Bob Iger's Retirement

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Original Poster

Disney Irish

Premium Member

He told the board he was leaving in Fall of 2019... so, no, he didn't run when COVID started.

There's no mention of ambassadorships or running for office.
I think the ship has sailed on his political career unless he wants to run for an office in California state politics.
 

Poseidon Quest

Well-Known Member
He told the board he was leaving in Fall of 2019... so, no, he didn't run when COVID started.

There's no mention of ambassadorships or running for office.

Then why did it take them by surprise?

We know that the spread of COVID was actively being covered up, and that well-connected CEOs of the Business Roundtable would likely have known about that information. It's not inconceivable that Iger chose to leave, knowing that he would get stuck in shoveling the company out of this mess, and nothing indicated that Chapek would take up the reins. It caught the board and shareholders by surprise.

I don't believe that Chapek was ever intended to become CEO, but has stepped into an interim role due to how quickly the situation escalated.
 

Lilofan

Well-Known Member

He told the board he was leaving in Fall of 2019... so, no, he didn't run when COVID started.

There's no mention of ambassadorships or running for office.
Iger just bought a home in Westlake Village, CA for $12.5M. Chapek used to live in the area.
 
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Poseidon Quest

Well-Known Member
He told the board he was leaving in Fall of 2019... so, no, he didn't run when COVID started.

But to do so unceremoniously and without a transition process that doesn't catch everyone off-guard, isn't the same thing as letting them know his intentions. His transition was abnormally abrupt. Perhaps he's a trendsetter in the corporate world, but I doubt it.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Original Poster
But to do so unceremoniously and without a transition process that doesn't catch everyone off-guard, isn't the same thing as letting them know his intentions. His transition was abnormally abrupt. Perhaps he's a trendsetter in the corporate world, but I doubt it.
Who was caught off guard? He's been planning to retire for years. He told the board in the Fall of 2019. It got announced later.

Are you friends with one of the board members who told you how surprised they were?

Stop buying into a fake narrative from people who aren't involved.
 

Mmoore29

Well-Known Member

I will say this much, I'll be happy to see Alan Horn leave. "Calm the waters" my foot. He's an arsonist who happens to be a firefighter who swoops in to take the credit for saving lives he himself put in danger. All the major controversies happened because of him and his leadership. And this isn't the first time. Remember the screwjob he did with New Line over The Golden Compass? He was the one who bet the most, and yet he let Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne take the fall.

I'll be happy to see Bergman in sole control, he's a company man through and through. If anything, he was needed to save Horn from himself.
 
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MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Original Poster

I will say this much, I'll be happy to see Alan Horn leave. "Calm the waters" my foot. He's an arsonist who happens to be a firefighter who swoops in to take the credit for saving lives he himself put in danger. All the major controversies happened because of him and his leadership. And this isn't the first time. Remember the screwjob he did with New Line over The Golden Compass? He was the one who bet the most, and yet he let Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne take the fall.

I'll be happy to see Bergman in sole control, he's a company man through and through. If anything, he was needed to save Horn from himself.
Can't push Horn out fast enough. He has repeatedly overseen adaptations of children's and YA books that have failed critically and financially. He clearly can't impose quality control on the live action films that the other studios have done. His bacon has barely been saved by the billion dollar remakes/franchises.
 

Mmoore29

Well-Known Member
Why does Iger consider Horn the best hire he's ever made? I simply don't get it. Horn is the epitome of failing upwards, more than any such thoughts (wrongly) were made of Michael Ovitz (it wasn't that Ovitz did a bad job at Disney, it's that he had NO job, and Eisner didn't specify anything, then gave him that overly rich severance.)

Either Bergman should have risen to that position right after Rich Ross was sacked; Dick Cook should've stayed; or someone like Meryl Poster should've been hired to take the studio chair. Or most preferably, all three, such as Cook with Bergman or Poster as right-hand, and the other as main assistant.
 

The Aracuan Bird

Well-Known Member
Why does Iger consider Horn the best hire he's ever made? I simply don't get it. Horn is the epitome of failing upwards, more than any such thoughts (wrongly) were made of Michael Ovitz (it wasn't that Ovitz did a bad job at Disney, it's that he had NO job, and Eisner didn't specify anything, then gave him that overly rich severance.)

Either Bergman should have risen to that position right after Rich Ross was sacked; Dick Cook should've stayed; or someone like Meryl Poster should've been hired to take the studio chair. Or most preferably, all three, such as Cook with Bergman or Poster as right-hand, and the other as main assistant.
I could be wrong, but wasn’t Horn really in Iger’s camp, more so than most other execs? Flattery can often cloud judgement.
Judging from what Chapek said during the call yesterday, we, as fans, were spoiled by Iger.
Chapek is Iger without a filter. The parody of Disney during the 2010s is becoming closer to a reality under his leadership. And I am totally here for it!

Why? Here’s why. The audience was receptive to Iger leadership despite some of the shrewder business practices. Without the filter, they aren’t receptive to it. We’ve been going steady to this point since the second half of Eisner. This could bring Disney to a low point. But when they’re down, they emerge better than ever. Chapek’s CEO tenure could result in the greatest thing to happen to company leadership since the failings of the 70s-early 80s management led to Eisner and Wells.
 

Magic Crush Drop

Active Member
I could be wrong, but wasn’t Horn really in Iger’s camp, more so than most other execs? Flattery can often cloud judgement.

Chapek is Iger without a filter. The parody of Disney during the 2010s is becoming closer to a reality under his leadership. And I am totally here for it!

Why? Here’s why. The audience was receptive to Iger leadership despite some of the shrewder business practices. Without the filter, they aren’t receptive to it. We’ve been going steady to this point since the second half of Eisner. This could bring Disney to a low point. But when they’re down, they emerge better than ever. Chapek’s CEO tenure could result in the greatest thing to happen to company leadership since the failings of the 70s-early 80s management led to Eisner and Wells.
But what if Disney goes to a very low point where they can't bring someone back or try to reinvent itself to where customers where are receptive to the change (and not just people on this forum)? ( I just wanted to see your logic here.)
 

The Aracuan Bird

Well-Known Member
But what if Disney goes to a very low point where they can't bring someone back or try to reinvent itself to where customers where are receptive to the change (and not just people on this forum)? ( I just wanted to see your logic here.)
Disney is a company with a history of ups and downs.
- Lost Oswald and animators. Created Mickey Mouse, who became a sensation.
- The War and the Strike nearly wiped the studio. They came back stronger than ever with Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Disneyland.
- Ended up directionless after Walt’s Death. Came back stronger than ever with Eisner and Wells, investing more in the parks and renaissance animated features.
- Blunders from the end of the Eisner era put the company in the pits. Iger’s acquisitions pulled them out, at least in the film department.

It is statistically unlikely that they will ever fall so far as to never recover. In the past, they had Wartime propaganda and the parks to keep them afloat. If we run into franchise fatigue, there are other franchises they can depend on until they get someone that pulls them out of the pits.

I don’t think it’s a guarantee that Chapek will put Disney in a new low. I don’t even think it’s likely. But if it happens, they have an opportunity to become stronger than ever. They change best when they need to.
 

Mmoore29

Well-Known Member
Well I don't think Chapek will bring Disney to that low, either. If anyone was going to, it would've been Horn. Again, see the New Line example.

BTW, just to be slightly off-topic, an alternate history timeline I did has a major thing about Disney being even bigger than it is, with all the double-edged sword effects you'd expect.

Some time ago, on the website alternatehistory.com, I helped work on an alternate history timeline called Cobain Continues Redone. As the title suggests, it is a timeline in which Kurt Cobain did not commit suicide (he doesn't even try heroin here), and shows the effects on the world at large, particularly in terms of politics and the entertainment industry, because of his still being around. For just a few basic ideas, here is essentially the major things to take away:

-Nirvana is still an ongoing, recording and performing concern as of today, and while the Foo Fighters never come into existence, Dave Grohl still expands to becoming a co-frontman and guitarist with Kurt and quite a number of Foos' songs become Nirvana songs.


-Kurt and Courtney eventually divorce, and Kurt remarries to actress Charlize Theron. As per family, Frances is followed by a son, Patrick, still with Courtney, twins named Edward and Olivia with Charlize, and they also adopt Charlize's OTL (Our Timeline) adopted daughters Jackson and August.


-In 1999, the couple decide to form their own entertainment company, Springbok Productions, a stand in for Charlize's OTL company Denver and Delilah Productions, which does that company's noted projects, and a lot of other ones in film, television, animation, and so on, both projects that already exist IOTL and ones that exist solely ITTL (In This Timeline). Springbok is a major entertainment conglomerate and one of the biggest forces in Hollywood.


-The music and entertainment industries embrace the digital revolution from the start in the '90s, rather than be dragged into it kicking and screaming. This means that record labels and artists start selling MP3s from the start, and instead of the likes of iTunes, every artist and label has their online stores to buy music. Blockbuster Video adopts Reed Hastings' strategy from the start, and makes him part of their company, meaning that Blockbuster is a viable and going concern as of this date. Instead of streaming wars, there is only Blockbuster Entertainment as the sole streaming service of non-ographic content, including original content. Much of the content of OTL's streamers still exists and is collected in one place, along with the library of movies and TV series.


-Harvey Weinstein is exposed early on, during the Oscar campaign for "Shakespeare In Love", which ensures the Best Picture Oscar winning going to "Saving Private Ryan" and bringing the world to an earlier, and much more nuanced and decisive reckoning with sexual misconduct. This includes early exposure and downfall for the likes of Kevin Spacey and Bryan Singer, among others; as well as preventing witch hunts of certain innocent figures who do not deserve their reputations ruined. (Scott Rudin still manages to hang in until 2021 simply because "he's not as bad as Harvey," until that reckoning comes.)


-Michael Eisner's tenure at Disney lasts until 2008, and does not end in infamy, because when making the merger with Capital Cities/ABC, Bob Iger takes on an important leadership role in the company from the start, taking the duties handled by the late Frank Wells, leaving Eisner to govern as he did prior to Wells' death, rather than the infamous micromanagement that did him in during our reality. Disney, as an admittedly double-edged sword, is thus even bigger than OTL, having made early acquisitions of Pixar and Lucasfilm in 1996, keeping the Touchstone Pictures imprint alive, having ABC pay dividends to Disney from the start, The Disney Channel's programming remain robust, and not selling acquisitions like Saban Entertainment or the distribution deal with Studio Ghibli. Disney also makes a purchase of 3000 additional acres for Walt Disney World, giving them the space to build five additional gates there. Cook and Meryl Poster are studio chairs, and still are as of this moment in time. Horn does not get to screw Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne, so they remain at New Line, which remains largely independent of WB, and Horn stays retired.


For more of an idea of what to see, here's the timeline in full as it appears on the site: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/cobain-continues-redone-a-kurt-cobain-survives-timeline.424961/


I've also made a repository for press clippings and articles in the world of this timeline at FictionPress: https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3352454/1/Cobain-Continues-Redux-Press-Clippings


An overview of Springbok's many projects through its history can be found at my profile on FictionPress: https://www.fictionpress.com/u/1149966/Toxic29


However, the work is not done. My original main collaborator and I at AlternateHistory, who goes by TheGuyWhoHeartsHistory there, are planning to make an expanded version of the timeline. We're also at work making a Wiki/Fandom database about the timeline: https://springbok.fandom.com/wiki/Springbok_Wiki
 
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Darkprime

Well-Known Member
Susan Arnold has been named Chairman of the board.

Looks like Chapek will be stuck as CEO.


Damn. Really is an end of an era. I thought Iger might put up more of a fight and try and stick around longer and give Chapek the boot after seeing what Chapek has done with the company over the past year but I guess he's probably had enough.
 

Slpy3270

Well-Known Member
Damn. Really is an end of an era. I thought Iger might put up more of a fight and try and stick around longer and give Chapek the boot after seeing what Chapek has done with the company over the past year but I guess he's probably had enough.
No. Iger meant it when he said he was done at the end of 2021. He's done everything he wanted at Disney and is going out with a high note.

At the very least, Chapek won't be Chairman AND CEO.
 

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