The ex-CEO wins the power struggle with his successor and returns to Disney.
(Photo: AP)
new York There is a surprising change of boss at entertainment giant Disney: Long-time CEO Bob Iger is returning to the top. Disney announced on Monday night that Iger had agreed to take over the leadership again for two years. Iger had been Disney boss for 15 years. It was said that his successor, Bob Chapek, had resigned.
Disney did not comment on the exact reasons for the change during the night. “The board of directors has determined that at an increasingly complex time of industry change, Bob Iger is best placed to lead the company through this pivotal period,” said Susan Arnold, Disney’s chairman of the board, in a written statement statements.
“We thank Bob Chapek for his many years of service to Disney. This includes leading the company through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic,” continued Arnold, who remains in office.
US observers referred to the strained relationship between Chapek and Iger, who continued to act as Executive Chairman until the end of 2021 after retiring from the CEO position. Iger was considered influential in the group until the very end.
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Worried about the recession
Disney had reported record sales and profits in 2022, largely due to its strong theme park division, which benefited from the post-COVID recovery.
The problem child, however, is the important streaming business. The number of users is growing rapidly, but the division suffers from high costs and has to be cross-subsidised. According to Chapek, the streaming business should actually be profitable by September 2024. In the past quarter, however, it lost $1.47 billion, more than twice as much as in the previous year.
The latest quarterly figures then missed the stock market’s expectations. The capital costs for building up the streaming business had a particularly negative impact: net income from continuing operations rose just one percent to $162 million.
Chapek then announced austerity measures such as a hiring freeze and job cuts. He also revised the sales growth forecast for the full year downwards – and warned that the profitability target can only be achieved if there is no severe economic downturn. In the US entertainment industry, concerns about a significant economic downturn and a strong reluctance on the part of consumers have recently grown.
resentment on Wall Street
Dissatisfaction with Chapek’s management has also recently increased on Wall Street. Disney shares are down 41 percent year-on-year and dropped to an annual low of a good $86 a few days ago. There were no signs of a trend reversal. Competitor Netflix also went down sharply in 2022, but recently the Netflix course has stabilized again, unlike that of Disney.
Iger is considered the creator of today’s Disney Group. The 71-year-old had put the entertainment giant, which was sluggish at the beginning of the millennium, back on the road to success with a successful purchase program.
Under Iger, Disney took over the animation film company Pixar in 2006, the comic company Marvel in 2009, Lucasfilm, rights holder of the “Star Wars” universe, in 2012, and the traditional company 21st Century Fox in 2019. Iger also managed the opening of Disney’s first theme park in the People’s Republic of China, Shanghai Disney Resorts.
Chapek had previously been in charge of the theme parks. In 2020 he took over the chief post as Iger’s preferred successor. Recently, according to media reports, the two alpha animals were increasingly at odds.
Competitor Netflix had recently left Disney behind, among other things, when launching an advertising-financed version of its streaming service. As Netflix explained in October, the advertising variant in Germany and eleven other countries should start in November, faster than originally announced. Disney, on the other hand, will only start its advertising variant in December and only in the USA for the time being.
With agency material.
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