Disney Brings Back Iger. Good move? We’ll see.

In a move that doesn’t surprise many business thought leaders, Disney ousts Bob Chapek and brings back Bob Iger, as Disney’s new CEO.

This move was made very shortly after Bob Chapek was announced as CEO, in February of 2020, with his position being solidified at the end of 2021.

And although there are many conspiracies as to why the recent development took place, let’s see if we can come up with our own conclusions. 

The first thing we have to establish is what Bob Iger accomplished during his original tenure as Disney CEO, between the years of 2005 and 2020.

Not counting the dozens of individual hits that Disney had during that time – Up, Frozen, Incredibles, Inside Out, Zootopia, to name a few – Disney made its biggest moves under the tutelage of Bob Iger. 

Disney’s largest moves under Iger came in the form of acquisitions:

• Acquired Pixar – 2006
• Acquired Marvel – 2009
• Acquired Hulu – 2009
• Acquired Star Wars – 2013
• Started Disney Plus – 2019

Just from the Marvel acquisition – which cost $4 billion – Disney has generated over $18 billion at the box office. This does not include Disney Plus revenues, Disney Theme Park revenues, or merchandise sales. 

We can make a lot of debates over the nuances of Bob Iger’s value to Disney, but it’s much easier to simply look at the math. 

Considering all box office sales, DVD/Streaming sales, and merchandise sales, the profits for Disney have been in the billions, all because of Iger’s leadership. 

Obviously, there were many teams that attributed to the overall success, but Iger’s influence cannot be ignored. 

Especially, when you consider the difference that Bob Chapek’s leadership had on the company in the short stint that he was CEO. 

Just in 2022, Disney lost over $1 billion from Disney Plus, and many critics are crediting that loss to the “woke” agenda that Disney was pushing through its recent productions. 

There were several films that were released only on Disney Plus that were anticipated to be great money makers, but ended up losing big. 

Without conspiring too much, we can conclude that the difference in leadership was evident and Disney’s board noticed, as well. 

If there’s one thing that Disney likes to do is make money… 

And if anyone – including their own executive team – stands in the way of that, then Disney will make the moves it needs to, to maintain its power position.