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[diffusionx]

I think most people get it. Iger has a passionate, disproportionately vocal cult following though.

Chapek had no chance to succeed. Not only did Iger stick around as chairman after he “stepped down”, he was still very active. This was ostensibly because of “the pandemic” but that feels like an excuse. It wasn’t “ceremonial” like it often is in these big corporate changeovers (see: Bill Gates when he stepped down as CEO). Not only that but he was not shy about criticizing Chapek’s job. Now, Chapek failed by virtually any measure but he was also set up to do so, by Iger.

 

[0neAnd0nly]

It's amazing how so many people don't realize this. A lot of things Chapek gets criticized for are really things started by Iger.

I think most people get it. Iger has a passionate, disproportionately vocal cult following though.

Chapek had no chance to succeed. Not only did Iger stick around as chairman after he “stepped down”, he was still very active. This was ostensibly because of “the pandemic” but that feels like an excuse. It wasn’t “ceremonial” like it often is in these big corporate changeovers (see: Bill Gates when he stepped down as CEO). Not only that but he was not shy about criticizing Chapek’s job. Now, Chapek failed by virtually any measure but he was also set up to do so, by Iger.

I wrote for 2 Disney websites that were big, and co-owned another. Disney is something I am passionate about, especially Walt himself and what he built.

Nobody I knew on ANY of the places I was contracted to work with or contributed to my project liked Iger. He was not well liked. Friends and family that have been CMs / still are felt the same way.

There may be a niche circle of middle management in California specifically that liked him, but the average CM and Disney fanatic certainly did not.

 

[Amiga]

The cinema bombs were most likely started under his watch, so don't know what he will change.

 

[Drew1440]

Let's hope they axe a few shows, they have been prioritizing quantity of quality as of late.

 

[RoboFu]

When the news broke, I was really not enthused.

Don’t get me wrong. Chapek hasn’t done well. At all. BUT I always felt like this was Iger’s goal and that most people that aren’t hard core Disney fans don’t really realize it.

Iger fired basically everyone that fans wanted to get a shot at taking over in the last 10 years. He hand picked Chapek. Iger is the one who stripped multiple benefits from passholders and locals, DVC record price hikes under his administration, and completely destroyed the large majority of Cast Member bonuses and benefits. He also ushered the closure of basically all Disney park outlets and Disney stores.

Ewwww.

Chapek was his fall dude. Hand selected.

Iger needs to go, period. Equally as much as Chapek.

Nah dude iger brought Disney to its peek.
He only fired people who stood in the way of real progress. Iger is all about “happy employees and fans bring in the money”. He loved imagineering, chapek hated them.. thought they were worthless.

But the bottom line is under iger the company profited and the employees and fans were happy.


Also this is only a two year deal. The board knew bringing iger in would send the stock numbers back up.

 

[DeafTourette]

"Iger also announced the entertainment giant will be undergoing a broader transformation with him back at the helm. "Over the coming weeks, we will begin implementing organizational and operating changes within the company," Iger wrote to employees. "It is my intention to restructure things in a way that honors and respects creativity as the heart and soul of who we are."

Iger added that he had asked Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro, and Christine McCarthy to "work together on the design of a new structure that puts more decision-making back in the hands of our creative teams and rationalizes costs." Iger said the goal "is to have the new structure in place in the coming months."

Outside Iger's reorg of Chapek's reorg, the Disney chief could also unwind another key decision made by Chapek that is just weeks from taking effect: Disney+'s price hike. Iger launched Disney+ at a mere $6.99 a month and, as CNBC's Alex Sherman reported, his strategy was to "slowly raise prices over time." Chapek, however, ditched that modus operandi earlier this year when he spiked the price to a whopping $10.99 a month."

Bob Iger moves fast to dismantle Chapek's reorganization of Disney

One day after the shock announcement of Bob Iger's return to Disney, and the resulting ouster of his successor-turned-predecessor Bob Chapek, an astonished Hollywood is grappling with what exactly the move will mean for the entertainment behemoth's short-term and long-term future.

amp.cnn.com

 

[AJUMP23]

"Iger also announced the entertainment giant will be undergoing a broader transformation with him back at the helm. "Over the coming weeks, we will begin implementing organizational and operating changes within the company," Iger wrote to employees. "It is my intention to restructure things in a way that honors and respects creativity as the heart and soul of who we are."

Iger added that he had asked Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro, and Christine McCarthy to "work together on the design of a new structure that puts more decision-making back in the hands of our creative teams and rationalizes costs." Iger said the goal "is to have the new structure in place in the coming months."

Outside Iger's reorg of Chapek's reorg, the Disney chief could also unwind another key decision made by Chapek that is just weeks from taking effect: Disney+'s price hike. Iger launched Disney+ at a mere $6.99 a month and, as CNBC's Alex Sherman reported, his strategy was to "slowly raise prices over time." Chapek, however, ditched that modus operandi earlier this year when he spiked the price to a whopping $10.99 a month."

Bob Iger moves fast to dismantle Chapek's reorganization of Disney

One day after the shock announcement of Bob Iger's return to Disney, and the resulting ouster of his successor-turned-predecessor Bob Chapek, an astonished Hollywood is grappling with what exactly the move will mean for the entertainment behemoth's short-term and long-term future.

amp.cnn.com

It would be great if they didn't raise the price.

 

[chromhound]

employees and investors were pissed at him... He was cheap bastard

 

[BadBurger]

The so called "Disney Adult" online community is over the moon about this. I had no idea Chapek was so disliked and Iger so loved.

 

[BadBurger]

"Iger also announced the entertainment giant will be undergoing a broader transformation with him back at the helm. "Over the coming weeks, we will begin implementing organizational and operating changes within the company," Iger wrote to employees. "It is my intention to restructure things in a way that honors and respects creativity as the heart and soul of who we are."

Iger added that he had asked Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro, and Christine McCarthy to "work together on the design of a new structure that puts more decision-making back in the hands of our creative teams and rationalizes costs." Iger said the goal "is to have the new structure in place in the coming months."

Outside Iger's reorg of Chapek's reorg, the Disney chief could also unwind another key decision made by Chapek that is just weeks from taking effect: Disney+'s price hike. Iger launched Disney+ at a mere $6.99 a month and, as CNBC's Alex Sherman reported, his strategy was to "slowly raise prices over time." Chapek, however, ditched that modus operandi earlier this year when he spiked the price to a whopping $10.99 a month."

Bob Iger moves fast to dismantle Chapek's reorganization of Disney

One day after the shock announcement of Bob Iger's return to Disney, and the resulting ouster of his successor-turned-predecessor Bob Chapek, an astonished Hollywood is grappling with what exactly the move will mean for the entertainment behemoth's short-term and long-term future.

amp.cnn.com

the Disney chief could also unwind another key decision made by Chapek that is just weeks from taking effect: Disney+'s price hike. Iger launched Disney+ at a mere $6.99 a month and, as CNBC's Alex Sherman reported, his strategy was to "slowly raise prices over time." Chapek, however, ditched that modus operandi earlier this year when he spiked the price to a whopping $10.99 a month.

That Disney+ price hike by Chapek bothered me a lot. Disney+ was one of, if not the, fastest growing streaming services. Chapek's response was to drastically raise the price out of the blue. Is another $4/month a big hit? No, but making such a proportionally large price increase so quickly and with no tangible increase in value was like spitting in his customer's faces.

 

[ManaByte]

That Disney+ price hike by Chapek bothered me a lot. Disney+ was one of, if not the, fastest growing streaming services. Chapek's response was to drastically raise the price out of the blue. Is another $4/month a big hit? No, but making such a proportionally large price increase so quickly and with no tangible increase in value was like spitting in his customer's faces.

The parks hike was worse. He priced everyone except the super rich out of the parks and didn’t even offer a coupon day.

 

[KormaChameleon]

I thought his name looked familiar but never really cared. Could someone kindly explain why this is classed as good news?

 

[Neff]

Bob Iger killed Twin Peaks and Star Wars.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Why?

 

[Kamina]

Welcome Bob!
Bob.

 

[0neAnd0nly]

Nah dude iger brought Disney to its peek.
He only fired people who stood in the way of real progress. Iger is all about “happy employees and fans bring in the money”. He loved imagineering, chapek hated them.. thought they were worthless.

But the bottom line is under iger the company profited and the employees and fans were happy.


Also this is only a two year deal. The board knew bringing iger in would send the stock numbers back up.

Hard disagree. I have family and friends that were CM of multiple levels… one of which… a very important one. I also, again, contributed to Disney press and co-owned one. I was at events that were exclusive, dined and reviewed places within the parks before they opened to the public, etc.

Nobody outside of some of the California circle liked Iger. I’m telling you:

- He eliminated free parking for resort guest.

- He eliminated weekday pass in California.

- He changed bus routes in the parks which led to longer times.

- He eliminated paper fastpass.

- Record price hikes, multiple in same calendar year(s).

- Ushered in the dry period of parades in the park, nothing replaced the MSELP at MK which was lost almost 6 years ago, among others.

- Actually the one that began to politicize Disney.

- Eliminated a huge number of jobs by leading the closure of the majority of Disney park outlet stores around the country, and beginning the closure of the Disney retail stores (though this continued under Chapek).

- Notoriously cut benefits for CMs

I can go on, and on and on.



I have been blessed to have been a part of the press for 2 things I love, Disney and video games. I get excited for Disney threads here for that reason (combo of the 2). But I will say… working to cover something you love… ends up being pretty stressful. There wasn’t a lot of positive park news among the years I did it, you almost end up hating it, really.

IMO, and it is controversial- but Eisner was the one who made Disney the power it is. Had a great run of animation, the parks flourished. He made some knuckle-headed remarks and was no stranger to price hikes, but he also did a ton for guest and the service experience. He ushered in and innovated most of what you know and / or love about Disney parks today.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Chapek had no chance to succeed. Not only did Iger stick around as chairman after he “stepped down”, he was still very active. This was ostensibly because of “the pandemic” but that feels like an excuse. It wasn’t “ceremonial” like it often is in these big corporate changeovers (see: Bill Gates when he stepped down as CEO). Not only that but he was not shy about criticizing Chapek’s job. Now, Chapek failed by virtually any measure but he was also set up to do so, by Iger.

Hard disagree. I have family and friends that were CM of multiple levels… one of which… a very important one. I also, again, contributed to Disney press and co-owned one. I was at events that were exclusive, dined and reviewed places within the parks before they opened to the public, etc.

Nobody outside of some of the California circle liked Iger. I’m telling you:

- He eliminated free parking for resort guest.

- He eliminated weekday pass in California.

- He changed bus routes in the parks which led to longer times.

- He eliminated paper fastpass.

- Record price hikes, multiple in same calendar year(s).

- Ushered in the dry period of parades in the park, nothing replaced the MSELP at MK which was lost almost 6 years ago, among others.

- Actually the one that began to politicize Disney.

- Eliminated a huge number of jobs by leading the closure of the majority of Disney park outlet stores around the country, and beginning the closure of the Disney retail stores (though this continued under Chapek).

- Notoriously cut benefits for CMs

I can go on, and on and on.



I have been blessed to have been a part of the press for 2 things I love, Disney and video games. I get excited for Disney threads here for that reason (combo of the 2). But I will say… working to cover something you love… ends up being pretty stressful. There wasn’t a lot of positive park news among the years I did it, you almost end up hating it, really.

IMO, and it is controversial- but Eisner was the one who made Disney the power it is. Had a great run of animation, the parks flourished. He made some knuckle-headed remarks and was no stranger to price hikes, but he also did a ton for guest and the service experience. He ushered in and innovated most of what you know and / or love about Disney parks today.

This whole scenario is a perfect thesis on reverse psychology. Grass is never greener manipulation, even.

All by design, me thinks.

 

[RoboFu]

I thought his name looked familiar but never really cared. Could someone kindly explain why this is classed as good news?

Iger brought Disney to its peek. He invested greatly into employees and the parks. He valued creativity And it all brought about many years of high profits, happy employees, and happy fans.


Chapek didn’t care about anything but the next fiscal outcome. He treated the employees in all departments like crap. He took a lot of the“ magic “ out of the parks by pinching pennies all over. His direction wasn’t sustainable. You can’t just make things worse and expect the outcome to remain positive. And he just plainly wasn’t a good ceo. He stumbled on his messaging constantly.

Hard disagree. I have family and friends that were CM of multiple levels… one of which… a very important one. I also, again, contributed to Disney press and co-owned one. I was at events that were exclusive, dined and reviewed places within the parks before they opened to the public, etc.

Nobody outside of some of the California circle liked Iger. I’m telling you:

- He eliminated free parking for resort guest.

- He eliminated weekday pass in California.

- He changed bus routes in the parks which led to longer times.

- He eliminated paper fastpass.

- Record price hikes, multiple in same calendar year(s).

- Ushered in the dry period of parades in the park, nothing replaced the MSELP at MK which was lost almost 6 years ago, among others.

- Actually the one that began to politicize Disney.

- Eliminated a huge number of jobs by leading the closure of the majority of Disney park outlet stores around the country, and beginning the closure of the Disney retail stores (though this continued under Chapek).

- Notoriously cut benefits for CMs

I can go on, and on and on.



I have been blessed to have been a part of the press for 2 things I love, Disney and video games. I get excited for Disney threads here for that reason (combo of the 2). But I will say… working to cover something you love… ends up being pretty stressful. There wasn’t a lot of positive park news among the years I did it, you almost end up hating it, really.

IMO, and it is controversial- but Eisner was the one who made Disney the power it is. Had a great run of animation, the parks flourished. He made some knuckle-headed remarks and was no stranger to price hikes, but he also did a ton for guest and the service experience. He ushered in and innovated most of what you know and / or love about Disney parks today.

I mean even if true that he had something ot so with those .. even if he had given the command himself for those things.. The experience IN THE PARKS themselves were never better. there was no cost cutting to the cast members and a ton of investment into the parks themselves. and thats the biggest difference. Iger wasnt afraid to invest in the experience and he loved the creative nature of disney. Thats the exact opposite of Chapek. I mean who did we loose under Chapek? Tom Staggs, Bob Weise, Joe Rohde?! Lots of greats "RETIRED" ( but oddly got new jobs ) because they disagreed with the direction Chapek was pushing. Parks have been constantly under staffed since covid. The park reservation system isnt to keep crowds levels down.. its so they can more closely pinch cost on how many staff memebers they need at each park instead of keeping great cast members embbed in the company.
Also I think Josh D'Amaro will be great under iger. I am betting he is also in the top 3 to be groomed as the CEO as well.

But yeah also the Main Street electrical parade did have a follow up for a time.. the spectro something or another.. but for me 2 parades are just too many.. festival of fantasy and firworks is enough, I dont want to waste 5-6 hours a day on that (got wait an hour before hand ott get a good spot) and knowing my wife.. we would have to .. lol

 

[InverseAgonist]

Interesting piece at Marketwatch on bringing back CEOs statistically:

The MIT study concluded that boomerang CEOs actually are not always the saviors that Wall Street is hoping for. “Boomerang CEOs indeed performed significantly worse than other types of CEOs,” was the conclusion. The authors compared data on 167 boomerang CEOs from 1992 to 2012 from the S&P Composite 1500 Index, and compared their tenures with 6,000 other non-boomerang CEOs.

“On average, the annual stock performance of companies led by boomerang CEOs was 10.1% lower than their first-stint counterparts. These results held true even when we compared them with other (non-boomerang) CEOs who were hired in times of crisis,” the report said.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s...-but-history-is-not-on-their-side-11669071691

 

[DeafTourette]

I highly doubt that the Pixar head will be fired. Chapek basically cut his legs off by putting so many of their movies on D+

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

I predict that Iger will fail just as much.

 

[DeafTourette]

I predict that Iger will fail just as much.

Doubt.gif

 

[Rest]

The Bob is dead. Long live the Bob!

 

[jason10mm]

I'm curious how many dev deals are gonna get axed. I figure Cameron and the Avatar train are pretty safe, the MCU is fine (regardless of how I feel about it, their content is still pretty strong), LucasArts might be in for some shake-up I wonder, they have got to be under-performing, the Disney animated team is DEFINITELY due for a re-alignment, they have been swinging and missing a lot lately, as has Pixar but I feel like that studio is nigh untouchable so long as they put out a sequel every now and again.

Disney really needs a new park complex. The # of folks that want to go to DL and WDW is just too high, raising ticket prices to try to cap attendance isn't the way. They need more parks to spread the love. I'd like to see a Texas park to split the country into nice driving distance categories and lets face it, all the cool shit has been going to the international parks for years, it'd be nice to get some of that stuff here. Alas, I doubt they could get the land to do another WDW sized escape retreat, it would probably be wedged into the Dallas Ft. Worth crush like everything else. Lots o land between San Antonio and El Paso though, just sayin

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Interesting piece at Marketwatch on bringing back CEOs statistically:



https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s...-but-history-is-not-on-their-side-11669071691

Does that control for the upcoming drop in performance which necessitated bringing the "boomerang" back in the first place? My assumption being companies wouldn't go back to the well if they were doing good, and what if the boomerangs actually mitigated losses?

Edit: it does and I'm a dumb dumb who wanted to sound smart smart

 

[Nobody_Important]

Starting off on the right foot.

Disney CEO Bob Iger to hold town hall with employees on Monday

Disney CEO Bob Iger to speak with Disney employees at town hall on Monday, a week after he was rehired.

www.cnbc.com

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

 

[ManaByte]

As expected Strange World is bombing big time.


After Lightyear and this Iger is probably going to tell the Skittles hairs to leave their woke virtue signaling out of their family cartoons.

 

[DeafTourette]

As expected Strange World is bombing big time.


After Lightyear and this Iger is probably going to tell the Skittles hairs to leave their woke virtue signaling out of their family cartoons.

There was no woke virtue signaling in Lightyear...

 

[ManaByte]

There was no woke virtue signaling in Lightyear...

There’s a half second lesbian kiss that was originally removed from the movie but in the uproar over the Florida situation and to satiate the mob, Chapek had it put back in the movie.

 

[DeafTourette]

There’s a half second lesbian kiss that was originally removed from the movie but in the uproar over the Florida situation and to satiate the mob, Chapek had it put back in the movie.

That still is not woke virtue signaling. It's blink and you miss it. It was not a focal point of a large section of the movie

 

[ManaByte]

Another Chapek disaster (which caused two lawsuits) is being dismantled.

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

I actually buy the talk that Iger will set up Disney to be purchased by Apple. I also think that purchase would make sense for Apple's streaming and live sports ambitions. Similar to how Zaslav is probably setting up WBD for a sale, which also makes sense.

That still is not woke virtue signaling. It's blink and you miss it. It was not a focal point of a large section of the movie

Be that as it may the backlash was already huge going into it. Damage was already done.

 

[Trazyn the Infinite]

The Lightyear movie was mediocre anyway, so it doesn't really matter if it had that scene or not. It would have bombed.

Glad to see Iger back and Chapek out, but I also don't believe this will change much. Would love to be wrong though. Disney has been in a rut of mediocrity for years.

 

[Faust]

Stick to the topic folks.

 

[BadBurger]

I actually buy the talk that Iger will set up Disney to be purchased by Apple. I also think that purchase would make sense for Apple's streaming and live sports ambitions. Similar to how Zaslav is probably setting up WBD for a sale, which also makes sense.



Be that as it may the backlash was already huge going into it. Damage was already done.

Has there been any solid indications Apple is interested in the theme park and cruise ship side of things?

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

Has there been any solid indications Apple is interested in the theme park and cruise ship side of things?

No. And there's no solid indication that Apple is interested in Disney as is. They have never made an acquisition in the 10s of billions let alone 100s of billions this would be. That said DPEP has a 30+% Profit Margin IIRC. Something that would be in line with the high profit margins that Apple seeks. They could either A) Let those people keep doing what they're doing in DPEP or B) Divest it with licensed IP.

 

[DeafTourette]

I actually buy the talk that Iger will set up Disney to be purchased by Apple. I also think that purchase would make sense for Apple's streaming and live sports ambitions. Similar to how Zaslav is probably setting up WBD for a sale, which also makes sense.



Be that as it may the backlash was already huge going into it. Damage was already done.

It makes no sense for Apple to buy Disney or for Iger to sell Disney because it's NOT up to him... HE answers to the board and THEY decide sale or not.

Also, it was manufactured backlash because idiots who hate gay people felt attacked by not having straight people be the only characters in the movie. I swear people need to chill and step back ... I blame Kotter for coming back!

 

[ManaByte]

It makes no sense for Apple to buy Disney or for Iger to sell Disney because it's NOT up to him... HE answers to the board and THEY decide sale or not.

Iger has said that if Steve Jobs had lived longer they likely would’ve merged companies. It’s something that’s been on his mind since he started running Disney.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/2...ney-would-have-merged-if-steve-jobs-was-alive

 

[Xenon]

It's fascinating to see the outrage grifters mad that Iger is back because they claim he put KK in charge of Lucasfilm, when George Lucas was the one who did.

True but he left her there. George was blindsided by her vision whereas Iger had full knowledge and left her at the helm.

I think the big mistake most people make when addressing the whole Disney situation is trying to look at individual things in each of the films. It's not about a kiss or the sexuality of the leads. It's about a system where each projects goes through a filter of committees and mid level managers who got degrees in gender studies and diversity. The whole system is rotten to the core. The Star Wars movies that were wholly born from this process never had a chance to be anything great. This goes for any original project. Sadly even other credits works they try to capitalize don't fare much better since they also have to go through these committees.

Sure things can be somewhat entertaining because you still have some talented people working on these projects. I'm curious to see if James Gunn can pull off a good movie in the current system. I think his record has probably given him a little more leeway than others.

 

[HoodWinked]

Stock is back to what it was in 2015.

Don't know if its really because of leadership tho. The business is changing Disney made tons of money due to cable packages and movie tickets. Now the streaming business is forcing them to cannibalize two of their most profitable aspects of their business.

 

[NahaNago]

Chapek never had a chance. He was pretty much set up to fail by Iger. He had the debt from the purchase of Fox to deal with, a quick promotion, disney plus starting up, and covid. He was trying to squeeze out as much profit as possible and keep things afloat. Unfortunately he is a pure businessman type person so he will make cuts, dress up the accounts, and be terrible with pr.

 

[ManaByte]

Stock is back to what it was in 2015.

Don't know if its really because of leadership tho. The business is changing Disney made tons of money due to cable packages and movie tickets. Now the streaming business is forcing them to cannibalize two of their most profitable aspects of their business.

It’s because Iger has already been dismantling the biggest Chapek problems on the creative and parks sides. In less than a week.

 

[Trunx81]

So Chapek shifted budgets to hide the losses of Disney+. It’s no surprise that the streaming service is losing money big time, but I’m pretty sure that it is backed by toy sales. Mandalorian playing a big part in it with Baby Yoda or all the Lego sets. Encanto also went wild with all the merch (my daughter is wearing her Mirabelle dress as we speak). When I visit the Disney Store in my town, everything is packed with exclusive Disney+ toys.

They managed what Amazon tried with e.g. Alexa: Diversify. Disney is Never only about the success at box office, it’s about how further you can milk the cow. This is where their real power lies.

 

[ManaByte]

Here’s how Chapek was killing the parks. $25 for a single ride.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Here’s how Chapek was killing the parks. $25 for a single ride.

Nice

 

[akimbo009]

Here’s how Chapek was killing the parks. $25 for a single ride.

Yikes. Took my family to Disney World 4 years ago or so... Expensive as fuck, but if I was also paying 25 bucks to move up to a reasonable spot in line... Yeah, not good.

 

[Trunx81]

Yikes. Took my family to Disney World 4 years ago or so... Expensive as fuck, but if I was also paying 25 bucks to move up to a reasonable spot in line... Yeah, not good.

People payed that amount to watch Mulan early on Disney+!

 

[BadBurger]

People payed that amount to watch Mulan early on Disney+!

I admit, my household was one of them.

 

[Trunx81]

I admit, my household was one of them.

Mine is guilty for buying Black Widow (thanks, dad).