Bob Iger named Disney CEO in shocking development

[carolsherman]

Yes you got that right

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Funny how all this time Golden Mickeys still had the video of Bob Iger telling Ensen Benson to just try. On our March WBPC cruise, they still referred to him as the CEO of Disney. On our Sept cruise, they simply said THE Bob Iger.

 

[nmoody1]

He raised prices while simultaneously cutting services, and he took Disney into the political arena.

Disney has been a political party for years. The very fact that they run Reedy Creek has made them political since at least the 60s..its just that Bob C decided to make a stand against a bully, and it didnt pay off.

Great maybe he will undo all the dumb rides he made and Eiger will bring back the magic that Walt created
. Great move disney

Could you name some of these dumb rides? I'm by all means not a fan of Bob Chapek, but the one recent ride I think was poor was Na'avi river - which was Greenhithe under Tom Staggs (who also pushed for Tron to be so great, so we can forgive him!) I'd argue Cosmic Rewind and ROTR amd even Runaway Railway wete all great rides?

 

[Bonnie1222]

DIS stock price down about 50% in one year.

View attachment 720333

Right!!! And we haven't been paid a dividend in 2 years or is it 3 now? Why they renewed that man's contract I will never know!

 

[elsawasajedi]

Right!!! And we haven't been paid a dividend in 2 years or is it 3 now? Why they renewed that man's contract I will never know!

....

is there another stock you have that is performing well in this market you wishes you had invested more into instead?

you do realize like.....what the market is right now right?

also what were your reasons for purchasing this stock in the first place versus other stocks?

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I did not have Bob Iger returning as CEO being announced during the Walking Dead series finale on my 2022 bingo card!

My emotions were everywhere last night lol

(For clarity I’m happy Iger is returning-but I found out during a very intense part of the finale lol)

 

[Bonnie1222]

....

is there another stock you have that is performing well in this market you wishes you had invested more into instead?

you do realize like.....what the market is right now right?

also what were your reasons for purchasing this stock in the first place versus other stocks?

I've owned the stock for over 30 years. It is one only a few I own and we bought it because we love Disney - we had an opportunity and purchased some. My main investments are in other forms and doing much better than my stocks.
Yes, the market is down I understand that but a 50% drop is not just the market - it is from a company that had historically been a good investment to now being listed as a sell or hold and when the die hard fans who support Disney no matter what start saying No - you have big problems. When they put paycheck in place everyone knew he was doing to nickle and dime everything but he did it at the cost of the loyal base. When DVC, AP holders and locals stop coming, you lose what keeps you afloat in the bad times. And that has been happening.

Don't get me wrong - running a billion $ industry is not easy, and I wouldn't want that responsibilities but the signs have been there for a while, and the voices have been ignored. In my opinion the board seemed to be content to let it continue when they renewed his contract after the company lost 50% of it's value. That was a red flag everyone seemed to ignore.

 

[LambertLion]

 

[wabbott]

Right!!! And we haven't been paid a dividend in 2 years or is it 3 now? Why they renewed that man's contract I will never know!

The last dividend paid was $0.88 per share on 01/16/2020, almost 3 years.
https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/dis/dividend-history

 

[brentm77]

I've owned the stock for over 30 years. It is one only a few I own and we bought it because we love Disney - we had an opportunity and purchased some. My main investments are in other forms and doing much better than my stocks.
Yes, the market is down I understand that but a 50% drop is not just the market - it is from a company that had historically been a good investment to now being listed as a sell or hold and when the die hard fans who support Disney no matter what start saying No - you have big problems. When they put paycheck in place everyone knew he was doing to nickle and dime everything but he did it at the cost of the loyal base. When DVC, AP holders and locals stop coming, you lose what keeps you afloat in the bad times. And that has been happening.

Don't get me wrong - running a billion $ industry is not easy, and I wouldn't want that responsibilities but the signs have been there for a while, and the voices have been ignored. In my opinion the board seemed to be content to let it continue when they renewed his contract after the company lost 50% of it's value. That was a red flag everyone seemed to ignore.

This is correct. DIS has underperformed the S&P 500 significantly, all while the demand for it's product is at an all time high. It is clearly poor management. I think Iger understands the importance to keep the brand a premium product and that you can't just raise prices endlessly while slashing the quality of the product. This is good news for the parks and cruising.

 

[brentm77]

I've owned the stock for over 30 years. It is one only a few I own and we bought it because we love Disney - we had an opportunity and purchased some. My main investments are in other forms and doing much better than my stocks.
Yes, the market is down I understand that but a 50% drop is not just the market - it is from a company that had historically been a good investment to now being listed as a sell or hold and when the die hard fans who support Disney no matter what start saying No - you have big problems. When they put paycheck in place everyone knew he was doing to nickle and dime everything but he did it at the cost of the loyal base. When DVC, AP holders and locals stop coming, you lose what keeps you afloat in the bad times. And that has been happening.

Don't get me wrong - running a billion $ industry is not easy, and I wouldn't want that responsibilities but the signs have been there for a while, and the voices have been ignored. In my opinion the board seemed to be content to let it continue when they renewed his contract after the company lost 50% of it's value. That was a red flag everyone seemed to ignore.

This is correct. DIS has underperformed the S&P 500 significantly, all while the demand for its product is at an all time high. It is clearly poor management. I think Iger understands the importance of the Disney brand and that you can't just raise prices endlessly while slashing quality. This is good news for the parks and cruising.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I'm overjoyed that Paycheck is gone, but I'm not convinced Iger returning is going to make everything better. Many of the things that everyone hates were in planning stages under Iger and were just implemented by Chapek. I'll wait and see what happens before celebrating Iger's return. Also, I doubt Iger will be here for very long. I think they brought him back to try to stop the hemorrhaging and will be looking for another, more competent (ETA: as in more competent than Chapek), replacement for him.

 

[sabrecmc]

I think Iger understands the importance of the Disney brand and that you can't just raise prices endlessly while slashing quality. This is good news for the parks and cruising.

This is where I come down on things. Iger, of course, wants to make money for the company and increase the stock price for investors. That's a given. But, I do think he had a vision for the company and understood that this is a long-term brand investment that needs to flourish by nourishing its creatives. Disney used to run enough promotions that a young family could make a trip happen, have a great time, and build those memories that keep them coming back and bring the kids back with their kids one day. Magic moments still happened. You could feel the difference in how the CMs felt, too. Last time we went, we had fun, but it was just such a let down. My hope for the future is that we see some immediate changes (no more park reservations would be my #1 lol) and then some long-term goals communicated that embrace what sets Disney apart. I'm not holding out for a 5th gate, but istg these middling half-measures they have done lately are just so disappointing.

 

[brentm77]

I'm overjoyed that Paycheck is gone, but I'm not convinced Iger returning is going to make everything better. Many of the things that everyone hates were in planning stages under Iger and were just implemented by Chapek. I'll wait and see what happens before celebrating Iger's return. Also, I doubt Iger will be here for very long. I think they brought him back to try to stop the hemorrhaging and will be looking for another, more competent (ETA: as in more competent than Chapek), replacement for him.

Fair points, but I still think there is a significant difference in their approaches. Iger is more on the creative side from all reports. Imagineers reported that he actually knew who they were and what they were contributing, while Chapek never even met most of them.

To your other point, it has been announced the Iger is coming back for two years to help find and prepare a successor. It does worry me that he wont' have the bandwidth to make significant improvements while trying to do that. But I still think it is a positive move overall, and it should at least stop the bleeding. The note he sent to employees, first thing, speaks to a different approach. The board must be seeing the many reports of unhappy customers and will hopefully find a different type of successor this time too. They can make much more money for the company by focusing on quality and expanding availability of their products, versus cost cutting.

 

[RedHead0186]

For a split-second, I literally wondered if today was April 1st.

Yep! When I first saw it posted last night I did the same thing (then double-checked the date of the article . . .)

 

[Sykes]

I guess we'll get an opportunity to learn whether the real villain is Chapek or D'Amaro. I'm betting on the latter, but people seem to be willing to give him a pass.

 

[AvidDisReader]

I for one am deeply saddened by the loss of Bob Chapek. Were am I to go without all the cheap and easy Chapek puns??? LOL

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Fair points, but I still think there is a significant difference in their approaches. Iger is more on the creative side from all reports. Imagineers reported that he actually knew who they were and what they were contributing, while Chapek never even met most of them.

To your other point, it has been announced the Iger is coming back for two years to help find and prepare a successor. It does worry me that he wont' have the bandwidth to make significant improvements while trying to do that. But I still think it is a positive move overall, and it should at least stop the bleeding. The note he sent to employees, first thing, speaks to a different approach. The board must be seeing the many reports of unhappy customers and will hopefully find a different type of successor this time too. They can make much more money for the company by focusing on quality and expanding availability of their products, versus cost cutting.

Very valid points all around. The article I read last night didn't mention the two year time frame, but it's what I would expect.

 

[AquaDame]

Fair points, but I still think there is a significant difference in their approaches. Iger is more on the creative side from all reports. Imagineers reported that he actually knew who they were and what they were contributing, while Chapek never even met most of them.

To your other point, it has been announced the Iger is coming back for two years to help find and prepare a successor. It does worry me that he wont' have the bandwidth to make significant improvements while trying to do that. But I still think it is a positive move overall, and it should at least stop the bleeding. The note he sent to employees, first thing, speaks to a different approach. The board must be seeing the many reports of unhappy customers and will hopefully find a different type of successor this time too. They can make much more money for the company by focusing on quality and expanding availability of their products, versus cost cutting.

Well, not that I'm sympathetic but Chapek had less than two years in pandemic times to manage what Iger had 15 years. Walking around the office was frowned upon for much of that. It's entirely possible even with that time he wouldn't have learned the names of the folk in Imagineering, but who is to say he wouldn't have also hit his groove and had more time to do things like that. The board was fine with him as recently as June or they wouldn't have extended his contract another three years at that point. Based on the graph above you could already see how badly he was underperforming compared to the S&P 500 so I'm not entirely convinced that is all that happened.

 

[Intr3pid]

Chapek's presence has made little to deter the growth in the parks and resorts division (which includes DCL). In fact, revenues in that division have been pretty solid considering COVID.

Anyone celebrating in this specific forum won't see much of a change under Iger.

It's the media and studio divisions that have really struggled under Chapek. Disney+ content has become meh, and the big blockbusters are far and few in between. There's a whole lot more competition as well. Chapek was an easy head to roll, but bringing back Iger isn't a solution. It's a stop gap at the moment.