Iger Stepping Down, Chapek Replaces

[belloq87]

Recede into the shadows in a year, Bob. Follow the Eisner model: go write some more books, consult on some non-Disney endeavors, appear on financial shows from time to time. But otherwise, thank you for your service and go away.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I wonder how his model of buy other idea's because your all out of them yourself is going to work in Government?

 

[Scott W.]

I wonder how his model of buy other idea's because your all out of them yourself is going to work in Government?

Don't you think it's time for the USA to expand beyond it's 50 states? lol

As for Iger going into politics, I just don't get it.

It's a thankless job and he's going to be 70 at that point. Enjoy retirement.

 

[Grabnar]

Don't you think it's time for the USA to expand beyond it's 50 states? lol

As for Iger going into politics, I just don't get it.

It's a thankless job and he's going to be 70 at that point. Enjoy retirement.

Not to put too fine of a point on it but people who move from C-suite business to politics are generally there to either enrich themselves or as a vanity project, not out of some genuine desire to make the world a better or more equitable place.

In this case I suspect it's more a vanity thing than anything else, but that's just like my opinion, man.

 

[MrBlonde]

There's been rumblings since at least 2016 that he wanted to get into politics. And outside of theme parks, Iger does have good cred with main street and Wall Street for his tenure as CEO with his acquisitions.

When COVID hit, he left the CEO position to lock in his stock performance (tbh most likely tied to final comp) and tried helping navigate the crisis. With a vaccine on the way *knock on wood* he can finally exit.

 

[Nick]

Bob Chapek is already pissing people off and is at risk of running the company into the ground:

Disney’s New World Order Leads to Confusion and Bruised Egos

Disney dramatically reorganized its entertainment business and that's leading to bruised egos among top creative executives and tensions.

variety.com

 

[Scott W.]

Bob Chapek is already pissing people off and is at risk of running the company into the ground:

Disney’s New World Order Leads to Confusion and Bruised Egos

Disney dramatically reorganized its entertainment business and that's leading to bruised egos among top creative executives and tensions.

variety.com

The cuts at the resorts is enough to make me never stay there again. If it wasn’t for this pandemic, I probably wouldn’t be returning to Disney any time soon.

 

[belloq87]

Bob Chapek is already pissing people off and is at risk of running the company into the ground:

Disney’s New World Order Leads to Confusion and Bruised Egos

Disney dramatically reorganized its entertainment business and that's leading to bruised egos among top creative executives and tensions.

variety.com

Anybody who closely-scrutinized Chapek's demeanor and inclinations while running Parks could have seen this sort of thing coming. We'll see where it goes.

 

[JoeCamel]

Anybody who closely-scrutinized Chapek's demeanor and inclinations while running Parks could have seen this sort of thing coming. We'll see where it goes.

Chappie was always set up to be a one term CEO to take the flack for what big Bob saw coming. Circumstances changed a tad but Bob C will be running Home Depot or something like it in the future.

 

[Nick]

Chappie was always set up to be a one term CEO to take the flack for what big Bob saw coming. Circumstances changed a tad but Bob C will be running Home Depot or something like it in the future.

Chapek has dismantled Iger's Disney. Say what you will about Iger, but he knew how to run the company smoothly and keep everyone happy. Chapek is pretty much undoing all of that. The article I linked is a really good read.

 

[shiekra38]

Chapek has dismantled Iger's Disney. Say what you will about Iger, but he knew how to run the company smoothly and keep everyone happy. Chapek is pretty much undoing all of that. The article I linked is a really good read.

Do we think everything will get all dry and spooky like when Scar took over in Lion King?

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Chappie was always set up to be a one term CEO to take the flack for what big Bob saw coming. Circumstances changed a tad but Bob C will be running Home Depot or something like it in the future.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Iger stepped down the same day that the CDC really started sounding the alarm.

 

[Clive]

I don't think it's a coincidence that Iger stepped down the same day that the CDC really started sounding the alarm.

That was honestly the first sign for me that this was going to be really bad.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Considering how much Iger grew Disney its weird anyone would not try to keep most of the same idea's going until they stopped working

 

[MrBlonde]

Chapek to me just scream strong middle management: focused on business performance and strategies from top of house. I don't see him being a visionary in any regard.

Hopefully he'd be smart enough to empower strong creatives at the sub-brands to continue to put out quality content.

 

[Nick]

I don't think it's a coincidence that Iger stepped down the same day that the CDC really started sounding the alarm.

That was honestly the first sign for me that this was going to be really bad.

Iger left so he could collect his stock while it was high and before it crashed. But there's little in my mind to suggest that things would've been this bad had Iger stayed on board. Iger just didn't want to deal with COVID so Chapek got lucky and was named CEO.

I urge you guys to read the article I linked. Iger is reportedly not happy with Chapek's direction. No one is. People at Disney actually liked Iger, in part because he came from Entertainment, where Chapek is strictly a business guy. And he's not that good at it tbh. He has torn down the culture of Iger's Disney, where creatives were allowed to do their thing as long as they continued to churn out a solid project. Under Chapek, the creatives do their thing and then now have absolutely no say in how or where it is released, which is pissing everyone off.

He has also put in place, as the head of Disney Digital Media Distribution one of his buddies from Consumer Products. That's right, a paper pusher is the overlord of every single creative at Disney. He's there ahead of the bosses of Pixar/WDAS, Kathleen Kennedy, Kevin Feige, Alan Horn, everyone on the Fox side, etc. Again, this guy is not qualified to fill this position in any way, he only has the job because he's buddies with new Bob. And everyone hates him for it. Again, say what you will about Iger, but he always put people actually in the entertainment industry in the leadership positions.

And mind you, this guys position is just a new, Chapek created middle-man position that gets to decide if a Pixar film, a film that was worked on for at minimum 3 years, goes to theaters or just goes to Disney+ at no extra charge.

 

[rageofthegods]

Idk if I'd conclude from the article that Disney culture is dying or that everyone hates Chapek, but it certainly sounds like Disney's reorganization was just as weird and confusing as it sounded. The bit about Landsgraf is disconcerting in the context of most of Old Fox's executives departing and Gilula & Utley retiring (the situation is very different at TV, though).

I've been a little trepidatious about some of Disney's moves in recent months (e.g. shutting down fox21 and Blue Sky, executive shifts), so articles like this are not encouraging. Chapek is not sentimental and recent moves reinforce that. I'm also kinda wondering what's gonna happen now that Disney's had its first really disappointing quarter in a while.

EDIT: also did want to say that from what I hear from people, Kareem Daniels is a chill dude and puts in the work, so I don't think we should tar him here.

 

[quinnmac000]

Iger left so he could collect his stock while it was high and before it crashed. But there's little in my mind to suggest that things would've been this bad had Iger stayed on board. Iger just didn't want to deal with COVID so Chapek got lucky and was named CEO.

I urge you guys to read the article I linked. Iger is reportedly not happy with Chapek's direction. No one is. People at Disney actually liked Iger, in part because he came from Entertainment, where Chapek is strictly a business guy. And he's not that good at it tbh. He has torn down the culture of Iger's Disney, where creatives were allowed to do their thing as long as they continued to churn out a solid project. Under Chapek, the creatives do their thing and then now have absolutely no say in how or where it is released, which is pissing everyone off.

He has also put in place, as the head of Disney Digital Media Distribution one of his buddies from Consumer Products. That's right, a paper pusher is the overlord of every single creative at Disney. He's there ahead of the bosses of Pixar/WDAS, Kathleen Kennedy, Kevin Feige, Alan Horn, everyone on the Fox side, etc. Again, this guy is not qualified to fill this position in any way, he only has the job because he's buddies with new Bob. And everyone hates him for it. Again, say what you will about Iger, but he always put people actually in the entertainment industry in the leadership positions.

And mind you, this guys position is just a new, Chapek created middle-man position that gets to decide if a Pixar film, a film that was worked on for at minimum 3 years, goes to theaters or just goes to Disney+ at no extra charge.

I think this is a bit of an emotional argument that lacks the issue that commonly happens in entertainment. Creatives are passionate about projects so they get blindsided very easily. That's why you need an outside person with no emotional ties to be behind the decision of distribution. Otherwise you will have Disney pre-Marvel in which they were underperforming and putting passion projects that did were not the highest quality in theaters. Lone Ranger and more.

I don't know his qualifications well enough to say he is not qualified to fill the position. However, I do know his work in consumer products probably does give him more information on how consumers view products and how to monetize each project in the best way. I mean that's consumer products job is to discuss how to make the most money. However, I will point out his elevation to this position wasn't just because he was friends with Chapek and you need to just look at the executive team and it will showcase exactly why.

 

[Nick]

Idk if I'd conclude from the article that Disney culture is dying or that everyone hates Chapek, but it certainly sounds like Disney's reorganization was just as weird and confusing as it sounded. The bit about Landsgraf is disconcerting in the context of most of Old Fox's executives departing and Gilula & Utley retiring (the situation is very different at TV, though).

I've been a little trepidatious about some of Disney's moves in recent months (e.g. shutting down fox21 and Blue Sky, executive shifts), so articles like this are not encouraging. Chapek is not sentimental and recent moves reinforce that. I'm also kinda wondering what's gonna happen now that Disney's had its first really disappointing quarter in a while.

EDIT: also did want to say that from what I hear from people, Kareem Daniels is a chill dude and puts in the work, so I don't think we should tar him here.

Alan Horn is also expected to leave in December when Iger leaves.

I think this is a bit of an emotional argument that lacks the issue that commonly happens in entertainment. Creatives are passionate about projects so they get blindsided very easily. That's why you need an outside person with no emotional ties to be behind the decision of distribution. Otherwise you will have Disney pre-Marvel in which they were underperforming and putting passion projects that did were not the highest quality in theaters. Lone Ranger and more.

I don't know his qualifications well enough to say he is not qualified to fill the position. However, I do know his work in consumer products probably does give him more information on how consumers view products and how to monetize each project in the best way. I mean that's consumer products job is to discuss how to make the most money. However, I will point out his elevation to this position wasn't just because he was friends with Chapek and you need to just look at the executive team and it will showcase exactly why.

The way I see it, if they aren't careful, they could turn into Warner Brothers, where the creatives want one thing but the suits want another and the suits win, and we end up getting screwed into a lesser product because of it. WB literally uses this same system of having a middle man and it hasn't worked all that great with their Genre stuff with DC and Potter of late (DC has been getting better, admittedly).

I fully understand what they are going for by having Kareem in there in his role. I thought it was a good idea when it was announced initially, but I think this is going to be a delicate balance, as the talent at Pixar or WDAS for example could quit over frustration and go to Dreamworks, Illumination, or even Netflix. There isn't a lack of options these days for animators. Also, they have to keep important people like Feige happy. If they piss him off enough to leave, then the MCU could be screwed.

I'm not saying creators should have total control, but i'm also saying there was nothing really wrong with the way Iger was running things, so I don't really see why there was any need for change. If Disney was struggling, I could understand, but they've been churning out billion dollar films from all divisions, so it just seems foolish to mess with what was working in such a drastic way.

 

[Nico]

Alan Horn is also expected to leave in December when Iger leaves.


The way I see it, if they aren't careful, they could turn into Warner Brothers, where the creatives want one thing but the suits want another and the suits win, and we end up getting screwed into a lesser product because of it. WB literally uses this same system of having a middle man and it hasn't worked all that great with their Genre stuff with DC and Potter of late (DC has been getting better, admittedly).

I fully understand what they are going for by having Kareem in there in his role. I thought it was a good idea when it was announced initially, but I think this is going to be a delicate balance, as the talent at Pixar or WDAS for example could quit over frustration and go to Dreamworks, Illumination, or even Netflix. There isn't a lack of options these days for animators. Also, they have to keep important people like Feige happy. If they piss him off enough to leave, then the MCU could be screwed.

I'm not saying creators should have total control, but i'm also saying there was nothing really wrong with the way Iger was running things, so I don't really see why there was any need for change. If Disney was struggling, I could understand, but they've been churning out billion dollar films from all divisions, so it just seems foolish to mess with what was working in such a drastic way.

I see what you’re saying Nick, but I think the pandemic and the quick success of Disney+ kicked these plans into high gear. Their projections for subscriber growth were much lower originally and with how content distribution was upended, they needed something different to meet the times. It’s also an indication of how critical they believe Disney+ is to their future.