Credit: Qilai Shen/BloombergCan Bob Iger fix this mistake?
No CEO is going to go an entire career without making a mistake; it’s inevitable. The goal is simply to minimize those mistakes so they don’t drag the companies down, especially with a cherished company like Disney. Over his tenure as Disney CEO Bob Iger actually did a fairly good job at avoiding these company-altering mistakes. Still, there was one that rose above the others, and now that he’s returned, it’s something that he’s still trying to fix.
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No matter what this new term as CEO brings, Iger will go down in history as the Disney CEO of acquisition. During his time, Iger facilitated the purchase and acquisition of Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, and 21st Century Fox, expanding the tremendous value of the already giant media organization significantly. But he didn’t stop at Hollywood!
Iger is also responsible for a significant refocus on Disney Parks worldwide. During his time, many of the parks saw substantial updates, remodels, and even several new lands for domestic Parks, including Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Avengers Campus. Fans seemed pleased with his work and were sad to see him go. They trusted in his track record, however, and felt that whoever he picked to be his successor would carry on his legacy and the legacy of Walt Disney.
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This was not the case. The election of Disney CEO Bob Chapek was perhaps Bob Iger’s biggest mistake as CEO, and since his departure, he admitted as much. It was such a big mistake that Iger decided to come out of retirement and try and fix the damage. In an interview this morning with CNBC, Iger discussed how he was brought back to the helm of the media giant and what made him want to come back. Iger explained the process and how he found out shortly before the public did, but his reasoning was very telling:
“This is a company that I worked for, for almost 50 years. I have a huge passion for the company, tremendous respect for the people, and she (Susan Arnold) made is very, very clear that is was a time of need. They had decided to make a change on the CEO level, and I that, I guess I had a sense of obligation…I also wanted to help them not only transform the company during a pretty critical time, but I wanted to help them succeed at succession, which is quite important to me too.”
Iger wanted to come back to undo his biggest mistake and help Disney executives to choose a successor that would not only have the best interests of the company in mind but also the best interests of the Guests and fans at heart as well. This declaration on Iger’s reason for returning also comes on the heels of massive announcements this week about new projects from the company, but 7000 layoffs as well. Are these growing pains and signs of improvement? Or is Disney still faltering from its previous CEO?
What do you think of Iger’s reasons for returning? Let us know in the comments below!