{"id":531578,"date":"2026-03-18T21:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/531578\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T21:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:48:15","slug":"bob-igers-next-moves-amid-disney-ceo-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/531578\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Iger’s Next Moves Amid Disney CEO Transition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAs Paramount\u2019s pending takeover of Warner Bros Discovery preoccupies the industry, another seismic development in the media business has finally arrived: Disney<\/a>\u2018s CEO transition.<\/p>\n

\n\tBob Iger<\/a>, who returned to the top job in 2022, will officially pass the baton to successor Josh D\u2019Amaro<\/a> on Wednesday, ending a fabled run in the corner office. While the focus will now be on how D\u2019Amaro will run things, it is also worth considering Iger\u2019s trajectory once he finally detaches from the company where he has spent more than half a century.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe record shows a list of accomplishments by Iger over a combined 17-plus years as CEO across two separate stints. The most recent one, starting in November 2022, saw Iger confronting vexing issues like AI, labor unrest and the need to lay off thousands of workers amid sweeping industry consolidation. Despite the challenges that he has conceded were fiercer than he anticipated before his official return, the chief exec did manage several feats. Among them were overseeing the turn toward profitability by Disney+, a rebound at the film studio, a planned theme-park expansion in Abu Dhabi, and partnerships with OpenAI<\/a> and Epic Games.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tIn his first CEO period, Iger soared to corporate-celebrity heights thanks to the acquisitions of Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm, and a charismatic style that enabled him to press the flesh at Disneyland, win favor on Wall Street and also manage delicate Hollywood egos. \u201cBob was straight out of central casting as a modern chief executive, and had such an aura that he could generally bend people to his will, without making them feel like they had been bent,\u201d recalls one former executive in the strategic planning group, which was disbanded last year.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere were misfires, of course, like deals for Maker Studios and Club Penguin, not to mention a string of botched succession attempts, including his decision to settle on Bob Chapek<\/a> after minimal vetting in 2020. One M&A move remains controversial: the $71.3 billion takeover of most of 21st Century Fox. While the deal gave Disney valuable IP like Avatar, The Simpsons and FX, plus control of Hulu, it came at a steep cost financially and entailed a messy integration process. <\/p>\n

\n\tIt remains unclear exactly how Iger plans to occupy himself once his affiliation with Disney ends. At 74, he enjoys the status of an industry statesman and will be in great demand as a mediator, consultant and speaker. After Wednesday\u2019s Disney shareholder meeting, he will remain as a special adviser and member of Disney\u2019s board of directors until the end of 2026. It is understood that much of his time thereafter will be devoted to sailing his recently acquired superyacht, Aquarius, and managing the controlling stake he and wife Willow Bay bought in women\u2019s pro soccer team Angel City FC. They paid $250 million in 2024<\/a> in a deal that conferred the richest valuation on any women\u2019s sports team to date.<\/p>\n

\n\tInterviewed by ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir in February after the succession process was settled, Iger said he will be \u201cavailable on call\u201d if anyone at Disney \u201cshould anyone want any advice from me.\u201d When Muir asked Iger if the weight on his shoulders was a little lighter because of the completion of the long-fraught succession process, the exec replied, \u201cIt is, it is. Yeah, you know, you can\u2019t just turn the switch off one day with something that you\u2019ve been so involved with and is such an important part of your life. But I\u2019m just looking forward to quieter moments and quieter days and a little bit more, I don\u2019t know, room in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tBay Window\t<\/p>\n

\n\tOne former exec who still speaks regularly with Iger says Bay\u2019s future as dean of USC\u2019s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism will help determine how much of an actual retirement phase Iger enters. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cJust track Willow,\u201d the person said. \u201cIf she retires from USC, Bob will stay retired. If not, well, if your wife is working full-time and you\u2019re not, it can get a little lonely. I believe him when he says he doesn\u2019t want the daily hassles of running a giant company. And while I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll get restless, sometimes people surprise you. He\u2019s 74 in an industry where you have people in their 80s and 90s still making big moves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBay was re-appointed as Dean for a five-year term in March 2022, meaning another renewal will be due in the coming months.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Bay chose to re-up in 2022 right after Iger had formally cut ties with Disney, the former executive saw that as a turning point. \u201cThat was the moment for him when he rethought what he was doing,\u201d the exec said. \u201cA venture capitalist or a private equity guy \u2013 that\u2019s not him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCorporate governance experts have flagged the sequence of events in 2020 and 2021. Iger stepped down in February 2020 but then continued as executive chairman and creative adviser until the end of the following year. That enabled him to look over the shoulder of Chapek and render judgment when decisions went sideways.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the case of Florida\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d legislation, which became a quagmire for Disney, Iger took the unusual step of stepping into the situation when Chapek had not publicly weighed in on it. \u201cI\u2019m with the president on this!\u201d Iger tweeted, referring to Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

\n\tPolitics has long been a passion for Iger, a longtime supporter of Democrats, but a consideration of a presidential run last decade ended abruptly when the exec brought the prospect up with Bay. Iger recounted the story in his 2019 autobiography The Ride of a Lifetime, declaring it a settled issue \u2013 though that didn\u2019t prevent his name from surfacing as one possibility<\/a> when Biden was looking for an ambassador to China.<\/p>\n

\t\tPast Prologue?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two-and-a-half-year period in between his CEO stints saw Iger make a series of moves aimed at positioning him as a tech-forward investor and guru of the corporate executive suite. In Hollywood, years before the collective rush into streaming, Iger cultivated a relationship with Apple\u2019s Steve Jobs, serving on the tech company\u2019s board from 2011 to 2019. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn his Disney entr\u2019acte, Iger joined Josh Kushner\u2019s investment firm Thrive Capital<\/a> as a venture partner. <\/a>He invested in delivery service Gopuff<\/a> and collectibles firm Funko (also signing on as a board advisor at Funko<\/a>). Iger also joined the board of avatar\u00a0technology\u00a0company Genies<\/a> and made a personal investment in the emerging\u00a0metaverse\u00a0player. He took a seat<\/a> on animal-free dairy maker Perfect Day\u2019s board of directors.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Chapek chapter and previous succession about-faces that saw presumed heirs-apparent like Tom Staggs leave the company were blemishes on Iger\u2019s otherwise strong record. But in terms of where his ultimate legacy winds up, a lot will depend on how the company fares in the years to come. Will D\u2019Amaro, who made his interests in technology known while running the Experiences division, build on some of Iger\u2019s signature initiatives bridging entertainment and tech? Given how much AI has mushroomed since the last time Iger was a free agent, it is certainly conceivable he might relish the chance to play an influential role in its rise, or in reframing its ambitions in creative industries like Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne thing in Iger\u2019s favor is the handling of the changing of the CEO guard by Disney chairman James Gorman, who won praise for how he handled his own exit as Morgan Stanley CEO in 2023. It has put Iger in a more promising light than he was in the last time he abruptly handed only part of the reins to Chapek in a move no one saw coming. As TC Cowen analyst Doug Creutz put it in a recent note to clients, \u201cA full stepping back from\u00a0Disney by Iger \u2013 unlike in 2020 where he remained chairman of the board \u2013 probably decreases the likelihood of internal politics becoming an obstacle to a successful CEO transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

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