I hope his health is okay. Not a lot of reasons this kind of thing happens. Especially when he seemed to be killing it for Disney on all fronts and hadn't really groomed a replacement of any note (which reforces the idea this was unexpected).
https://apnews.com/323d2e3fa1390925934d9f896456c9ce
I wonder how or if this will affect Stern or Jersey Jack licensing in the short term...
Ha, it won't... I bet neither of those guys know their content is even in pinball machines. Probably don't even know pinball is still a thing. You know how big Disney is and how small pinball is? LOL...
Bog Iger and Bob Chapek about to speak on CNBC live. I can't wait to hear about their plans for pinball!
Ha, beat me to it, was about to say...
Good news, Chapek has been following all the interest for Tron on pinside! He's going to jump on that revenue stream!
Quoted from HighVoltage:Ha, it won't... I bet neither of those guys know their content is even in pinball machines. Probably don't even know pinball is still a thing. You know how big Disney is and how small pinball is? LOL...
Whenever there's a management change, it can filter down in unexpected ways.
Quoted from HighVoltage:Bog Iger and Bob Chapek about to speak on CNBC live. I can't wait to hear about their plans for pinball!
Coming on at 5:30ET/2:30PST.
Quoted from TZBen:"spend more time with my family" code for .....
1. Terminal illness
2. Sexual harrassment claim(s)
3. Accounting irregularities/pending indictment
4. Coronavirus am cry
(I'm not buying the official line they're selling on CNBC, btw)
Quoted from PinMonk:1. Terminal illness
2. Sexual harrassment claim(s)
3. Coronavirus am cry
You forgot "accounting irregularities" or pending indictment.
Quoted from TZBen:"spend more time with my family" code for .....
For getting a 100 million dollars golden parachute and happily retire !
Quoted from Richthofen:You forgot "accounting irregularities" or pending indictment.
Fixed.
Quoted from benheck:What if he's gonna jump in and run for president?
In the Dec 2021 election when his contract's up?
I think we've seen "Peak Disney" this year and he may be bailing out while he's on top.
Future doesn't look great. Star Wars is pretty much dead, the upcoming Marvel movies don't look interesting and they've run out of 90s movies to remake into live action for nostalgia. The last of which Mulan was "made for China" and releases next month in a country that's shut down its theaters - whoops!
Quoted from adol75:For getting a 100 million dollars golden parachute and happily retire !
all these fools and their ridiculous sums of money and yet they REFUSE to let me just build them an ultimate pinball gameroom on their estate
Quoted from benheck:I think we've seen "Peak Disney" this year and he may be bailing out while he's on top.
Future doesn't look great. Star Wars is pretty much dead, the upcoming Marvel movies don't look interesting and they've run out of 90s movies to remake into live action for nostalgia. The last of which Mulan was "made for China" and releases next month in a country that's shut down its theaters - whoops!
Quoted from benheck:Future doesn't look great. Star Wars is pretty much dead, the upcoming Marvel movies don't look interesting and they've run out of 90s movies to remake into live action for nostalgia
Not to defend Disney, but apparently their Disney+ service is doing great. Star Wars will continue along like Star Trek does, I imagine.
Marvel movies haven't been of much interest to me, like ever, but I'm sure they will keep churning out massively profitable assets. $5 says they'll do another Taika Waititi: snatch up more amazing directors to helm their blockbusters. I'm fully expecting them to drive dumptrucks of money to Bong Joon-ho's place.
I thought they have been working on a plan for him stepping down for the last couple years. He will still work for Disney doing creative endeavors through 2021. He's still executive chairman. He's already blown past how many retirement dates now?
Quoted from Trekkie1978:Wasn’t Iger suppose to step down a couple years ago?
He was, and he delayed retirement to oversee Disney+ rollout. I wonder if he had a certain number of subscribers he wanted it to hit, and then he'd step down.
Quoted from cait001:but apparently their Disney+ service is doing great.
? Please provide some context? How can their streaming service be doing great when they gave away 3 free years worth of memberships to most customers? Maybe it is raking in the money but I can't see how, not without some numbers behind your statement.
I agree with Ben about the Disney peak. Star Wars The High Republic? Pass, only for the die hards if there are any left. New Marvel movies? Pass, at least until the next avengers movie. New Marvel TV shows? Sure, but only because I have 3 free years of Disney+. What's there to be excited about?
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Must be stepping down due to frustration about lack of Tron VE.
Know your audience: CHECK
Be Funny: CHECK!!
Quoted from Friengineer:? Please provide some context? How can their streaming service be doing great when they gave away 3 free years worth of memberships to most customers? Maybe it is raking in the money but I can't see how, not without some numbers behind your statement.
I agree with Ben about the Disney peak. Star Wars The High Republic? Pass, only for the die hards if there are any left. New Marvel movies? Pass, at least until the next avengers movie. New Marvel TV shows? Sure, but only because I have 3 free years of Disney+. What's there to be excited about?
Good point. I got Disney+ for a year free. I like the Mandalorian series but doubt I will pay over $70 a year just to watch that. I didn't even see the last Star Wars movie. Strange to say that but interest is fairly low. That said, I don't really watch tv or movies anymore. Nothing seems worth the time to watch. Marvel does seem to be played out. Actors are retiring, story lines ending, and not much new seems to be there for next generation. Still, Disney is a juggernaut and they are not just going to fade away so easily.
Quoted from Friengineer:? Please provide some context? How can their streaming service be doing great when they gave away 3 free years worth of memberships to most customers? Maybe it is raking in the money but I can't see how, not without some numbers behind your statement.
I agree with Ben about the Disney peak. Star Wars The High Republic? Pass, only for the die hards if there are any left. New Marvel movies? Pass, at least until the next avengers movie. New Marvel TV shows? Sure, but only because I have 3 free years of Disney+. What's there to be excited about?
From a business perspective, it IS doing great. They have a big number of subscribers (30 million i think?), which is what matters to shareholders. Doesn’t matter if they papered the room. Some of those free subscriptions will go into year 2, and they’ll get more as more content goes live. If they continue the “Disney vault” approach then people will continue to have reason to subscribe.
The subscriber numbers are ALL that matter right now - subscribers go up, stock goes up. Subscriptions go down, stock goes down. Doesn’t matter how they get them. Getting customers costs money anyway - this may be one of the cheapest ways to retain a customer AND advertise to a captive audience at substantially reduced cost.
Quoted from Rdoyle1978:and they’ll get more as more content goes live.
That's not a guarantee, especially with the unlimited competition, Hulu, Amazon, HBO, CBS, Apple, Netflix. I do agree with your assessment of the subscribers and stock price. The real question is will Disney be able to execute?
Quoted from Friengineer:That's not a guarantee, especially with the unlimited competition, Hulu, Amazon, HBO, CBS, Apple, Netflix. I do agree with your assessment of the subscribers and stock price. The real question is will Disney be able to execute?
I think so (obviously this is just my speculation) - they have 3 marvel shows coming, more Mandalorian, and several other Disney-related things.
I do think it kinda sucks that Marvel and Star Wars have taken over - they are pushing down their other brands as a result.
Brands like this pray for a “major break out” show That can pull everything else on its coattails, and they already have that with Mandalorian. I genuinely hope they bring back the proposed “Star Wars underworld” show which had its test footage leaked recently. That looked (visually) quite interesting.
Time will tell right ?
Quoted from Rdoyle1978:From a business perspective, it IS doing great. They have a big number of subscribers (30 million i think?), which is what matters to shareholders. Doesn’t matter if they papered the room. Some of those free subscriptions will go into year 2, and they’ll get more as more content goes live. If they continue the “Disney vault” approach then people will continue to have reason to subscribe.
It is not doing great. They forecasted higher subscriber penetration, and the churn that occurred after Mandaloiran was greater than they layered in.
As is, it won't turn profitable until 2024.
Quoted from Friengineer:? Please provide some context? How can their streaming service be doing great when they gave away 3 free years worth of memberships to most customers?
Disney is projected to lose 4 billion dollars on streaming this year.
Define doing great.
Quoted from Friengineer:That's not a guarantee, especially with the unlimited competition, Hulu, Amazon, HBO, CBS, Apple, Netflix. I do agree with your assessment of the subscribers and stock price. The real question is will Disney be able to execute?
You should know Disney owns Hulu (28M subscribers)as well, as ESPN+ (3.8M subscribers).
Quoted from PinMonk:I hope his health is okay. Not a lot of reasons this kind of thing happens. Especially when he seemed to be killing it for Disney on all fronts and hadn't really groomed a replacement of any note (which reforces the idea this was unexpected).
https://apnews.com/323d2e3fa1390925934d9f896456c9ce
I wonder how or if this will affect Stern or Jersey Jack licensing in the short term...
This has been totally expected - its always just been a question of when and who. He was set to step down two times earlier... but 'at the request of the board..' he stayed on longer. There have already been multiple 'whose next' realignment and departures due to the jockeying of the succession plan.
At the end here, Iger was setting up to get Shanghi done and Disney+ done... and he's done that. The timing was a surprise in that people didn't expect it this week vs some other 'near term' date.. but his departure isn't a surprise at all. It's actually been more a growing question of "will he ever leave.." even tho he has said repeatedly he was setting up for departure. The biggest surprise is tapping Chapek - and questioning his ability to run an org the size of Disney.
Many are wondering if the timing is more so that Iger gets out before more of the stink hits the fan in coming earnings calls due to China slowdowns, continued ESPN declines, saturation in the parks, etc.
Quoted from gdonovan:Disney is projected to lose 4 billion dollars on streaming this year.
Define doing great.
'Lose' can be misleading there. "Investing" is more accurate to what they are doing. They are intentionally spending beyond the expected revenues as they ramp up and prepare for the future.
They are doing 'great' on lots of points in streaming...
Establishing content dominance - Consolidating their library
Establishing a customer foothold
Establishing a platform to deliver the service
Establishing a GTM strategy around their similar offerings of Hulu, D+, ESPN+, etc
Delivered on some knock-out original content on day 1
Quoted from JodyG:I thought they have been working on a plan for him stepping down for the last couple years. He will still work for Disney doing creative endeavors through 2021. He's still executive chairman. He's already blown past how many retirement dates now?
All correct
The splash is in WHO he tapped... and questioning what he may be avoiding if that's driving the timing.
He also seems to be making a play for expanding the reach of the Board Chairman role beyond strategy...
Quoted from flynnibus:All correct
The splash is in WHO he tapped... and questioning what he may be avoiding if that's driving the timing.
He also seems to be making a play for expanding the reach of the Board Chairman role beyond strategy...
The was the second splash, the tell something is amiss is the suddenly part.
Investors don't like "sudden" it usually indicates another shoe is going to drop as to why. Iger has been making retirement noises for years, this was out of left field. Watch Lucasfilm and see if Kennedy is shown the door post haste, rumor is Iger was asked to retire as Kennedy was left in place after making the Star Wars franchise somewhat less profitable and he didn't do anything about it. Iger picked her for the position and that might be a factor.
Quoted from Methos:It is not doing great. They forecasted higher subscriber penetration, and the churn that occurred after Mandaloiran was greater than they layered in.
As is, it won't turn profitable until 2024.
Source ? The last article I read said they had hit close to 30 million, which exceeded the 20 million they initially projected for the start of 2020. Disney is clearly making an investment in this system they will capitalize over many many years. Remember, they use Hollywood accounting anyway. Nothing is ever “Profitable”. Yet they somehow seem to keep making money...
Quoted from Rdoyle1978:Source ? The last article I read said they had hit close to 30 million, which exceeded the 20 million they initially projected for the start of 2020. Disney is clearly making an investment in this system they will capitalize over many many years. Remember, they use Hollywood accounting anyway. Nothing is ever “Profitable”. Yet they somehow seem to keep making money...
Source is a person inside the Org hanging around the DVC Club. 
When you pull back on guaranteed cash flow agreements, you have to offset that revenue loss. Doesn't matter if you're in Hollywood or not. You're Hollywood comment is related to offsetting indirect/common costs, which historically has been used to reduce royalty payments. Music industry has done the same.
Quoted from gdonovan:The was the second splash, the tell something is amiss is the suddenly part.
Investors don't like "sudden" it usually indicates another shoe is going to drop as to why. Iger has been making retirement noises for years, this was out of left field. Watch Lucasfilm and see if Kennedy is shown the door post haste, rumor is Iger was asked to retire as Kennedy was left in place after making the Star Wars franchise somewhat less profitable and he didn't do anything about it. Iger picked her for the position and that might be a factor.
It wasn't 'noise' about retirement in earlier years... literally his contract was up and was planning to retire. He's been extended twice. This is all very public stuff. The previous rounds that lead to depatures like jay rasulo, tom staggs, etc are all fallout from Iger's sticking around and lack of assention for his underlings as 'yet another round..' for Iger kept coming up as the stock was so bullish. Iger has been standing in the doorway for nearly 5 years... it's not sudden. The news drop was not foreshadowed, so it was a suprise it happened that day, but not a suprise that Iger steps down.
Kennedy was tapped by Lucas - Not Iger. But Disney's management of the post-Lucasfilm StarWars will be the debate for many years to come...
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Must be stepping down due to frustration about lack of Tron VE.
You seriously need to be given an award for some of your posts.
Quoted from flynnibus:It wasn't 'noise' about retirement... literally his contract was up and was planning to retire. He's been extended twice. This is all very public stuff. The previous rounds that lead to depatures like jay rasulo, tom staggs, etc are all fallout from Iger's sticking around and lack of assention for his underlings as 'yet another round..' for Iger kept coming up as the stock was so bullish. Iger has been standing in the doorway for nearly 5 years... it's not sudden. The news drop was not foreshadowed, so it was a suprise it happened that day, but not a suprise that Iger steps down.
Kennedy was tapped by Lucas - Not Iger. But Disney's management of the post-Lucasfilm StarWars will be the debate for many years to come...
1) What part of "abrupt" did you miss in the headline? Top guys like Iger don't abruptly leave without lots of notice so not to upset the stock prices.
2) Kennedy was appointed AFTER Disney purchased Lucasfilm and Lucas stepped down. You don't think Iger had no say in the matter with a 4 billion dollar transaction? Iger has made several statements of support for her including telling board members in a meeting that Star Wars was not changing course under her direction.
If there is any truth to it then Kennedy will be stepping down in the next few weeks.
Time will tell.
33659992884E2DA2DCCA00D7BB0F (resized).jpgGettyImages-629041738-e1530278111197 (resized).jpgSolo-A-Star-Wars-Story-World-Premiere-kathleen-kennedy-bob-iger-624x416 (resized).jpgQuoted from gdonovan:1) What part of "abrupt" did you miss in the headline? Top guys like Iger don't abruptly leave without lots of notice so not to upset the stock prices.
Headlines are designed to grab attention. Those following the company know far more than what the headline tries to scream.
He was set to expire in 2018, but they extended him in 2017 to 2019. Then in 2019 they extended him another 3 years to 2021. The topic of 'when will Iger leave' has been a topic for this entire decade. The last major fallouts were when he shuffled Rasulo and Staggs in a move to groom Staggs and then they told Staggs he wasn't going to get it. This was in 2016 and everyone had been expecting Iger to step down with his contract up in 2018. That's when the real panic was happening... as there seemed to be no plan and they had just gotten rid of the top two internal candidates with no other real work in the pipeline.
A recap from the time - https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/business/media/behind-the-scenes-at-disney-as-it-purged-a-favorite-son.html
Then Iger was extended and it started the 'staying on to see Shanghai through', etc.. and then it was so bullish, that everyone was begging Iger to stay on longer.. and we got the 2019 extension. But even after that, Iger had said multiple times he was planning to step down after that deal. But the stock had been so bullish, he was looked at as the key to keeping the run going.
Quoted from gdonovan:2) Kennedy was appointed AFTER Disney purchased Lucasfilm and Lucas stepped down
No, she was already in charge at Lucasfilm BEFORE the sale of the company (She was Co-Chairman.. with Lucas) and her staying on was one of the contingencies of the deal. Lucas looked to her to maintain the identity he had established. The deal was she would takeover leadership of Lucasfilm as Lucas walked away. She was put there BY LUCAS in the deal... not picked out by Iger. She was Lucas' pick to be his guardian of his child.
Obviously Iger had a say in the matter, but Kennedy wasn't Bob's work... that was Lucas'.
"...the perfect person to take-over the company was Kathy.."
https://fortune.com/2015/09/10/kathleen-kennedy-lucasfilm-star-wars/
“I racked my brain to figure out who do I trust … who understands the business side of it but also understands the creative side of it. And finally I banged into it and said, ‘Oh, my God, it’s Kathy.’ ”
—George Lucas
Quoted from gdonovan:Iger has made several statements of support for her including telling board members in a meeting that Star Wars was not changing course under her direction. If there is any truth to it then Kennedy will be stepping down in the next few weeks.
Time will tell.
You think he would slam her while she was still in position? Of course he's going to back her publicly. The irony is it was Chapek who was thought to be on the hotseat in the last 6months due to the botched openings of StarWars in the theme parks... and here they instead gave him the keys to the kingdom.
Star Wars drama is off the table for TWDC investors right now... it's all about the digital transition away from the ESPN cashcow and trying to maintain the blockbuster pace the tentpole films and grow in the park's division numbers. Drama about The Last Jedi, Rise of Skywalker, etc is in the past. The FUTURE of starwars is a question... but not causing fear in the investors. They are all giddy about the other talent Disney has waiting in the wings for star wars... Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni
Time will tell.
FYI, Disney under Iger did NOT have to extend her contract in 2018 to 2021 which they did. He was very direct in a shareholders meeting after The Last Jedi fiasco that there would be no course changes which the shareholders were demanding.
Quoted from Methos:This is not good news if you are a Disney Parks fan.
I welcome the change. The parks and resorts have been losing "the magic" the last few years though IMO. Feeling like I'm getting more nickle and dimed every year with bigger price hikes, more fees and less stuff included, like charging for parking at the resort for example. Feeling more like Universal in that way where everything is a money grab which wasn't always the case. Galaxy's Edge feels like it's barely in the SW universe to me with so much of it just a generic animal kingdom future style land with alot of dead space and a couple of ships sprinkled in. Hugely disappointed with that area. Disney Springs has all the charm of Vegas shopping mall now including the main World of Disney store which was basically stripped of all the fun character decor it had inside. I feel that way about much of what they have "renovated", seems more boring watered down style with far less character than it used to have. Rooms at Pop Century don't even have carpet any more, WTF? The parks are too damn full all the time now to enjoy them as much as we used to. There have been some pluses though. Skyliner has been a great addition and from all indications the Tron coaster is going to be kickass. I used to love going there much more 5+ years ago.
Quoted from RazerX:I welcome the change. The parks and resorts have been losing "the magic" the last few years though IMO. Feeling like I'm getting more nickle and dimed every year with bigger price hikes, more fees and less stuff included, like charging for parking at the resort for example. Feeling more like Universal in that way where everything is a money grab which wasn't always the case. Galaxy's Edge feels like it's barely in the SW universe to me with so much of it just a generic animal kingdom future style land with alot of dead space and a couple of ships sprinkled in. Hugely disappointed with that area. Disney Springs has all the charm of Vegas shopping mall now including the main World of Disney store which was basically stripped of all the fun character decor it had inside. I feel that way about much of what they have "renovated", seems more boring watered down style with far less character than it used to have. Rooms at Pop Century don't even have carpet any more, WTF? The parks are too damn full all the time now to enjoy them as much as we used to. There have been some pluses though. Skyliner has been a great addition and from all indications the Tron coaster is going to be kickass. I used to love going there much more 5+ years ago.
Hate to tell you this, but Chapek, who has been with the company since 1993, has been chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products since 2018.
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bob-iger-abruptly-stepped-down-at-disney-today?hl=damoib and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.
New York, NY
London
