Bob Chapek Is Out, Bob Iger Is In Again As Disney's CEO In A Shocking Move

TV & Film

Nov 21

It’s never good when a CEO known globally for their animation studio says animation isn’t for all audiences, and clearly, the people upstairs noticed. Bob Chapek has been removed as CEO of The Walt Disney Company, just five months after a three-year contract extension. It also comes between the box office success of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Walt Disney Animation Studios’ next film Strange World.

Turns out that the spending review and layoffs resulted in Chapek himself falling victim. In a surprising turn of events, the company board announced that Bob Iger, who Chapek succeeded as CEO in February 2020 after 15 years in the post will retake the position. This was a tenure that spanned several acquisitions, including Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Fox, and the development of Disney+. The company says that Iger will serve as CEO once again for the next two years. “The Board has concluded that as Disney embarks on an increasingly complex period of industry transformation, Bob Iger is uniquely situated to lead the Company through this pivotal period,” said board chair Susan Arnold on Sunday.

Removing Chapek had apparently been in consideration for quite a while, possibly for reasons surrounding the “Don’t Say Gay” law contributions, but the poor financial performance for the fourth quarter basically sealed the deal. It also comes as the ad-supported tier for Disney+ will launch in the coming weeks. Coincidentally, Disney brings back a previous CEO as it begins co-financing a franchise that just brought back a previous actor very popular in the role to play its main character once again.

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