Iger oversaw such dramatic acquisitions as Marvel Entertainment a little more than a decade ago, and also bought Lucasfilm and its Star Wars and Indiana Jones series. Under Iger’s tenure since 2005, Disney expanded aggressively into movies, theme parks and other entertainment verticals, culminating late last year with the introduction of the company’s Disney+ streaming service and $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox, a gargantuan television and movie studio. Iger will address Disney employees at 5:30EST today, and we’ll update if anything further comes of that address. Speculation is still high for the exact reason behind Iger’s departure, with many hoping for something benign (ish) like a presidential run versus a personal issue. Disney’s earnings have been amazing lately, which would have made for a nice two-hander at earnings time. Iger is only 14 months into a 36-month contract extension, and this comes not on a regularly scheduled earnings call but in the midst of an interesting time for Disney, as it faces parks shutdowns due to the coronavirus outbreak. Our guess for who would head Parks is Josh D’Amaro, extremely-well liked former head of Disneyland who now heads Walt Disney World - liked by Parks people for a lot of the opposite reasons, which politically could make this a non starter, but would be a very popular appointment.Ī few oddities surround this sudden change. Disney Twitter has been quick to descend upon the Chapek choice as a sign of possible rough times ahead for Parks budgets. Update: We’ve added Iger’s company-wide email to employees (below).Ĭhapek, as head of Disney’s Parks Division, was a somewhat divisive figure in that he led with a “value engineering” (the Imagineering word for trimming cool stuff) and budget conscious strategy instead of the more popular “let Imagineers do the most” tactic that has produced some of the parks’ most enduring rides and experiences. Bob Chapek, a long-time senior exec at the company who most recently held the position of chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, will succeed him. The Walt Disney Company announced this afternoon that Robert Iger, the company’s long-time CEO who ushered in the company’s lush franchise and entertainment platform profits, will step down immediately as chief executive.
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