Disney Brings Back Bob Iger After Ousting Chapek as C.E.O.

[Hamartia Antidote]

Disney Brings Back Bob Iger After Ousting Chapek as C.E.O.

Mr. Iger is returning to the company he ran for 15 years after being succeeded by Bob Chapek in 2020.

www.nytimes.com

Robert A. Iger is returning to lead the Walt Disney Company, after his successor was ousted as chief executive on Sunday.Credit...

In a move that dropped jaws in Hollywood and prompted comparisons to an implausible screenplay, the board of the Walt Disney Company fired Bob Chapek as chief executive on Sunday and announced that Robert A. Iger would return to run the company, effective immediately.

In effect, Disney is replacing Mr. Iger’s handpicked successor as chief executive with Mr. Iger. In a Sunday night email to Disney employees, Mr. Iger said it was “with an incredible sense of gratitude and humility — and, I must admit, a bit of amazement — that I write to you this evening with the news that I am returning.”

Mr. Iger, 71, agreed to a two-year contract after the board determined that Mr. Chapek, 62, had done irreparable damage to his ability to lead, with a string of missteps resulting in the lost confidence of Wall Street and most senior Disney executives, as well as many rank-and-file employees. Mr. Iger previously served as Disney’s chief executive from 2005 to 2020, a run that was widely seen as one of the most successful in Hollywood history.

Mr. Iger left Disney entirely at the end of 2021, having served as executive chairman for two years to help Mr. Chapek gain his footing. Now, Mr. Iger has been given two years by the board to steer the company on to the right path and groom another successor.

 

[Bilal9]

The reason is simple, Bob Iger had "connections" with Hollywood and animation movers/shakers, his successor did not.

There is also a lot that Bob Iger knew that Mr. Chapek did not. Including tapping his buddies on Wall street for financing new projects.

You gotta handle and deal with people at their level and "enable" and "empower" people when you have to.

Most managers at high levels (especially in the media industry) don't get that.