[imagesource:flickr]

The 75-year-old CEO of Disney, Bob Iger, is said to have made it his top priority to finally identify a worthy successor after one failed retirement, a pandemic, and other failing big-money ventures.

Just like in the fairy tales that built the empire, the ageing king is now in search of an heir to unite his kingdom and live happily ever after.

Except this is no fairytale and the kingdom in question is one of the most successful entertainment companies to ever exist, with a $238 billion (R4.3 trillion) market cap and interests spanning the entire globe.

Dubbed the real-life Succession, Iger extended his contract multiple times before finally retiring in 2020 with the handpicked Bob Chapek given the Disney crown just in time for the pandemic and subsequent global financial crisis.

According to Vanity Fair, the entertainment giant has narrowed down Iger’s list of successors to four candidates, with plans in place to hand over the mantle in 2026 – and crucially avoid a repeat of the 2022 disaster that saw Iger return to pick up the pieces within just three years.

Chapek’s relationship with Iger is said to have broken down during this rocky period and he was ousted in 2022 with the former CEO reinstated.

“The board royally f****d up last time.”

“Bob Chapek may be the biggest mistake Bob Iger made in his career,” Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich told Vanity Fair. Seems two Bob’s don’t make a right.

Chapek pushed the company towards producing exclusive content for Disney+, while several of the company’s sequels, live-action remakes, and IP offerings underwhelmed at the box office. Numerous films flopped, including Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones: Dial of Destiny, The Marvels, and Wish. Most of these titles ended up costing Disney millions.

Bob Chapek | Image: Flicker

With Netflix and Amazon Prime now in the race for viewers, replacing Iger will come at a very unfortunate time for Disney, which is the only one of the three still lagging behind in getting back to pre-2021 figures.

Iger has in the meantime gone on a ‘major restructuring’ process in an attempt to cut $ 7.5 billion (R139 billion) in costs –  said to have seen 8,000 positions axed since 2022 and Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios cutting 14% of its workforce. While Wall Street wants a return on profits, Iger seems to be refocused on quality-over-quantity, meaning more productions will be made as feature films that screen first in cinemas before being moved onto the Disney+ streaming platform.

The people tapped as candidates for the CEO position are Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro, and Josh D’Amaro. Co-chairman of Disney Entertainment Dana Walden, 59, seems to be a favourite, having moved to The Disney Company from The Fox Television Group in 2019. She has plenty of experience in running massive businesses and is understood to be friends with Iger, who is also her neighbour in Brentwood, California.

While Disney films don’t seem to be making too much money, the franchise’s theme parks are still killing it, and in September last year, Disney announced it wanted to expand parks and cruise lines by doubling their park spending to approximately $60 billion (R1.1 trillion).

Since 2005, Iger has steered the company through acquiring Lucasfilm, Marvel, and most of 21st Century Fox, and navigated the rise of streaming entertainment. Finding someone to fit the shoe will be harder than it appeared in Cinderella.

[source:independent]