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.

'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

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...

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...

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.

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

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

What is happening now 7 years later has nothing does not rewrite what happened before Disney bought Lucas and how KK came to be. So really all of the above is irrelevant to what was being corrected.