Iger Retirement In Hindsight

pahoben · Apr 10, 2020

There was widespread surprise when Iger announced his retirement in February. In hindsight it appears to me that his expectations for Covid 19 related park closures may have played a role. I believe Chapek knows the parks better and so he may have believed better for everyone if Chapek took over early. I do not have any info about his retirement package and if impacted by the stock price decline but for his legacy he sure picked an opportune time to resign as CEO.

I am sure some of you have more information than I have and so better insight.

mom2rtk · Apr 10, 2020

My assumption was that Iger felt this would be a longer crisis than he intended to stay at the helm, so got out of the way earlier than expected to let Chapek make the decisions he would be living with for some time.

So I don't fault him for getting out when he did. And I'm no Iger fan.

Brocktoon · Apr 10, 2020

I think park closures were only a small part. Iger may have understood how the movie studios, TV production, sports (ESPN) etc ... would be affected. And understanding that he could be looking at a years long paradigm shift in all sorts of areas it was probably time to step down as he's wasn't planning to be around that long

rteetz · Apr 10, 2020

Iger isn’t retired yet though. He was always planning to do so in 2021. He has only stepped down from the CEO roll. He is still chairman of the board and is heavily involved.

pahoben · Apr 10, 2020

rteetz said:
Iger isn’t retired yet though. He was always planning to do so in 2021. He has only stepped down from the CEO roll. He is still chairman of the board and is heavily involved.

Thanks and I know but he did resign as CEO and the immediate operating problems that a CEO must oversee. If you look back when he announced there was widespread surprise at his announcement.

rteetz · Apr 10, 2020

pahoben said:
Thanks and I know but he did resign as CEO and the immediate operating problems that a CEO must oversee. If you look back when he announced there was widespread surprise at his announcement.

Yes of course. Just pointing out the wording you used wasn’t entirely correct.

CastAStone · Apr 10, 2020

I think they had a plan for a long time and didn't tell anyone about it so as to not upset the other possible candidates, which is how these things usually work at most companies.

mshanson3121 · Apr 10, 2020

pahoben said:
There was widespread surprise when Iger announced his retirement in February. In hindsight it appears to me that his expectations for Covid 19 related park closures may have played a role. I believe Chapek knows the parks better and so he may have believed better for everyone if Chapek took over early. I do not have any info about his retirement package and if impacted by the stock price decline but for his legacy he sure picked an opportune time to resign as CEO.

I am sure some of you have more information than I have and so better insight.

Quite honestly, there were many CEOs and higher ups in big companies that chose that time to retire/step down etc.... I remember there being surprise on the boards at how many were doing so. I think they all had the foresight to jump ship so they didn't have to deal with the mess they were smart enough to realize was coming.

Deploraboo · Apr 10, 2020

Where in the world is Chapek right now.

That says it all.

Micca · Apr 10, 2020

If I put myself in Iger's shoes, three thoughts come to mind:

1) If I saw this catastrophe coming, I'd have sold several million shares of Disney stock before the decline.
2) If I'm going to run for office at some point, I don't want my campaign associated with the damage done to the Dis corp on my watch
3) Bob has much nicer shoes than me.

yankeesfan123 · Apr 10, 2020

CastAStone said:
I think they had a plan for a long time and didn't tell anyone about it so as to not upset the other possible candidates, which is how these things usually work at most companies.

Not true and unlikely. The surprise announcement made Disney stock take a hit, not unsurprisingly.

Mattimation · Apr 10, 2020

I really hope an amended version of Iger's book comes out in a year or so, with an epilogue that explains why he decided to leave so suddenly, despite writing his intention on staying on through 2021. That's the big reason why I can't imagine his stepping down was planned - why publish a book saying you intend to stay CEO for another two years, and then actually step down less than 6 months later.

Personally, I have to wonder if it was becoming clear Disney would be especially hard-hit by the impending COVID19 induced recession/depression due to all of Iger's acquisitions - specifically FOX - and he decided to step down so he could end on a high note instead of taking the fall for a major blow. I don't think Disney is at risk of bankruptcy or anything, at least right now, but if they end up having to sell off some of their bigger properties to stay afloat during an economic downturn, I'd imagine Iger would prefer that blame be put on Chapek than himself.

Purely speculation, that's just where my mind is going right now.

gharter · Apr 10, 2020

I suspect he had an idea that this would be a long protracted recovery and was tired of the day to day responsibility of the organization.
I also suspect he didn't want to retire in the middle of the problems or postpone his retirement till they were resolved. Getting out when he did, solved both issues.
Being Chairman of the Board, lets him do more on the creative side and not worry about day to day.

TitusPullo · Apr 10, 2020

He made a phone call to Dana White recently...

OKW Lover · Apr 11, 2020

pahoben said:
There was widespread surprise when Iger announced his retirement in February. In hindsight it appears to me that his expectations for Covid 19 related park closures may have played a role. I believe Chapek knows the parks better and so he may have believed better for everyone if Chapek took over early. I do not have any info about his retirement package and if impacted by the stock price decline but for his legacy he sure picked an opportune time to resign as CEO.

I am sure some of you have more information than I have and so better insight.

Knowing the parks better isn't really that much of a reason o pick him. Remember that the Parks are ~30-40% of the entire Disney organization. The actual number varies by year depending on several factors.

jade1 · Apr 11, 2020

Micca said:
2) If I'm going to run for office at some point, I don't want my campaign associated with the damage done to the Dis corp on my watch

Hopefully he has a strong VP to take over, when he resigns as a crisis/challenge approaches.

pahoben · Apr 12, 2020

rteetz said:
Yes of course. Just pointing out the wording you used wasn’t entirely correct.

I though that maybe his retirement package had provisions associated with when he left his role as CEO and then separately when he left the BOD but really have zero idea how structured. I looked for info but didn’t find anything.

rteetz · Apr 12, 2020

pahoben said:
I though that maybe his retirement package had provisions associated with when he left his role as CEO and then separately when he left the BOD but really have zero idea how structured. I looked for info but didn’t find anything.

Because he didn’t retire. There was no package. He resigned from the CEO role but kept the Chairman role.

mickeymom629 · Apr 12, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/business/media/disney-ceo-coronavirus.html

0FF TO NEVERLAND · Apr 12, 2020

That didn’t last very long

Iger Retirement In Hindsight

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