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

[flynnibus]

When Bob came back succession was a top priority. Almost 2 years later and they’re allegedly just getting started? If you think Bob isn’t positioned to extend his contract in perpetuity then I got a castle in Anaheim to sell you.

It was a known issue - but wasn't the top pressing matter... which is why they extended his contract last year while they dealt with THE MOST PRESSING topics now. Organization, expenses, D+, the ESPN question, the Strikes, etc. Which over the last year they have been implementing and now with that in place, they can move onto the next piece.. like succession.

They were dealing with the fires and resetting the table... working out the exit plan for the guy you just brought back to fix those things ASAP isn't the right order of operations.

Now with the table set, they more breathing room to deal with taking the company forward... executing on the media transition, setting up growth, and setting up leadership's future.

 

[monothingie]

View attachment 777005

Yup... everything is still dark down here!

Read the CNBC article.

The board has now been given the greenlight to proceed with its search process.

That’s not 2022, that’s 2024.

 

[monothingie]

It was a known issue - but wasn't the top pressing matter... which is why they extended his contract last year while they dealt with THE MOST PRESSING topics now. Organization, expenses, D+, the ESPN question, the Strikes, etc. Which over the last year they have been implementing and now with that in place, they can move onto the next piece.. like succession.

They were dealing with the fires and resetting the table... working out the exit plan for the guy you just brought back to fix those things ASAP isn't the right order of operations.

Now with the table set, they more breathing room to deal with taking the company forward... executing on the media transition, setting up growth, and setting up leadership's future.

Who started those fires? It certainly wasn’t Chapek. Now they called the arsonist back to help put out the fire?

There was no realization in 2022 when they clubbed Chapek that the real problems hadn’t even metastasized yet. It was more about getting the Neanderthal from products and parks out because he was embarrassing the company.

No one had any idea it would get so bad in 2023 and 2024.

 

[TalkingHead]

He says in the interview they started working on succession plans the day he got back. Ok, then the two year extension was just a cherry on top? He had no answer to when or how long a transition period would last. Probably because he’s not thinking about it since he has *two and a half* more years. Or maybe more. I still like the theory that he wouldn't mind being the final CEO of Disney.

 

[monothingie]

For the matter of fending off Peltz, it isn't.

Proxy war 2023/2024 is the only reason why the stock is up.

They have their internal candidates. When Iger came back there were no internal candidates.

Who? Do any of the current c suite occupants really have the capability to run Disney?

 

[flynnibus]

He says in the interview they started working on succession plans the day he got back. Ok, then the two year extension was just a cherry on top? He had no answer to when or how long a transition period would last. Probably because he’s not thinking about it since he has *two and a half* more years. Or maybe more. I still like the theory that he wouldn't mind being the final CEO of Disney.

Why would you box yourself in when you don't even know the scenario?

Hi, please tell me how long it will take to train your replacement... No I won't tell you who they are, or their capabilities.. but I'm going to expect you to tell me exactly how long this process should be so I can hold it against you later.

Why would you answer that?

 

[monothingie]

Yup, Iger started the strikes. Iger created AI. Iger made analysts focus on profitability over subs. Iger invented cord cutting. Iger single handedly changed how the world evolved from 2020 to 2023 and no one should have any reason to believe THINGS CHANGED. You've nailed it. Send Peltz your resume already... he can put you up instead of JR.

None of that caused almost every single thing Disney released in 2023 to loose a lot of money, or caused their domestic theme parks to have lower attendance, or to have Disneys public perception drop significantly.

 

[peng]

Who started those fires? It certainly wasn’t Chapek. Now they called the arsonist back to help put out the fire?

There was no realization in 2022 when they clubbed Chapek that the real problems hadn’t even metastasized yet. It was more about getting the Neanderthal from products and parks out because he was embarrassing the company.

No one had any idea it would get so bad in 2023 and 2024.

Other reason is that DIsney assume that people would have the same tastes that they did in 2019 forever, 2023 proved that it wasn't the case. Add to that wall street wants the streamers to be profitable. Wall Street is also a bit impatient about bob choosing a successor and while they're seemingly trialing D'Amaro and Walden as his replacement, normal people view the parks as overpriced time wasters and the disney brand is more associated with low quality films because of said assuming 2019 would last forever.

 

[flynnibus]

None of that caused almost every single thing Disney released in 2023 to loose a lot of money, or caused their domestic theme parks to have lower attendance, or to have Disneys public perception drop significantly.

But you think Iger returning in Nov 2022 did... got it.

Meanwhile... those were all the pressing matters management WERE dealing with and prioritized. But poor fanbois still had to face Iger having his office... oh the humanity.

Meanwhile, all the points you bring up the company is putting actions towards. So... maybe their focus was correct? Because how would have naming a successor in 2023 fixed any of those things for 2023? That's right, they wouldn't have.

Moving along...

 

[Eric Graham]

Pretty introspective interviews on CNBC this morning. It was kind of a battle royale...first they interviewed Iger and then Peltz later in the hour. It is always interesting to me when they interview Iger how they never get to Parks and Creative (the movie etc side of the biz) everytime they interview him. Maybe they should focus on those aspects of the company first and foremost...That was my take on the interviews. If you'd like, you can view them on CNBC.

 

[Dranth]

You forgot to mention Netflix up 280% from its low in 2022.

You were talking about how far off their highs they were so I pointed out the other studios were having the EXACT same problem because it is an industry problem, not a Disney problem. If you want to include Netflix fine but they are also still off their highs in 2021.

You also switched from how far off their highs to how far they have come up from their lows. Okay, you say Netflix is up 280%, sure, that looks about right so I'll take your word on that one. Meanwhile, Disney is up 51% from it's low, Comcast is up 42% and Sony is up 34%. Everyone else is worse.

So, if you include Netflix, Disney is the second-best company stock wise since the Covid fueled made rush of investment and subsequent collapse in the industry.

Comcast was largely hurt by its telecom business, so I’m not sure that’s a valid comparison because you can’t break out NBC Universal from that. Similarly for Amazon and Apple. Paramount and WB are valid comparisons, but their trend lines were always negative even before the pandemic streaming bubble.

Wait, so Netflix is a valid comparison even though the ONLY area it competes with Disney is streaming but Comcast who shares streaming, theme parks, TV and movie studios, TV channels and sports is not a valid comparison? Also, you fail to mention that they have a built-in utility people can't live without these days that comprises a MASSIVE chunk of their yearly income, Disney does not have that yet still did better.

If you look at the broader market averages for comparison Dis still underperforms even though it is supposed to be the best positioned with talent, IP, and org to outperform its competitors. That shouldn’t happen.

The point was the entire sector was punished and underperformed the broader market and of those, Disney fared better than nearly all of them. Saying it shouldn't happen is ignoring how markets actually work. If it had just been Disney than sure, but it wasn't. It was all of them.

 

[Kamikaze]

Proxy war 2023/2024 is the only reason why the stock is up.

PPOR

Who? Do any of the current c suite occupants really have the capability to run Disney?

Walden
Bergman
Pitaro
D'Amaro

It's going to be Dana Walden - or a combo like Eisner & Wells.

 

[Lilofan]

PPOR

Walden
Bergman
Pitaro
D'Amaro

It's going to be Dana Walden - or a combo like Eisner & Wells.

Walden was a Chapek promotion after Rice got the ax. Let us see where the cards fall on who will replace Iger, internal or external hire.

 

[monothingie]

PPOR

Walden
Bergman
Pitaro
D'Amaro

It's going to be Dana Walden - or a combo like Eisner & Wells.

My money's on Walden too. She's got the Hollywood cred, that Chapek needed, but none of the Wall Street cred.

 

[Robbiem]

Will Iger really go though? Now he’s won his board battle he can drop the promises, cut the spending plans and reluctantly have to stay on to right the ship again.

What the board really needs is an Oliver Cromwell to clear house

Dismissal of the Rump Parliament - Oliver Cromwell 1653

 

[Serpico Jones]

Iger’s CNBC interview is a bad omen for Disney. All of the mistakes are everyone else’s fault, he takes zero accountability and seems to think of himself as a genius who can do no wrong.

 

[JoeCamel]

Iger’s CNBC interview is a bad omen for Disney. All of the mistakes are everyone else’s fault, he takes zero accountability and seems to think of himself as a genius who can do no wrong.

So same old Bob?

 

[Kamikaze]

My money's on Walden too. She's got the Hollywood cred, that Chapek needed, but none of the Wall Street cred.

They will talk endlessly about the first woman to run the biggest entertainment company in history. Iger gets to say he picked her to succeed him, and as pointed out before, Chapek was the one who put her in her current position, so Iger doesn't get any backlash for cronyism.

 

[Disstevefan1]

They will talk endlessly about the first woman to run the biggest entertainment company in history. Iger gets to say he picked her to succeed him, and as pointed out before, Chapek was the one who put her in her current position, so Iger doesn't get any backlash for cronyism.

Very important. Will she take orders from Iger as he continues to run the company from the sidelines?

 

[BrianLo]

Very, very quietly they changed their forward sub guidance. Though I’m sure it’s not entirely unnoticed.

The forward guidance was 5.5-6 million sub ads for Q2 but the claim is now a max of 1.6 were added (from 111.3 on their Q1 report).

Now, granted, in the grand scheme of things it’s not actually bad. Minor sub gains on the back of a 30% price hike being more effectively rolled out is fantastic. But it is a miss of their guidance, which I always thought was somewhat suspect to begin with.

Maybe way too much expectancy on Taylor.

Edit - maybe that’s all based on sept 30th data. Which is weird, but my bad if that’s the case!