Bob Iger Returns/Disney CEO Thread (2022)

[Mad Dog]

Debt is always a reason for concern, but when you look at Apple, they pulled in almost $400 billion in revenue this year and had about $100 billion in net income. Disney has $50 billion in debt, so if it was an all-stock deal, they could handle the all of Disney's debt in a year if they chose to. If they financed the acquisition, obviously different story but the scale is there.

However, would Iger really want to come in only to sell the company? Stock shoots down 50% after his great run (stock performance-wise), and then he comes back for a quick-ish sale? I'm not so sure.

Yes, Disney's debt is a tough nut for Disney. It's just about nothing to Apple......One reason Disney probably made the move is that with their stock dropping so much under Chapek, they were becoming vulnerable to a hostile takeover.
If the stock jumps back up, much of the vulnerability goes away. Another bad quarter under Chapek could have been troublesome. Chapek seemed reluctant to back down on the Disney+ overspending, and was using the rest of the company to
finance the black hole.

 

[Fear2010]

Michael Eisner’s reaction to Iger’s return, and this is the best reply he coulda thought of in the first place after Frank’s death, but I don’t think they’ll ever bring him back.

 

[Mad Dog]

With the good news from Disney this week. The Wicked Witch is Dead.......Let's be thankful :grin: .....A Happy Thanksgiving to all of those enjoying Inside Universal.....Now, back to watching Macy's Parade,
Football Games, and drinking wine on my wine patio during a beautiful sunny day in the 60's in Elizabeth Township, Pa.

 

[JoeCamel]

With the good news from Disney this week. The Wicked Witch is Dead.......Let's be thankful :grin: .....A Happy Thanksgiving to all of those enjoying Inside Universal.....Now, back to watching Macy's Parade,
Football Games, and drinking wine on my wine patio during a beautiful sunny day in the 60's in Elizabeth Township, Pa.

Did you get that violinist installed to serenade you as you drink your wine yet? Just like being at Porto

 

[shiekra38]

Michael Eisner’s reaction to Iger’s return, and this is the best reply he coulda thought of in the first place after Frank’s death, but I don’t think they’ll ever bring him back.

Eisner has a lot of Disney stock, so I bet he's happy The Diplomat has returned

 

[Nick]

I know it won't happen, but I would love to see Eisner fill Chapek's empty board seat. The one thing I don't want is for Iger to be on the board (although I know he very likely will be) seeing as that's how we ended up with Chapek last time.

Of course last time he was not only CEO, but Chairman of the Board, so he basically had full say of his successor. This time, he's CEO, but the CEO doesn't get to decide their successor on their own and the board has to approve and with a new chairwoman in charge of the show and after the Chapek disaster, the board is gonna be a lot more picky on actually approving a new CEO so it's good he at least won't be Chairman again.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Apple isn't buying tWDC for all sorts of reasons.

 

[salismetho]

From what I heard Chapek was supposed to be at Dodgers Stadium that night on stage introducing Elton John on Disney+ before he found out the news.

I found out the news from the Dodger Stadium parking lot shortly before the show, him actually introducing the concert would've made the night for me lol. Oh well

 

[Nick]

Apple isn't buying tWDC for all sorts of reasons.

Exactly.

Disney would only cause them problems. They have no use for the theme parks, cruise line, etc so they'd spin that off. They have no use for linear TV networks so ABC, Freeform, Disney Channel, FX, ESPN, etc, etc would all be sold or shut down. ESPN is a valuable sports brand, but there's little growth and sports rights are out of control (of course Apple can afford that so ESPN wouldn't be a big issue).

If Apple wants anything from Disney, it is simply their studios, which is the most iconic and profitable part of TWDC. And Tbh, Apple has F you money and is building their own studio with movies directed by Scorsese and hits like Ted Lasso and Severance or they could just simply buy a smaller studio like Lionsgate (lionsgate also owns Summit and Starz) or A24 and it would be a lot less money and a lot less headache.

 

[BatCom]

Michael Eisner is 80 freakin' years old. He's not coming back.

 

[Nick]

Michael Eisner is 80 freakin' years old. He's not coming back.

*looks at age of currently known 2024 Presidential candidates* :look:

I wasn't being serious in meaning to specifically bring back Eisner. My point was, i'd love to see a reputable third party be brought to the board and rather than for Iger to just get to take up a seat on Disney's board again after flubbing the Chapek decision.

 

[BatCom]

*looks at currently known 2024 Presidential candidates* :look:

I wasn't being serious in meaning to specifically bring back Eisner. My point was, i'd love to see a reputable third party be brought to the board and rather than for Iger to just get to take up a seat on Disney's board again after flubbing the Chapek decision.

Sorry not dumping on you specifically. I have seen some people on Twitter and other forums seriously arguing for an Eisner comeback.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I like how Disney has like...no one besides old CEO's

I dont know if its just the current culture of people job hoping (not crapping on it more companies need to pay people to stay around) or if Disney just doesn't have people with original ideas but its kinda sad that people want Eisner back.

I also think that no one can really grow the company more then during Iger time, they already bought Marvel and Star Wars....what else can they buy? The only route I see them going that could net them more money is making less content but every show/movie is special and people have a big character (like a Grogu) to go out and spend money on. But with Disney Plus not really growing as fast as they like and I honestly dont think the new ad tier will help and the theme parks (while being maintained poorly) money wise the parks are killing it. Hell they are now limiting Genie + more because of how well its going

So I dont really think Disney can grow much bigger without a new Walt at the head and thats not going to happen....so it will be interesting to see how things turn out

 

[JoeCamel]

I like how Disney has like...no one besides old CEO's

I dont know if its just the current culture of people job hoping (not crapping on it more companies need to pay people to stay around) or if Disney just doesn't have people with original ideas but its kinda sad that people want Eisner back.

I also think that no one can really grow the company more then during Iger time, they already bought Marvel and Star Wars....what else can they buy? The only route I see them going that could net them more money is making less content but every show/movie is special and people have a big character (like a Grogu) to go out and spend money on. But with Disney Plus not really growing as fast as they like and I honestly dont think the new ad tier will help and the theme parks (while being maintained poorly) money wise the parks are killing it. Hell they are now limiting Genie + more because of how well its going

So I dont really think Disney can grow much bigger without a new Walt at the head and thats not going to happen....so it will be interesting to see how things turn out

Rumor is that they approached Staggs and Candlelight before Bob. If that's any indication of the board's mindset it is financial guys they want. Just a rumor but in these times..

 

[Jerroddragon]

Rumor is that they approached Staggs and Candlelight before Bob. If that's any indication of the board's mindset it is financial guys they want. Just a rumor but in these times..

Not surprised but my question would be besides spending less...what is a new CEO going to do to make more money?

They need someone who can lead creative teams like Walt did and make more movies people love at a lower cost, like I'm looking it up that the new Mario Movie cost around 80ish million when Strange World cost about double that and I'm sorry but the voices cast in Mario is A listers so while I think budgeting better will help. I think you need more films people love like Encanto and I think Pixar needs to go back to what made them great before because they are slowly losing their magic without great leadership

But honestly besides putting more Disney Plus stuff in theaters to make some returns and cutting the budgets, I don't see what Disney can get into to grow more without buying another company which they should not do now, lol

 

[Nick]

Not surprised but my question would be besides spending less...what is a new CEO going to do to make more money?

They need someone who can lead creative teams like Walt did and make more movies people love at a lower cost, like I'm looking it up that the new Mario Movie cost around 80ish million when Strange World cost about double that and I'm sorry but the voices cast in Mario is A listers so while I think budgeting better will help. I think you need more films people love like Encanto and I think Pixar needs to go back to what made them great before because they are slowly losing their magic without great leadership

But honestly besides putting more Disney Plus stuff in theaters to make some returns and cutting the budgets, I don't see what Disney can get into to grow more without buying another company which they should not do now, lol

Which is a reason why, even through his many flaws late in his tenure, people still have fond memories of Eisner. There's no one at TWDC like him right now with any chance of becoming a CEO. The next CEO is going to be different from Chapek in very few ways. The only thing Chapek did wrong in their eyes was he made too many changes and they aren't seeing results.

I have little sympathy for Chapek, but going all-in on streaming was Iger's idea and Chapek followed through on that. It's also not Chapek's fault that he inherited a company not only in disarray from COVID (and he did manage to get the NBA to WDW during that summer to his credit), but he also inherited a company in deep debt due to the Fox deal which Iger vastly overpaid for.

Chapek had a lot of problems, but had he not undercut the amount of say the creatives had, picked a fight with Scarlett Johansson, and handled the Florida situation so badly (he was a terrible problem solver), he was mostly just following Iger's script.

 

[tielo]

Oh dear, Bob lied...

*Mod removed link*

 

[shiekra38]

Oh dear, Bob lied...

Which is funny because us normies even know that D+ is a money pit

He can't even lie right

 

[Jerroddragon]

Which is a reason why, even through his many flaws late in his tenure, people still have fond memories of Eisner. There's no one at TWDC like him right now with any chance of becoming a CEO. The next CEO is going to be different from Chapek in very few ways. The only thing Chapek did wrong in their eyes was he made too many changes and they aren't seeing results.

I have little sympathy for Chapek, but going all-in on streaming was Iger's idea and Chapek followed through on that. It's also not Chapek's fault that he inherited a company not only in disarray from COVID (and he did manage to get the NBA to WDW during that summer to his credit), but he also inherited a company in deep debt due to the Fox deal which Iger vastly overpaid for.

Chapek had a lot of problems, but had he not undercut the amount of say the creatives had, picked a fight with Scarlett Johansson, and handled the Florida situation so badly (he was a terrible problem solver), he was mostly just following Iger's script.

The Fox Deal never....never made sense to me

They should have paid much less and got the rest of the Marvel Characters from them....but they didn't need Fox and fox besides maybe Simpsons has provided them very little and honestly no idea besides filling Disney Plus/Hulu with fox titles what value they could have going forward.

Like literally for 8 billion Disney got Marvel and Star Wars.....for 62 Billion more they bought Fox....I'll never understand why.


My real question to the board who wants to make more money is how? You can Budget better but I really dont see anything Disney could buy....like if they had insane money then Nintendo would be an easy buy but after the Fox deal they no way in hell have that kinda funds so honestly dont know why you'd invest in Disney when they just don't have much room to grow without a huge restructure

 

[shiekra38]

The Fox Deal never....never made sense to me

They should have paid much less and got the rest of the Marvel Characters from them....but they didn't need Fox and fox besides maybe Simpsons has provided them very little and honestly no idea besides filling Disney Plus/Hulu with fox titles what value they could have going forward.

Like literally for 8 billion Disney got Marvel and Star Wars.....for 62 Billion more they bought Fox....I'll never understand why.


My real question to the board who wants to make more money is how? You can Budget better but I really dont see anything Disney could buy....like if they had insane money then Nintendo would be an easy buy but after the Fox deal they no way in hell have that kinda funds so honestly dont know why you'd invest in Disney when they just don't have much room to grow without a huge restructure

An easy way to get #content to pad their streaming service

I don't understand it either

Personally, I think many of the 20th Century IPs actively work against Disney's image, but I'm not sure that bothers them when someone's using Hulu or D+