Bob Iger
Disney’s board named Bob Chapek, a 27-year veteran of Disney, the new chief executive, effective immediately.
Iger, who has been CEO for 15 years, will assume the role of executive chairman and “will direct the company’s creative endeavors,” a Disney statement said.
Iger, 69, said on a call with analysts that his top priority now is the creative content on which Disney’s streaming services and box office revenue depend.
The idea behind handing off the CEO position two years early is to let Iger focus on the creation of winning Disney content while Chapek handles day-to-day operations of the Magic Kingdom’s complex entertainment operation.
“It was really that simple,” Iger said while explaining the decision to surrender the CEO chair to Chapek.
“With everything else falling in place, the time seemed right.”
The move also allows two years for Iger to coach Chapek on aspects of Disney he is less familiar with. Iger’s contract ends at the end of 2021.
“The timing is, in very many ways, odd,” Matthew Ball, a venture capitalist who once headed global strategy for Amazon Studios, told AFP.
“In other ways, it feels somewhat right. Iger has spent years trying to retire and the company has never been stronger than it is today.”
Ball credited Iger with an impressive “corporate pivot” to streaming television and felt the success of Disney+ signalled the team is in shape to thrive after he leaves the company.
