News Chapek FIRED, Iger New CEO

[Rteetz]

I just wondered if any of the Iger ideas were his own or someone came to him with the idea and he pursues and gets credit.

Iger and Jobs became friends. Those two pretty much worked on the Pixar deal. In Iger’s book he says he told Jobs that he had a crazy idea that maybe Disney should buy Pixar and Jobs said that’s not that crazy. At least that’s how the story has been told. Jobs certainly wasn’t selling to Eisner.

 

[HauntedPirate]

And Marvel

Disney’s relationship with Marvel wasn’t a mess in 2005.

 

[Touchdown]

Disney’s relationship with Marvel wasn’t a mess in 2005.

It was non existent, now it’s arguably the company’s most valuable IP having delivered a majority of the top ten grossing films of all time.

 

[HauntedPirate]

It was non existent, now it’s arguably the company’s most valuable IP having delivered a majority of the top ten grossing films of all time.

That’s not a mess left by Eisner. That was one of Iger’s acquisitions. Not the discussion point at all.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I just wondered if any of the Iger ideas were his own or someone came to him with the idea and he pursues and gets credit.

Iger and Jobs became friends. Those two pretty much worked on the Pixar deal. In Iger’s book he says he told Jobs that he had a crazy idea that maybe Disney should buy Pixar and Jobs said that’s not that crazy. At least that’s how the story has been told. Jobs certainly wasn’t selling to Eisner.

The idea that nobody else was really willing to work with Jobs‘ terms and that Disney needed Pixar for good content was well discussed in public before Iger switched from being persona non grata to Roy’s darling. Jobs announced he was looking for other partners in January 2004, two years before the acquisition was announced.

Pixar went public in 1995 and while Jobs retained just under 50% of the stock he still would have had to present an offer to the board and other shareholders. By 2005 he had already been diagnosed with the cancer that would kill him and Apple was well into work on his next big project, Project Purple which we know today as the iPhone.

If there is one thing Iger has been incredibly good at it is rewriting relatively recent history without question.

 

[el_super]

The CEO actually has someone to answer to beyond just shareholders in general.

Doesn't that just speak to the need for a board to be independent and diverse? There shouldn't be anything wrong with having the CEO as a voice on the board. I will admit though, that I am not at all familiar with how the Chairman title is utilized at Disney, whether it could just be perfunctory rather than holding any real power. Also worth pointing out though that unlike Eisner and Iger, I don't believe Chapek has been named Chairman ... yet.

You are right that the need for independence has been popular lately, but from what I have seen, that carries a different connotation than one Disney fans are likely to agree with. Investors want to seem BODs bring more outside influence into companies. Shake things up, keep them from maintaining the status quo. Examine outside possibilities for expansion or even examine selling off the company to other investors. Outside influence should be a major red flag to anyone who wants to see Disney survive as it's own independent company, something that both Eisner and Iger have been passionate about.

The board made it clear before, in Iger's previous attempts, that they wanted to consider an outsider to come in and helm the company. Someone from Facebook or Google maybe. Shareholders love to hear that, because they don't want to believe that corporate culture or history are important, and that companies can be bought or sold or traded like properties in Monopoly. Signing off on Chapek is a good sign that they are, for now, content to keep Disney as distinctively Disney.

 

[MisterPenguin]

FTFY. Pixar was the only “mess” he cleaned up.

And Marvel

Disney’s relationship with Marvel wasn’t a mess in 2005.

I'm not denying the things on the negative side of the ledger, but to his credit, he did fix the mess that popped up in Pixar. And he also fixed the mess that Disney Animation was in by having Pixar's model of quality control be applied to DAS.

And he eventually pushed out Perlmutter from Marvel rescuing the future of Marvel TV.

Tho, he has failed to put someone in charge of Disney Studios who can assure the same quality there.

And the pivot to Disney+ (and other streamers) as the future of home media is cementing Disney global dominance.

He has made the corporation a model global citizen except in one area: employee compensation.

 

[UNCgolf]

I think if you're a fan of Disney parks (especially WDW) Iger's tenure was a mixed bag at best and probably negative if you remember going more than 20 years ago. It's not like everything that happened while he was CEO was bad, but even some of the generally good stuff was not as good as it could have been. It feels like there were a lot of doubles that could have been home runs.

If you're just a general Disney shareholder, or care more about movies etc., Iger was quite successful.

 

[CastAStone]

He has made the corporation a model global citizen except in one area: employee compensation.

I think Iger - behind closed doors - would argue that he’s created a company that people want to work at so badly they’ll accept less money to do so, and that that IS a model.

 

[_caleb]

Get Josh D'Amaro a cardigan

 

[UNCgolf]

I think Iger - behind closed doors - would argue that he’s created a company that people want to work at so badly they’ll accept less money to do so, and that that IS a model.

I agree, although I think it's a stretch to give him the credit for creating that company.

 

[Robbiem]

I agree, although I think it's a stretch to give him the credit for creating that company.

Anyone who believes that about any company in the present day has been drinking too much magic coolade!

 

[Brer Oswald]

Why do people here dislike Iger? He’s done amazing things for the company. He cleaned up the big messes Eisner left

Maybe it’s because he took the company in a completely different direction that many don’t like? It’s fine if you do, but don’t act so surprised. The Disney company is very different than it was before his very long tenure, and that includes as much of the enjoyed things from Eisner’s era as it does the bad.

 

[Mac Tonight]

What is mediocrity, if not Chapek perservering?

 

[rk03221]

I think if you're a fan of Disney parks (especially WDW) Iger's tenure was a mixed bag at best and probably negative if you remember going more than 20 years ago. It's not like everything that happened while he was CEO was bad, but even some of the generally good stuff was not as good as it could have been. It feels like there were a lot of doubles that could have been home runs.

If you're just a general Disney shareholder, or care more about movies etc., Iger was quite successful.

New Fantasyland, Radiator springs, SWGE and Pandora, Festival of fantasy were all great additions to the Parks. He revamped/fixed DCA, Disneyland Paris and much of WDW. Epcot and HS are both getting much needed facelifts because of him. Disney Springs much better too. Art of Animation was another great addition. I could go on, but I’m confused as to why people think he didn’t do anything to the parks. The parks are much better because of him

 

[Brer Panther]

He revamped/fixed DCA

And now he's in the process of ruining it (coughcoughPixarPiercoughcough).

 

[pdude81]

I think if you're a fan of Disney parks (especially WDW) Iger's tenure was a mixed bag at best and probably negative if you remember going more than 20 years ago. It's not like everything that happened while he was CEO was bad, but even some of the generally good stuff was not as good as it could have been. It feels like there were a lot of doubles that could have been home runs.

If you're just a general Disney shareholder, or care more about movies etc., Iger was quite successful.

I agree with much of this. But I'll say that the content acquisitions and some of the "cheaping out" on parks we (including me) complain about lended itself to a company that could handle the devastating impact to parks revenue quite well. Iger/Chapek might not have been the leaders we wanted, but perhaps the ones we needed.

Well, up until now. At some point given the huge demand that's coming it'd be nice to finish or open ANYTHING

 

[_caleb]

Are there any parks-centric business leaders out there who might actually have a shot at stepping into leadership at Disney?

 

[el_super]

Are there any parks-centric business leaders out there who might actually have a shot at stepping into leadership at Disney?

Define what a parks-centric business leader would be. If you think it's someone who is going to spend recklessly on new attractions, then no, one does not exist.

 

[_caleb]

Define what a parks-centric business leader would be. If you think it's someone who is going to spend recklessly on new attractions, then no, one does not exist.

I mean someone who understands and loves the parks. Heck, I’d settle for “someone who has visited the parks” at this point!