After 15 Years At Helm, Disney Chairman Bob Iger Announces Leaving Company
New York, Dec 22: Disney Chairman and former CEO Bob Iger announced he is leaving the company at the end of the month. Iger, who turns 71 in February and who began his career at age 23 at ABC, is one of only six CEOs to lead Disney, which was founded in 1923.
He stepped down in February last year as CEO, succeeded by Bob Chapek, but has stayed on as chairman through the coronavirus pandemic. He will officially give up his role as chairman at the end of the year.
He had succeeded Michael Eisner as CEO in 2005.
Iger oversaw the acquisitions of Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion, Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4 billion, Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.06 billion, and the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox in 2019 for $71.3 billion.
He made Disney’s content available across multiple platforms, launched ESPN Plus in 2018 and Disney Plus a year later.
Iger transformed a nearly century-old traditional studio into a modern-day digital juggernaut with direct access to consumers. Under his leadership, Disney was the first studio to have its TV content on iTunes, in 2005, and a year later it was the first to stream ad-supported TV content for free. Iger also expanded the company’s theme park resorts in East Asia, with the introduction of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and Shanghai Disney Resort in 2005 and 2016, respectively.
He was behind the reinvigoration of Disney’s failing Animation Studios by installing Pixar chiefs John Lasseter and Ed Catmull at the helm. Under him, Disney’s value has shot up nearly five times what it was when he took over: its market cap increased from $48.5 billion to $240 billion — close to a 400% increase.
Last week, Iger sent a farewell note to all those employees and “cast members,” imploring them to “always keep the creative fires burning” and thanked his four children, who never took for granted that “Dad” had one of the coolest jobs in the world, and his wife Willow Bay, “my single most trusted advisor, and my partner in all aspects of my life”.
Iger and Bay, who is dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, hosted a party at their home a few weeks ago for about 90 guests, including several of his onetime colleagues — former ABC Entertainment chairman Ted Harbert, ABC News retired executive and producer Stu Bloomburg and sportscaster Al Michaels, who spent three decades as a commentator for ABC Sports, before moving to NBC.
“I’m looking forward to unplugging more than anything else and waking up one day and not feeling all the responsibility that I have on my shoulders,” he told Variety in an interview.
“I officially became CEO on Oct. 1, 2005, and I really have not had a day off since. Not a day off. I’m looking forward to what I’ll call a true day off. And I’m not talking about a day on my boat where I’m answering emails all day and screening rough cuts,” he said. He is looking forward to taking his whole family — including his five grandchildren — to Disney World right after Christmas, and adds: “That’s not work; that’s just vacation.”
Iger said his first real day off will be January 1.
“I guess I’m going to watch some college football without having to worry about the outcome of the ratings.”
