud here.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Ok I know I’m not the smartest, so someone explain this to me like I’m 8.

I get firing Chapek, that makes sense.

Why bring back they guy who started all these problems ?

They define "problems" differently than we do.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Ok I know I’m not the smartest, so someone explain this to me like I’m 8.

I get firing Chapek, that makes sense.

Why bring back they guy who started all these problems ?

Who else do you hire, effective immediately? Musk is already busy ruining a company.

 

[wdisney9000]

I'm looking forward to Bob Chapek getting photoshopped out of the TRON Lightcycle Run groundbreaking photo.

I haven't read all the comments yet, but this one wins. Bravo!

 

[Marriedatdisney]

Very happy to see Chapek removed.

While much of todays Disney poor performance was amplified by his decisions, it is the result of much longer poor planning. The parks are underinvested in maintenance, service and capacity…and no magical mixture of apps/technology can paper over it. The demand is vastly more than supply. The current strategy is like the Federal Reserve…. Destroy demand (and capture revenue) by simply raising prices. If they provided a great experience at a higher price, it would maybe be more reasonable. But it’s a worse experience at gouging prices, all the while trying to gaslight you into believing it’s great.

As for the real failure here…it lies with Iger and the board. They spent a decade building a succession plan for Iger. And they chased out a lot of executives….for Chapek? There was nothing he did as CEO that wasn’t known about him. Executives like that don’t change as CEO. so now we have two years for them to find the next one? I have little confidence it will have a different outcome with the same people involved.

So what does Iger do? Look for a massive acquisition. It’s the Hail Mary for execs. ‘Buy something’ to throw dust in the air and give them another pool of execs to comb thru and try to find someone they can anoint.

if I were Iger, I’d change the structure. “Disney” needs a Chief creative Officer. Someone that reports to the board. Almost at the ceo level but not. Someone responsible for experience and vision. Then a ceo that executes. Highly unorthodox but disney isn’t like other companies.

 

[HM Spectre]

Ok I know I’m not the smartest, so someone explain this to me like I’m 8.

I get firing Chapek, that makes sense.

Why bring back they guy who started all these problems ?

The board probably felt that they had no alternative.

Think of it like a system restore for a computer. You know there’s a problem, but don’t know how to fix it so you go back to the last working state and figure things out from there.

 

[dreday3]

Will this finally mean the end of all the Paycheck, Cheapek, whatever jokes that take over every thread?

THIS IS GLORIOUS!

(just my opinion, but I don't think Genie is going anywhere)

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

He will provide stability for the company, which it needs. Chapek’s impact on the overall business this year has been terrible and would certainly have impacted the parks. Hopefully Iger can right the ship before riding a dinghy into retirement.

Who am I kidding? This will allow him to simultaneously run to be the youthful candidate for President of the United States in 2024.

I agree they used the wrong set of movies. Shouldhave stuck with the classics for sure. RISE would be tougher to retheme tho right? MfSR should be an easier fix? What about expanding the land cant it hold another ride or 2 and i dont know maybe take away Muppets and make that entire area SW by adding another proper ride/attraction and give Muppets the love they deserve elsewhere? Spitballing out loud here.

I actually think it would be almost astoundingly simple them to do it.

They won’t…already not until a Gen Xer takes over at it might be too late then

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Ok I know I’m not the smartest, so someone explain this to me like I’m 8.

I get firing Chapek, that makes sense.

Why bring back they guy who started all these problems ?

Wall Street loved him and he’s good at Hollywood ego control

 

[chama1]

Wow...knew this was coming...hope this change will bring Disney back to what it use to be...maybe wishful thinking on my part....

 

[Sir_Cliff]

One thing that has been interesting in both Iger's initial ascent to CEO of Disney and this return has been a narrative promoted in the media about a decline in the standard of the parks. That narrative was part of the whole Save Disney movement that brought down Eisner and it has been curious to watch publications like WSJ pick it up and run with that narrative again recently when you'd think all they would really care about is whether the parks were making money.

Kind of curious to me whether this represents a PR playbook from Iger and/or whether the symbolism of Disney World is falling into ruin is just particularly powerful for those who want to push a new direction at the company in the public sphere.