Employee of the decade... Disney legend Bob Iger surprised the world Tuesday by stepping down as CEO (he was expected to retire at the end of 2021). Over 14 years, Iger grew Disney into Hollywood's largest, most powerful media conglomerate. He'll continue through 2021 as Creative Chief and Chairman, but Let's take a magical journey back in time:
- 2005: Bob becomes CEO. Disney owns 21 TV channels — and 55% of its profits come from cable TV (mostly ESPN).
- 2006-2007: In 2006, Disney buys Pixar. A year later, Netflix launches streaming, threatening Disney's cable biz.
- 2009-2019: Disney acquires Marvel in 2009, scoops up Star Wars (aka LucasFilm) in 2012, and snags 21st Century Fox in 2019 for $71B (Bobby's biggest deal) to beef up his content arsenal.
- Today: Disney is thriving thanks to Iger's media acquisitions (it posted a record $69.5B revenue last year) and the stock is 5X more valuable than when Big Bob took charge in '05.
Disney makes bank... off its media/movie franchises, its character-driven theme parks, and its franchised merch (Baby Yoda FTW) — it's all part of its product ecosystem. As CEO, Iger had become one of the most powerful people in:
- Hollywood: Between Marvel, Fox, and Star Wars, Disney is the king of blockbusters.
- Streaming: Disney+ already has over 28M subscribers since its November launch.
- Sports: Disney owns ESPN and ABC — leaders in sports programming.
- Toys: Baby Yoda. 'Nuff said.
TBD on the new guy... He's another guy named Bob: Disney's head of parks/resorts, Bob Chapek. He's been at Disney for 27 years, and was at Heinz Ketchup before. But Disney's future is cutting-edge media, so the theme parks + condiment resumé is a tad surprising. But Chapek has headed key Disney units, and beat out potential successors (including Disney's streaming exec). He's got big Mickey shoes to fill.