News Chapek FIRED, Iger New CEO

[Anteater]

Actually it had to be 3 years, if they only renewed him for one, even two, it is a sign to Wall Street they don't have long term faith and the stock drops even more. What will be interesting to watch the next few months AS the stock continues to drop, is who else gets fired by Chapek....and were they really a contender to replace him

Well, the Market has spoken... Dis is up $0.02. I'm sure Bob is relieved!

ETA: Of course, Dis was trading over $100 yesterday morning. So, his renewal stopped that slide. I'm SO GRATEFUL to the board!

 

[Ayla]

Well, I hope that Chapek can take this extension and all of the mistakes of the past 2-1/2 years to heart and learns from them.

I truly do wish him and the company success, as a fan and shareholder. I want it to be successful. I want Disney to do great things. But time will tell.

Perhaps a learning curve was necessary for Chapek. My hope is that they have been listening to constructive criticism and learning from their missteps.

Experience has told us they don't learn from missteps - they double down to make the customer's experience even worse.

 

[Incomudro]

Chapek can reap a lot of, or I should say - a lot more damage to the WDW parks in three years time.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Actually it had to be 3 years, if they only renewed him for one, even two, it is a sign to Wall Street they don't have long term faith and the stock drops even more. What will be interesting to watch the next few months AS the stock continues to drop, is who else gets fired by Chapek....and were they really a contender to replace him

Very true…I’m sure there’s “mutually advantageous” termination clauses in there too.

 

[monothingie]

1. Stock continues to crash…to at least the $50 range (that is actually the most plausible thing here on the list)

Thats a given, Netflix was the canary in the coal mine and if you think D+ is immune from streaming purge that's about to happen....well....
BTW anything good coming up lately from Disney? I mean they really showed how they well could run Pixar into the ground.

2.chapek is relieved and an outside search committee is formed.

If anyone thinks Chapek is untouchable for the next 3 years they're really hitting the pixie dust hard.

3. Arnold steps down/resigns. She proved to not be effective yesterday. The Iger people have to go too and she’s at the top of that list as well.

If Chapek goes, everyone slinks away with him.

4. New brain trust brought in…ideally a team of 1 techie and one Hollywood person on the rise.

Disney doesn't like outsiders and you know it.

5. Short of that…proxy fight or another staged unsolicited buyout attempt to start a proxy fight (Roy’s old trick)

Yawn. I guess it makes for a good CNBC clickbait article written by a 20 something year old wannabe.

 

[Communicora]

It might have been already linked, but this PR-driven piece about Kareem Daniels is worth a read. It painstakingly highlights his "EQ" and love of film to paper over some of Chapek's publicized gaps/flaws.

The Former Electrical Engineer Leading Disney’s Streaming Strategy (Published 2022)

Kareem Daniel has become one of the entertainment industry’s most powerful executives, exposing him to Hollywood’s slings and arrows.

www.nytimes.com

Archive link if you get the paywall

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Thats a given, Netflix was the canary in the coal mine and if you think D+ is immune from streaming purge that's about to happen....well....
BTW anything good coming up lately from Disney? I mean they really showed how they well could run Pixar into the ground.

If anyone thinks Chapek is untouchable for the next 3 years they're really hitting the pixie dust hard.

If Chapek goes, everyone slinks away with him.

Disney doesn't like outsiders and you know it.

Yawn. I guess it makes for a good CNBC clickbait article written by a 20 something year old wannabe.

Two things:

Disney has no INSIDERS at this point. So they may have no other options. Chapek isn’t a viable ceo…and there’s a steep drop off from there. Disney can’t sustain being run like Citibank or delta. Not possible.

And the buyout talk was only to remind it worked. Don’t think it could now. I would bore of that in 10 seconds as well.

Realistically…only 2 names out there even in the ballpark to do it and they both start with an “A”.

The best move for Disney longterm would be to be taken private. Haven’t doubted that for at least 20 years…but you know how far wishes get you…

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It might have been already linked, but this PR-driven piece about Kareem Daniels is worth a read. It painstakingly highlights his "EQ" and love of film to paper over some of Chapek's publicized gaps/flaws.

The Former Electrical Engineer Leading Disney’s Streaming Strategy (Published 2022)

Kareem Daniel has become one of the entertainment industry’s most powerful executives, exposing him to Hollywood’s slings and arrows.

www.nytimes.com

Archive link if you get the paywall

That’s who’s angling for the job Longterm

People talking about D’Amaro is like a kitten chasing a light

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The people and positions I have in mind don't require replacement, I want them eliminated.

Fair point

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Chapek can reap a lot of, or I should say - a lot more damage to the WDW parks in three years time.

Even if he does nothing…that’s an 8 year gap in park development/reinvestment the minute light cycle heads out of its lighting lane…in the US at least.

Wait…runaway railway in Anaheim…ok…I guess?

 

[monothingie]

Two things:

Disney has no INSIDERS at this point. So they may have no other options. Chapek isn’t a viable ceo…and there’s a steep drop off from there. Disney can’t sustain being run like Citibank or delta. Not possible.

And the buyout talk was only to remind it worked. Don’t think it could now. I would bore of that in 10 seconds as well.

Realistically…only 2 names out there even in the ballpark to do it and they both start with an “A”.

The best move for Disney longterm would be to be taken private. Haven’t doubted that for at least 20 years…but you know how far wishes get you…

Disney has shown that they don't care if a qualified person takes the helm. Hell thats how they wound up with Chapek. He's nothing more than a marketing guy who knew enough to just keep doing what Bob 1 had been doing....and perhaps keep the seat warm so Bob 1 could return if he got bored with whatever he had been doing.

Best bet for Disney is to split up and spin off the different segments. Let the parks stand on their own and not be the step child ATM which prints money for the rest of the company.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Disney can’t sustain being run like Citibank or delta. Not possible.

I'd take them being run like a FedEx or Home Depot.

The "Hollywood" brand is poison on Main Street right now. To right the ship, they need Chapek to be more Chapek-y. Chapek's biggest missteps have been when he's ignored some good instincts and tried to be Iger-lite. I want him to double down, tell his Imagineers to pack their bags for Florida, get the spoiled brats at Pixar to fall in line and keep their mouths shut, and refocus the company on what made it successful in the first place. Spoiler alert: It wasn't Baymax buying tampons.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Disney has shown that they don't care if a qualified person takes the helm. Hell thats how they wound up with Chapek. He's nothing more than a marketing guy who knew enough to just keep doing what Bob 1 had been doing....and perhaps keep the seat warm so Bob 1 could return if he got bored with whatever he had been doing.

Best bet for Disney is to split up and spin off the different segments. Let the parks stand on their own and not be the ******* step child ATM which prints money for the rest of the company.

This is 100% on Iger…who everyone lauded for 15 years and I warned on this And the “other” forum not to follow the piper into the woods.

A collapse and bailout of the stock would ultimately be on him.

Succession was not “optional”…you find the person and pay them ridiculous with your “liquid” billions to wait. What is so god damn hard about this concept for rich guys???

 

[GhostHost1000]

I'd take them being run like a FedEx or Home Depot.

The "Hollywood" brand is poison on Main Street right now. To right the ship, they need Chapek to be more Chapek-y. Chapek's biggest missteps have been when he's ignored some good instincts and tried to be Iger-lite. I want him to double down, tell his Imagineers to pack their bags for Florida, get the spoiled brats at Pixar to fall in line and keep their mouths shut, and refocus the company on what made it successful in the first place. Spoiler alert: It wasn't Baymax buying tampons.

This

 

[bryanfze55]

This is 100% on Iger…who everyone lauded for 15 years and I warned on this And the “other” forum not to follow the piper into the woods.

A collapse and bailout of the stock would ultimately be on him.

Succession was not “optional”…you find the person and pay them ridiculous with your “liquid” billions to wait. What is so god damn hard about this concept for rich guys???

It’s an ego thing for these guys, not a money issue. Didn’t Iger fire the guy who many saw as his successor - Tom Staggs? They don’t want the internal competition.

 

[UNCgolf]

That’s just not true. Iger invested so much into the parks. He fixed DCA, built New Fantasyland, Galaxies Edge, toy story land, Pandora, Fastpass+, Radiator Springs, and completely okayed to rebuild Epcot and Disney Springs. That’s not even all of it. He’s done amazing things for the parks

Most of which were replacements instead of additions, which is a big part of the problem.

Plus New Fantasyland didn't live up to expectations at all and Toy Story Land is awful. He was willing to spend money on the parks (eventually -- first he let them stagnate for nearly a decade), but most of it was not spent very well. Not that he was the one designing the projects, but he did have the IP mandate and can't be absolved of all blame.

 

[HauntedPirate]

DIS stock on Feb 21, 2020: $138.97
Today it opened at $95.90
Even without the hyper-inflated Covid stock pump, that's not good performance for a blue chip stock. Still no dividends. Free cash flow is weak. Multiple PR missteps. One of his brilliant ideas (G+) is getting **** on by consumers. Another of his visionary ideas, HARModious, gets lower GSAT than the previous 2 shows. Enchantment is widely panned.

But sure, give the crap peddler another 3 years. He's done such wonderful things to this point... The BoD is just as incompetent as $lappie.

VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Most of which were replacements instead of additions, which is a big part of the problem. Plus New Fantasyland didn't live up to expectations at all and Toy Story Land is awful.

I wasn't going to touch that one. It's just too easy to shoot holes in it...

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Most of which were replacements instead of additions, which is a big part of the problem.

I disagree. Walt Disney World has plenty to do to keep you busy for a week, which is how long most Americans take vacation. The questions is whether they have enough that people want to do. Many more people will ride Guardians than rode Ellen.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I disagree. Walt Disney World has plenty to do to keep you busy for a week, which is how long most Americans take vacation. The questions is whether they have enough that people want to do. Many more people will ride Guardians than rode Ellen.

Not sure if there are enough attractions people want to do by the looks of the massively LONG Lighting lane queue lines.