News The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors Extends Robert A. Iger’s Contract as CEO Through 2026

Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
Kamikaze said:
You can't find a candidate if none exist.

Who has the requisite experience to run as diverse and expansive company as TWDC?

We tried Chapek, everyone knows how that went.

The only real candidates have to be internal, and that takes years to move someone to various sectors of the company to train them about each area enough. This isn't the Eisner takeover where the company was much smaller (until he created most of what Iger built on top of) to make it this size.

You seem to confuse a smart business decision with the best possible scenario. What's the best possible scenario? Two people, one business and one creative, running TWDC. But Iger isn't going to share power at this point, and there's not a top level creative currently thats big enough to take over. They have three years now to get the right people in place.
Click to expand...
The truth and your recollection of exactly what has happened don’t quite “line up”
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
JoeCamel said:
So it's a given tight pants is on the block but the bigger question might be who will replace him and will they have the pull and desire to "fix" the parks....
Click to expand...
Sweater boy and his “philosophy” appear to detest the parks…at least the manner in which they were built and run that made them the gold standard no other operator ever used to sniff

The biggest winner today is Brian Roberts
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Sir_Cliff said:
This is kind of where I am. Who do you want to succeed him who is actually likely to succeed him at this point?

I also recognise this is a problem, however. Disney is a lot like a country that hasn't really found a viable mechanism for the transfer of power.
Click to expand...
We’re not the ones who’ve been paid millions of dollars, been given years and now even a mulligan to figure out the answer. This has supposedly been a top priority for years now and there’s nothing to show for it.
 
CaptainAmerica

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
Sirwalterraleigh said:
Very little doubt

He’s gonna get wrapped up in declining park numbers - with veiled references to chapek - and purged when the numbers hit…

It makes sense why he’s still around

I’ll go kreskin on this too: “major” reorganization will be rolled out under the cloud of abyssmal box office performance to at least one studio division…maybe two?

A couple of obvious guesses…
Click to expand...
They JUST did a major reorganization. Like... so recent that the people laid off in it still haven't received their final paychecks yet.
 
Br0ckford

Br0ckford

Premium Member
Long live the sweater
merlin_159858612_8974d449-0084-4184-a26a-8160aeff969e-mobileMasterAt3x.jpg
 
LSLS

LSLS

Well-Known Member
MisterPenguin said:
www.nytimes.com

Bob Iger to Remain as Head of Disney Through 2026

The 72-year-old chief executive previously said he planned to leave a the end of his contract in 2024.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com


Robert A. Iger has extended his reign at Disney through 2026, as finding an heir continues to be difficult and questions mount about the viability of the company’s vaunted movie studios and theme parks.​
​
The Walt Disney Company said on Wednesday that Mr. Iger, 72, will remain chief executive for two years beyond his previously announced re-retirement date. Mr. Iger reluctantly ended his first run at Disney in 2021, handing the company’s top job to Bob Chapek, a former theme park executive. Mr. Chapek was fired in November, and Mr. Iger made a triumphant return as chief executive.​
​
At the time, Disney said Mr. Iger had been asked “to set the strategic direction for renewed growth and to work closely with the board in developing a successor to lead the company at the completion of his term.” Mr. Iger repeatedly said that he would retire for good when his contract was up at the end of 2024.​
​
“My plan is to stay here for two years,” Mr. Iger told CNBC in November. “That was my agreement with the board, and that is my preference.”​
​
But many people in Hollywood were skeptical. During his first tenure as chief executive, from 2005 to 2020, Mr. Iger delayed his departure at least three times. (He continued as Disney’s executive chairman for a year after stepping down as chief executive.)​
“Because I want to ensure Disney is strongly positioned when my successor takes the helm, I have agreed to the board’s request to remain C.E.O. for an additional two years,” Mr. Iger said in a statement on Wednesday.​
​
“The importance of the succession process cannot be overstated," he added, “and as the board continues to evaluate a highly qualified slate of internal and external candidates, I remain intensely focused on a successful transition.”​
​
In the months since Mr. Iger has been back at Disney, he has moved quickly to cut costs — some $5.5 billion, in part by eliminating 7,000 jobs, including at Pixar and ESPN — and push Disney’s streaming operation toward profitability. He also won a proxy battle with the activist investor Nelson Peltz, one turning in part on Disney’s poor track record of succession planning. Mr. Peltz declined to comment on Wednesday.​
​
But a successor has yet to be identified. The board has been looking at candidates inside and outside the company, Disney has said. Mr. Iger brought a trio of executives with him to this week’s Allen & Company Sun Valley media conference, the annual “billionaires’ summer camp,” and all are viewed as succession possibilities: Dana Walden, a co-chairman of Disney Entertainment; her counterpart, Alan Bergman; and Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.​
​
A spokeswoman for Mr. Iger said he was unavailable for an interview.​
​
In recent months, as Disney’s troubles have increased, senior executives have privately pressed Mr. Iger to renew. In its statement on Wednesday, Disney took pains to point out that it was the board, not Mr. Iger, that pushed for an extension. Given his serial contract renewals, a narrative has formed in Hollywood, rightly or wrongly, that he is reluctant to step away from power. “The board determined it is in the best interest of shareholders to extend his tenure, and he has agreed to our request,” Mark G. Parker, chairman of the Disney board, said in the statement, adding that Mr. Iger had already “set Disney on the right strategic path for ongoing value creation.”​
​
Disney shares have been trading at about $90, down 3 percent from a year ago and 54 percent from their peak in March 2021. Following the news of Mr. Iger’s extension, shares remained largely flat in after-hours trading.​
​
The challenge is that, in addition to succession, Disney is dealing with problems on almost every front, including new questions about its movie studios, given disappointing results at the summer box office for “Elemental,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and, to a lesser extent, “The Little Mermaid.” Disney has been maneuvering to buy full control of Hulu, but such a purchase would be expensive, and Disney is loaded with roughly $45 billion in debt, partly because of the pandemic.​
​
In the meantime, Disney’s earnings engine for the last 30 years — traditional television, including ESPN — has become a shadow of its former self, the result of cord cutting, advertising weakness and rising sports programming costs. Mr. Iger is betting that streaming services will return the company to growth. But Disney+ has been shedding subscribers, and a broader streaming division remains unprofitable, losing nearly $2 billion since the start of the fiscal year.​
​
Disney is also contending with a lingering screenwriters’ strike; and contract negotiations between studios and SAG-AFTRA, the guild that represents about 160,000 actors, have been going poorly and could result in a strike as early as Thursday.​
​
Unlike most of its rival media conglomerates, Disney can rely on its theme park business for profit and growth — unless a recession hits. Lately, attendance at the company’s largest property, Disney World in Florida, has appeared to weaken as part of a broader decline in tourism to Florida. (Universal Studios has also seen softness, according to analysts.)​
​
Disney has been embroiled in a public standoff with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida over control of government services at Disney World. Dueling lawsuits are making their way through federal and state courts, and Mr. DeSantis has been harshly critical of Disney as a “woke” corporation while campaigning for president.​
​
In an email to employees on Wednesday, Mr. Iger acknowledged the company’s many challenges.​
​
“There is more to accomplish before this transformative work is complete, and I am committed to seeing this through,” he said. “As I’ve said many times since we began this important transformation of the company, our progress will not be linear as we continue navigating a difficult economic environment and the tectonic shifts occurring in our industry.”​
​
Brooks Barnes is a media and entertainment reporter, covering all things Hollywood. He joined The Times in 2007 as a business reporter focused primarily on the Walt Disney Company. He previously worked for The Wall Street Journal. More about Brooks Barnes​
Click to expand...

LOL, that is quite the piece. They lost me at saying it's all the board, then really lost me when it said the debt is cause of the pandemic.
 
Phicinfan

Phicinfan

Well-Known Member
wdwmagic said:
I think this is a smart move given everything that is going on. It makes no sense to bring someone in from the outside into a very complex restructuring, and there are no ideal internal candidates.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I had to double take, expected this from Disney, not this site....
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom