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Walt Disney boss resigns: Out of the mouse

The American entertainment giant Walt Disney is about to change management. Company director Iger will hand over the reins to the previous head of the amusement park division, Chapek. The personnel decision causes astonishment.

An era ends with entertainment giant Walt Disney: longtime CEO Bob Iger – one of the best-known US business bosses – resigns with immediate effect. Disney manager Bob Chapek, who was most recently responsible for the amusement park division, was appointed as the successor. With the top change announced after the US market closed, Disney delivered a tangible surprise that caught many investors and analysts on the wrong foot.

Chapek’s election also raises questions. After the start of the Disney + streaming service, he believed that it was now the ideal time to hand over the office to a new CEO, said Iger. Chapek has been with Disney for 27 years, and has been responsible for the thriving business of theme parks and resorts for the past five years. “Bob will be the seventh chief executive in Disney’s nearly 100-year history, and he has proven himself exceptionally qualified to lead the company into the next century,” said Iger.

Abrupt and unexpected decision

Iger’s resignation comes abruptly and unexpectedly, even if he has been considering retiring for a long time and there have been speculations for years about who could replace him. The 69-year-old was at the top of the group for around 15 years; he had taken over from Michael Eisner in 2005. Iger shaped the entertainment giant with the takeovers of studios such as Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm as well as large parts of the competitor 21st Century Fox. He will remain Disney’s executive director until the end of 2021.

On Wall Street, however, the sudden change of leadership caused astonishment, also because Disney did not present a successor to Chapek’s position. “It’s a huge surprise,” said Laura Martin of the investment company Needham & Co on Bloomberg TV. Most listed companies try to gently prepare the markets for important personnel changes. The sudden announcement of Disney – the world’s largest entertainment group with a market value of more than $ 230 billion – shocked investors accordingly. The share temporarily fell over four percent after the exchange.

Theme parks instead of streaming

In addition, the Chapek staff is quite astonishing to some observers. The 60-year-old has been with the company for almost 30 years, but actually everything in the entertainment business has long been about streaming and not so much about theme parks. Many experts had Kevin Mayer as an Iger heir on the screen. He directs Disney’s streaming services, has been with the company for more than two decades, and was often traded as Prince Igers.

It is all the more surprising that he did not choose because Disney’s attack in the streaming market has only just begun. Because Iger’s last major project as CEO was the streaming service Disney +, which had its premiere in the United States on November 12. With the offer, the Hollywood giant opened the hunt for the rival Netflix, which has chased away many customers from the classic TV and film industry in recent years. The launch of Disney + was a success; in less than three months, the streaming service won nearly 29 million customers thanks to low prices and popular productions such as the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian”. In Germany, the new service is scheduled to start on March 24th.

Deutschlandfunk reported on this topic on February 26, 2020 at 6:00 a.m.


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