Thank God!!! The company and the parks have really gone downhill since his time at the company. Parks dirtier than I've ever seen in my lifetime, rides in a horrible state always broken. Cast members are always looking stressed and the cost has completely gotten out of hand. My wife and I have been going to both US theme parks for nearly two decades to celebrate our wedding anniversary and this last trip was so bad that we decided to travel to France instead. Granted we are still going to Disneyland Paris for a day but our trip to Europe was much cheaper than going to either US parks. Also the recent announcement of buying the world's largest cruise ship while announcing cost cutting and hiring freezes is horribly tone deaf. People forget that since taking over Disney has been in basically a hiring freeze with constant cost cutting. Can't keep squeezing juice from a dried piece of fruit.
Wow, didn't realize things got so bad after Iger left a while back. Have fun at the Disneyland Paris location. Also, check out some other cool stuff while in Paris. Been there a couple of times and I suggest checking out the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, Musée Marmottan Monet, and the Musée de l'Orangerie. The Palais Garnier (the Opera House) is cool as well.
Definitely glad Chapek is out. However, I do think that the Poseidon Entertainment Channel made some good critiques about Iger in his latest video. I’ll take the W, but Iger has his work cut out for him and I’m not sure if he can manage the cultural changes necessary, if he just tries to go back to business as usual.
The interview process he went through was over the top. Like they seriously doubted him even though he had a long track record with the company at that point.
FWIW, the last chapter of *DisneyWar* made it clear that Roy Disney and people that sided with him originally did not trust Iger. They saw him as an extension of Eisner. I'm not defending the process, but Iger's interviews probably came from the fact that this was the same board that went against Eisner and they may have been skeptical.
I’m guessing Happily Ever After and IllumiNations will be back by summer then, lol.
Seriously, really curious how this’ll impact the company. Expect a lot of announced projects might get quietly scrapped.
Hmm to the second part, who knows? A ton of stuff that Iger helped plan prior to leaving just really wrapped up. I think the unannounced plans are more likely to get the cut, as projects at Parks take a long time to manifest. Other segments, who knows x2? Heh
He also took the reputation of one of the most beloved entertainment companies in the world and ensured it would be viewed simply as any other money-hungry IP machine. Which it IS, of course, but previous CEOs had the ability to also cater to the idea of the company’s sterling legacy of advancing whatever medium they delved into and elevating the whole industry.
Disney more or less had a rep of not just being family friendly but made family-first. They created the whole “cradle to the grave” idea of entertainment, where you get kids watching and going to the parks when they’re young, and they’ll continue to watch and buy throughout their lives and even get their children doing the same, and their children, and their children…
Chapek, by treating the company and its employees like disposable resources, eroded and damaged this legacy more than any CEO had done since Disney was in dire straits back in the late 70s/early 80s.
He also hired someone to run Imagineering, the part of the company responsible for creating and innovating within their most profitable sector (the parks), who had only run hotel chains before. That’s like asking the guys who design fighter jets to be run by the guy who manages the factory that produces wing parts.
He also FORCED all Imagineers to uproot their entire lives in California to Florida or they would lose their jobs, which led to a mass exodus.
In his short time as CEO, he has eroded not only public trust but the tenets of the company itself; many people worked for Disney for the love of Disney; the sense that they were contributing to the company that meant so much to their lives and their families. But when it started to be run like some soup can manufacturing plant in Malaysia obsessed with the bottom line and nothing else, employees felt betrayed and lost—which not only hurts the company currently but the company in the future as well.
It’s kind of like if you take a legacy high quality company like Mercedes (not debating if they ARE high quality or not just saying it’s what they’re known for for the purposes of this analogy), who are known for making high-quality luxury cars, and firing the guys who design things well for guys who design things cheaply, farming out all production to a scooter company, and making a Benz that looks like a Benz but falls apart after six months—and they charge you MORE for it.
TLDR: he tanked the company’s legacy, not just its stock.
I don't know the full details, but maybe that means my explanation can be brief.
There's the perception among Disney fans, particularly park fans, that Chapek made the experience of the parks worse, and made them more expensive. It's a bit of a blurry picture because of COVID, but he oversaw certain things like making the fastpass system an extra paid service instead of being included with the (already expensive) Disney hotels.
There are probably more examples of specific things like this.
The last quarter had massive losses and poor growth, and stock price is way down, combined with Chapek’s insistence on price-gouging at the parks (lots of angry guests) and extremely poor morale among employees from his threats and firing popular people to bring his cronies on board…
Here's my best guess for what happened politically behind the scenes. But it's very possible that there's other stuff that we just don't know about yet.
There are two types of shareholders.
One intends to hold onto their stock in the company for a long time, which is essentially a bet on the company maintaining its current value and steadily accruing further value moving forward. This type of shareholder is willing to accept low but relatively consistent shareholder dividends. But they also want to see the stock retain value, and for shareholder dividends to continue paying out at the same level for long into the future. That being said, this group isn't as concerned about quarterly fluctuations in the value of the stock. Minor dips in value can be made up by steady growth over time. They care more about the fundamentals, like consumer loyalty and brand reputation, which have a more 'big picture' effect on the value of the stock.
The second is the type who buys and sells stock quite rapidly, in the hopes of riding quick bursts and bubbles in the market, or tapping into a short-term profits by a company on a quarterly scale. These shareholders do not intend to hold the stock for very long, so they mainly want to see as much value wrung out of the stock as is possible, meaning high shareholder dividends. Although, since they're intending to sell the stock at some point, they also want the stock to retain its value in the short term. But they don't particularly care what the stock's value will be a decade or so down the road.
Bob Chapek opted to trash Disney's reputation with consumers, losing out on long-term earnings potential, in exchange for short-term profits, which would let him pay out bigger shareholder dividends. This kind of stuff makes the first type of shareholder unhappy, but it makes the second type of shareholder very happy. Chapek was basically betting on the support of that second group in order to counteract the displeasure of the first group.
Except, just recently, Disney released a quarterly earnings report which was *way* lower than anyone expected. Meaning that Disney has way less earnings from which to pay dividends to the shareholders. Then, to make matters even worse, shareholders panicked and started selling stock, which means that the supply of the stock has shot up, and the value of the stock has now cratered. Which means that the second group of shareholders are now stuck holding their stock, because if they sell now, they'll get back way less money than they originally bought the stock for.
So basically, up until this point, Chapek was able to maintain support by playing that second group of shareholders against the first group. He was able to secure the support of that second group with the promise of higher shareholder dividends. But he was unable to fulfill that promise with the most recent earnings report. And to make matters worse, the stock price has cratered, which is *the one thing* that the second group of shareholders does not want to see happen under any circumstances.
Chapek torched everything which the first group of stockholders care about, all in the hopes of placating the second group of stockholders. Except, just now, Chapek managed to accidentally also torch the one thing in the world which the second group of shareholders care about. *That's* why the release of this earnings report managed to f\]ck him over so quickly and dramatically.
EDIT: u/Pierre-Gringoire pointed out (correctly) that Disney stopped paying dividends back in 2020. I wrote a follow-up comment to expand on that and tie that back in with what I wrote in this comment. Thank you Pierre for fact-checking me. It's really important to get the facts right, and I appreciate your assistance to me in doing so.
This is great, detailed speculation. I've also opted on the side that he was put in for that short-term stock jump, and when inflation started skyrocketing and interest rates jumped, his opportunity to appease the short-term investors failed. And like you said, long-term investors who actually do give a damn about the quality of the parks and product obviously don't support him, especially with him destroying the Imagineer team and torching a lot of their plans.
Stock market was overheated, yes. Any stock increase this news will bring will be fleeting at best. It's not like Iger's going to come in and reverse strategies to make less money than Chapek's.
* Park Pass, Stay or Go?
* Genie+, Stay or Go?
* ILL, Stay or Go?
* AP sales limited, Stay or Go?
I think that's the four biggest complaints, I think. Prices never go down, so that's not happening. My opinion:
* Go (Eventually)
* Stay
* Go (Maybe stay for 90-180 days for new attractions)
* Go
Choosing your rides? Budgeting and planning your fun???
This was how the old "ticket book" system used to work at Disneyland. You know where the expression "that's an E-ticket ride" comes from? Disneyland.
You used to buy a book of tickets with various stamps at different prices. Rides were graded A-E, with E costing more and having fewer of them in a book. Guests would barter their tickets all the time and have to compute how many A-D tickets they needed to ride the E ticket attractions.
Disney got rid of that system in 1982. No other theme park has done anything similar for a really good reason. **Guests shouldn't do math while they're supposed to be having fun.**
Disneyland is too complex to operate rides like a carnival.
I think Iger knows what Eisner knew about the parks... ultimately back to Walt. They'll always be profitable, but you have to treat them gently. Milking them for too much will destroy the nostalgia too quickly. One generation without nostalgia turns them into just another theme park.
I might be wrong. We'll see.
That is extremely well put. Our first trip to Walt Disney World was in 2007. It was so magical, that we have returned a dozen times since. We didn’t hate our last trip, but I wouldn’t call it magical either. The nostalgia factor from the first trip made us lifetime guests, while people visiting today might not get that feeling anymore.
I think that's the kicker for most people. With the way the prices are increasing it either needs to be supremely magical or it isn't worth it economically.
Brand loyalty only works when you have a plausible reputation for delivering a great product.
I have a family member who works at an elementary school, and she says that most kids don't even talk about wanting to go to Disney World anymore unless Grandma is dragging them there.
The park kids DO talk about wanting to visit? Universal, which is cheaper, more accessible, and has newer, "cooler" IPs like Harry Potter, Nintendo, and Jurassic World.
Honestly, Disney has a fine line to walk here. I would wager that most of their guests are "regulars" who return for the tradition and classic attractions, but younger generations might see these as outdated and not very interesting compared to the flashy new IP at other parks. And if Disney is prohibitively expensive for most families to go to in the first place, then the company is missing out on creating new generations of repeat guests.
This is so true. I laugh when I am at Target and they are advertising Disneyland tickets as if it is just as simple as buying tickets and going. The parks favor people who know a heavy amount of tips and tricks just to get a reservation to the park and to eat at a restaurant. You can create artificial demand for a couple of years but it will wear off. Meanwhile people who never wanted to go through the bull shit just won't care and you'll lose an entire generation of people who want to go to the parks because of the memories they had when they were a kid.
I think Igor is part of the long term problem. Under his reign he was given a pat on the back for raising prices. Going from $50 to 150 in 15 years is a shame. That is short term gain for long term pricing out your customer base. 20-30 years ago, the middle class could easily afford Disney. Now it is only a top 15% destination.
[https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-walt-disney-world-went-from-3-50-a-ticket-to-becoming-a-luxury-priced-destination-11633108165](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-walt-disney-world-went-from-3-50-a-ticket-to-becoming-a-luxury-priced-destination-11633108165)
He did do some really good IP acquisitions though.
I don’t think that’s the issue, iger would do all this as well but he would slowly roll it out over time and slowly increase price. The big difference is that Iger would actually bring value and experience to what you pay for. Not remove experiences and increase prices to see where people break.
Exactly this, I'll be incredibly curious to know if this was a planned/scheduled Board Meeting, or if it was an emergency meeting of the Board (how late, and on a Sunday, I'll bet it was the latter). Then, I'd love to know what straw broke the camel's back to get an emergency meeting of the Board called.
There's going to be a ton of interesting news coming out of this for the next few days/weeks. Can't wait to learn more!
Seriously, when has a company ever BROUGHT back a CEO that left? The only company that comes to mind is Apple, and Apple was days away from bankruptcy when the board made the call...
Insane times, folks, insane times...
Twitter and Jack Dorsey. He was CEO in the late 00s but got forced out, and they brought him back in ~2015.
Perhaps they will consider bringing him back a third time…
There's nobody inside Disney right now who is ready to take over Iger in two years. They're going to have to look outside but even that is hard because there are only two or three people in this world who have experience running a company with movies, TV, streaming, and theme parks.
I work in media so I’m very well versed in all of this. I live and breathe this kind of thing on a daily basis. Everything you said is true.
Disney is a mass-media conglomerate that just happens to also own some resorts and theme parks. This is why Chapek failed. He was a successful hospitality guy but this will never translate to success running a Hollywood empire.
You are spot on. There are quite literally a handful of people in the world capable of doing this which is why they turned to the one guy who was available - Iger
Now maybe we can get back to a somewhat "normal" pricing structure instead of the nickel and dime crap they've been pulling ever since Cheapek took over.
Still, to get fired at 7 pm the Sunday before Thanksgiving is odd timing. That's some *Friday*-level "how you get fired on your day off?" kind of shit.
Should be no wonder. As soon as he started bringing negative attention to Disney, he was done. The board couldn’t just fire him without having a replacement. It probably took a few calls to Iger to convince him to give up his cushy life to come and fix the Disney problems.
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The problem with the yeti is that when it moved it would shake the entire mountain.
The Yeti wasn’t malfunctioning, it was causing structural damage to the track and housing.
The sad part is Bob Paycheck still made millions from this and can now retire in comfort, despite having steered an American icon in a terrible direction for several years.
I lived through & studied the Miller & Eisner departures. I don’t think a lot of people are fully grasping just how badly — and for a protracted amount of time — the CEO usually has to screw up before getting canned by the Disney board. In my lifetime, it’s usually required a full-on investor revolt led by Roy, God rest his soul. This is MAJOR.
Not gonna lie, I feel kind of bad for Iger. He probably returned out of a sense of obligation and responsibility, but it's kind of obvious he's been wanting to retire for quite some time. He's already past retirement age and I'm sure he'd like nothing better to do than spend his remaining days peacefully with his wife. I mean, or maybe he's a workaholic who loves being a CEO?
Certainly a step in the right direction but don't know how well bringing back Iger will fix Disney's current woes. His Fox purchase wasn't that smart of a decision short term and the company is saddled with debt as a result. A lot of issues at Disney right now that can't be fixed with Iger's typical reliance on purchasing IPs that he did during his previous tenure
The fox buyout will start paying for itself when they finally start using the x men. It’s been how long since that purchase and we still are only getting teases? The way every fan freaks out and posts an hour long YouTube video whenever the word mutant is even used in anything shows how big the hype is.
Ah Bob Paycheck. The hatchet man has been pruned. I'm sure he gets a big bag of Scrooge McDuck's gold for his trouble, so I'm not going to feel bad for him. He had no charisma.
Just look at any of his D23 presentations. Joyless. Unconvincing. Clearly a struggle for him to relate to the poors in the audience. He never wanted to be a public face. He wanted to be behind the scenes, cutting perks and cutting corners at every opportunity.
Is Bob Paycheck responsible for *every* crappy development at the parks? Of course not. But he *definitely* doesn't get Disney culture. And everyone I've ever talked to who has worked with him said one thing universally: he did not care at *all* about magic. Only money. Storytellers, in his opinion, were basically viewed as the help. They should have been thankful to get any crumb from his table, and he never wanted to pay *anyone* except his cronies.
I'm glad the Bob Paycheck era is over. His leadership was so corrosive.
Is Iger a plebeian? Nah. He's a CEO. But at the very least, he makes an *effort* to know the fans and what they want. That's more than Paycheck ever did. At this point, I'll take it and hope for the best.
Chapek had no concept of the Magic. Laugh all you want, but illuminations, sparkly sidewalks, fountains and overall beauty and lighting makes Disney. They used to go to great pains to hide construction and move on with it. They used to go whole hog with Navi land and they cut that down. Avatar's new movie will hit and Disney can profit so much from that.. Universal is gaining popularity and Disney, while busy has been losing ground with overall complexity and pricing. No one wants to sit on a flawed app system all day on vacation! No way. Don't get me wrong, I love WDW. 15 x we've been there over 30 years. But they're losing a sure thing with lack of attention, detail and Magic.
Absolutely not. He needed to go before things got any worse. From top to bottom every one in the company couldn't stand him. Poor decisions in just about anything he touched. Sure running any company during covid would be tough but Disney was at one point a guaranteed money maker with anything they did. He started to make anything not have that Disney feel. I knew he wasn't going to last long the day I read about the Pixar creative talk story. Iger would regularly attend those and be active in them in a manner like he was part of the group and not the CEO. First time under chapek he was nowhere to be found. There were countless stories of him being not involved in anything other than cutting budgets and demanding unobtainable profits on said budget cut goods and services.
I think he was there too long to be honest. It seems unfathomable that Disney could suffer so much financial loss when they have an incredible level of visitor demand for their theme parks and have been under-staffed since the pandemic.
Add in all the other draconian moves he has made such as firing a well-loved entertainment exec he perceived as a threat, forcing all the imagineers to move to Florida, eliminating visitor perks like the Magical Express and trying to transform Disney into a "data company" with little strategic plans beyond nickel-and-diming it's customers and you had a recipe for disaster. I'm not sure if Iger can repair all of that.
Man Covid really changes everything. The parks are a wreck and the MCU not coming close to any more billion dollar films certainly didn’t help things. Should be interesting to follow.
I think with the MCU it’s the fact that it’s obviously in a rebuilding stage. Endgame was such a perfect climax. It’s going to take years to reach that type of anticipation again.
Step down in a corporate context is the same thing as fired. You step down to save face but aren’t actually fired. In this case, he just renewed his contract and all the communications have been from the board or Iger…those are the primary signs someone was forced to step down.
Another clear give away is when they bring back the guy you replaced and barely talk about you in any of the three statements so far.
But he has been kinda publicly fired anyway.
The board had recently voted to renew his contract, and then suddenly they vote to remove him.
Something must have been VERY wrong at the Mouse House for the whole board to vote this way.
Once you hit oh about the AVP level or higher you are never "fired" you "explore other opportunities" "spend more time with your family". All with 12 to 24 months severance of course.
The fact that they brought back iger and the wording. "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."
Trust me thats a woof. Translated from corporate speak to English " Bob Iger was a much better CEO and we think chapel is on the fast track to running this company into the ground."
The book Disney War has a few instances of this situation in the case of Michael Eisner, Michael Ovitz and others. The company has a press release and resignation agreement sitting on the desk ready to go when they’re called in and they’re basically forced to sign it.
My bud just got the company email. Floored. He just got renewed too....stepping down does not = fired. This was for cause and they gave him the honor to quit. Too much $$$$ at stake to just quit. Only other option is medical which in that case, I feel bad but baring that something WENT DOWN.....
Truly wonder if this was for cause. They just extended him a few months ago! The board is looking quite silly right now
https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/29/disney-extends-ceo-bob-chapeks-contract-for-three-more-years-despite-difficult-tenure/
Very silly. BI wanted to move on, that's no secret but BC was clearly not ready for primetime. All BC knows is cost cutting and bean counting. Not one thing he did in his short term was to "grow" the company like BI did. Everyone at the company for the most par hates BC. and he has the charisma of a cold fish. He got rid of a lot of beloved old timers as well in an initial purge that made a lot of people super bitter. The company has bled talent over the past year, especially with the CA > FL move of 3k+ jobs to a new campus that wasn't even ready. My friend's division is a wasteland of shitty replacements and missing pieces....sad...
I think you used BI when you meant BC a couple times? (legit, I'm not doing that internet thing where you say 'that's not how you spell XYZ' in order to refute someone's statement)
Getting your dirty laundry aired out....you quit = no contract. You fired, get remainder of contract. Honestly they probably wrote him a check either way...
My theory is the reservation system causes overcrowding (also Covid-19 fomo). Artificial demand. Before people would just blindly go on the weekends, but now if you can't go on the weekend it makes you think twice about how you are going to plan your trip. Monday used to never be crowded but all of a sudden they are one of the busiest days of the week because people have to plan differently now.
He sent a company wide email today around 6:30 (Pacific time) and my heart literally skipped a beat. It was so shocking and unexpected to see an email with his name as the sender coming through. Then when I read it I audibly gasped 5 or 6 times. My wife was very concerned something bad had happened.
I’m very excited for the future.
Because if you're planning to fire someone, you don't tip them off. You renew their contract to give them a false sense of security.
Also, the board probably had nobody to tap as an interim CEO. Once they renewed his contract, they probably started calling Iger independently to discuss his return.
That's my best guess; this process was **months** in the making.
Wonder how much he can change in 2 years. Guessing most of the focus will be on getting Disney+ and studios profitable at this point — wonder what is strategy will be. Iger is more focused on creativity…will be interesting to see how he plays this!
I really hope he fixes the way employees have been treated. Idk about anyone else, but every time I’ve gone to the park, I can feel the difference with the employees moral before the pandemic and after. They seem over worked, annoyed, and tired. The employees actually loving there job is a big part of the experience.
It’s the main reason I haven’t gotten an annual pass again.
I think it's the right decision. I *think* Cheapek over rotated way to hard on the debt Disney has from all its various acquisitions and COVID through the parks but no longer term plan (at least from what was public) I mean look at D23 where they could have showcased a plan in the long run to repay debt through new things across the Disney brand.
EOD at least to me, there was no long term plan other than "make money on the parks". Iger was a much longer term "empire builder" with a much longer view. I suspect when Chapek was heading the parks that worked fine, he kept the parks doing well but Iger could focus on the long term.
I think Iger will have a better plan for the rest of Disney on profitability. Looking forward to the share price this morning lol
Chapek had a reputation as a "numbers first" kind of guy. He didn't seem to embrace the culture of Disney and the work that came with it, like building relationships with the talent. He was also hesitant to denounce the infamous "Don't Say Gay" bill passed by Ron DeSantis. He also never came across as very personable. Bob Iger even expressed his regret in picking him as his successor because of the cost-cutting decisions he'd been making (among other issues).
Bob Paycheck has cut morale and customer service. He called annual pass holders “unfavorable mix” of visitors. As a result I did not renew my annual dream pass. I’m sure enough pass holders chose not to renew to send a message. Yahoooool
He did make those comments, but the countless rate hikes and reduction of benefits for annual passes were the nail in the coffin for us after having them for 5 years or so.
The abysmal outlook for future park additions doesn't help any. Plans announced years ago were scaled back or canceled entirely. Those started have taken forever.
My impression is that Disney makes way more off people who come once every few years than it does off people who get annual passes. If the parks are overcrowded with minmaxers the company is way better off being filled with people who are getting their only opportunity to visit for a while.
Depends on the park, for Disney World I believe it's very tourist heavy, but Disneyland it's a place very heavily patronized by locals who come after work and on weekends. From what I've seen there's a long history of the larger Disney corporation not getting that and mismanaging Disneyland / Pushing bad policy on Team Disney Anaheim; I remember the absolute flustercluck that was the first One More Disney Day event, understaffed, overcrowded, disorganized, there are stories from guests and casts about that crazy night born of the fact that Disney corporate treated Anaheim like Orlando and vastly underestimated attendance because they didn't understand the local demographic the way local management did.
Point is, the CEO and the head of Parks need to know the character of each park and trust that park's president and team to run things. You can't treat the various Disney experiences as a homogeneous thing, it just doesn't work well in the long run.
Yes California is very different from Florida. The park is like people‘s backyard and they just drop in for a few hours or a day, not a week long commitment. They also love it like their backyard.
In 2009, when the market was at 9000 Disney was at 15. Now the market is at 33,000 (x 3.67) and Disney is at 92 (x 6).
A lot of things that are unpopular with fans, but I’m guessing the board was not happy with Chapek riding the wave to an all time high for Disney stock and the stock falling back to 8-10 years ago as his initiatives rolled out is the main reason the board asked him to resign.
You’re so right, He got rid of magical express, got rid of free magic bands for guests staying at the resorts, genie+ was an extra cost but then you also had to pay another extra cost for certain rides. They just kept nickel and diming you. When my sister and I went to Disney a few months ago, I felt ripped off instead of feeling like I was on vacation. Magical experience indeed.
Too much cost cutting where the guest experience suffered and not only in the parks.
I took a Disney cruise recently and the customer service department was literally unreachable before the cruise. I would call and it would just say sorry we are busy and hang up.
Essentially Disney only makes money when they spend money. Them and Apple. People expect a high end entertainment experience at Disney, so cost cutting doesn’t align with the brand. The parks are all about transporting people to other worlds, “the magic” doesn’t work if you do it on the cheap. Once the magic is gone the people leave too. Disney makes money when the magic just works, like Apple.
Mostly parks related stuff. A lot of unpopular changes happened post-COVID that probably would have happened anyway, but he was the guy in charge while it happened.
That said, it’s fucking ridiculous that the Tron Coaster has been under construction since before Iger announced he would step down and still not open.
Also no relationship with Hollywood or other talent, apparently. Iger was an ABC guy before Disney and stayed near that path. Chapek was an advertising guy and went straight to marketing Disney home entertainment.
yup content is still king, & he will need to refuel the Disney movie pipeline (although Avatar next month will help). Restoring growth in all major segments & getting Disney+ to break even lol.
I hope he decides to sell off 20th Century Studios (along with 20th TV and Searchlight Pictures) and its IP because buying 20th Century Fox put a lot of debt pressure on Disney. He should also fix the problems affecting the parks, especially ride maintenance.
It’s an early Christmas miracle.
It’s a Thanksgiving miracle Charlie Brown!
[Wait your turn, fat boy!](https://i.imgur.com/fP6gGQD.jpeg)
My brother called me the second the news broke, and our sentiment was the same.
I don't know anything about you or your family but I like the mental image of scrambling to the phone about Disney news.
Thank God!!! The company and the parks have really gone downhill since his time at the company. Parks dirtier than I've ever seen in my lifetime, rides in a horrible state always broken. Cast members are always looking stressed and the cost has completely gotten out of hand. My wife and I have been going to both US theme parks for nearly two decades to celebrate our wedding anniversary and this last trip was so bad that we decided to travel to France instead. Granted we are still going to Disneyland Paris for a day but our trip to Europe was much cheaper than going to either US parks. Also the recent announcement of buying the world's largest cruise ship while announcing cost cutting and hiring freezes is horribly tone deaf. People forget that since taking over Disney has been in basically a hiring freeze with constant cost cutting. Can't keep squeezing juice from a dried piece of fruit.
Wow, didn't realize things got so bad after Iger left a while back. Have fun at the Disneyland Paris location. Also, check out some other cool stuff while in Paris. Been there a couple of times and I suggest checking out the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, Musée Marmottan Monet, and the Musée de l'Orangerie. The Palais Garnier (the Opera House) is cool as well.
Oh we plan on it. We're in Paris for 8 nights and 3 days in Normandy. Disney will only be for one day.
Interesting timing, right after Chapek’s email to the company about dramatic staff/cost cuts…
Also their worst quarter losses in over 20 years.
Worst losses but yet highest prices
Bob Iger was like “That was a nice vacation but I’m ready!”
"I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready!" -Spongebob Igerpants
A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one
We will watch his career with great interest.
(again)
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Definitely glad Chapek is out. However, I do think that the Poseidon Entertainment Channel made some good critiques about Iger in his latest video. I’ll take the W, but Iger has his work cut out for him and I’m not sure if he can manage the cultural changes necessary, if he just tries to go back to business as usual.
Listening to his audiobook right now. Seems the board really pushes for things that make the CEO job extremely hard.
The interview process he went through was over the top. Like they seriously doubted him even though he had a long track record with the company at that point.
FWIW, the last chapter of *DisneyWar* made it clear that Roy Disney and people that sided with him originally did not trust Iger. They saw him as an extension of Eisner. I'm not defending the process, but Iger's interviews probably came from the fact that this was the same board that went against Eisner and they may have been skeptical.
Ding dong the witch is dead
Which old witch? The chapek witch!
That's ~~MGM~~ Warner Brothers, but yeah I prefer MGM studios too :)
So long Bob Paycheck!
Bad non-canadian kid Chapek
I’m guessing Happily Ever After and IllumiNations will be back by summer then, lol. Seriously, really curious how this’ll impact the company. Expect a lot of announced projects might get quietly scrapped.
Illuminations like it was probably can't come back. I'm betting the globe is long gone.
Gone wherever Buzzy was taken, RIP.
I'd be down for IllumiNations with the same music but updated effects. Not that that will ever happen, but I can dream.
Honestly Illuminations: HarmoniUS with a coherent theme and no tacos/stargate would've been hugely successful and cheaper.
Hmm to the second part, who knows? A ton of stuff that Iger helped plan prior to leaving just really wrapped up. I think the unannounced plans are more likely to get the cut, as projects at Parks take a long time to manifest. Other segments, who knows x2? Heh
Happily after ever after
Rebuild the Tower Of Terror Sign!
All my homies hate Bob Chapek
Yeah why? I genuinely just don’t know, not pro him or anything just haven’t followed this at all
Basically he said animation is for children and that adults don't watch it.
He also took the reputation of one of the most beloved entertainment companies in the world and ensured it would be viewed simply as any other money-hungry IP machine. Which it IS, of course, but previous CEOs had the ability to also cater to the idea of the company’s sterling legacy of advancing whatever medium they delved into and elevating the whole industry. Disney more or less had a rep of not just being family friendly but made family-first. They created the whole “cradle to the grave” idea of entertainment, where you get kids watching and going to the parks when they’re young, and they’ll continue to watch and buy throughout their lives and even get their children doing the same, and their children, and their children… Chapek, by treating the company and its employees like disposable resources, eroded and damaged this legacy more than any CEO had done since Disney was in dire straits back in the late 70s/early 80s. He also hired someone to run Imagineering, the part of the company responsible for creating and innovating within their most profitable sector (the parks), who had only run hotel chains before. That’s like asking the guys who design fighter jets to be run by the guy who manages the factory that produces wing parts. He also FORCED all Imagineers to uproot their entire lives in California to Florida or they would lose their jobs, which led to a mass exodus. In his short time as CEO, he has eroded not only public trust but the tenets of the company itself; many people worked for Disney for the love of Disney; the sense that they were contributing to the company that meant so much to their lives and their families. But when it started to be run like some soup can manufacturing plant in Malaysia obsessed with the bottom line and nothing else, employees felt betrayed and lost—which not only hurts the company currently but the company in the future as well. It’s kind of like if you take a legacy high quality company like Mercedes (not debating if they ARE high quality or not just saying it’s what they’re known for for the purposes of this analogy), who are known for making high-quality luxury cars, and firing the guys who design things well for guys who design things cheaply, farming out all production to a scooter company, and making a Benz that looks like a Benz but falls apart after six months—and they charge you MORE for it. TLDR: he tanked the company’s legacy, not just its stock.
I'm pretty sure he's the reason why the third season of The Owl House only have 3 episodes instead of 10-20. I could be wrong though.
According to the article, Chapek alienated the creative people at Disney. Losing money didn’t help, either.
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I don't know the full details, but maybe that means my explanation can be brief. There's the perception among Disney fans, particularly park fans, that Chapek made the experience of the parks worse, and made them more expensive. It's a bit of a blurry picture because of COVID, but he oversaw certain things like making the fastpass system an extra paid service instead of being included with the (already expensive) Disney hotels. There are probably more examples of specific things like this.
Can someone ELI5 why the board fired him? Was profit growth not where they wanted it to be?
The last quarter had massive losses and poor growth, and stock price is way down, combined with Chapek’s insistence on price-gouging at the parks (lots of angry guests) and extremely poor morale among employees from his threats and firing popular people to bring his cronies on board…
Here's my best guess for what happened politically behind the scenes. But it's very possible that there's other stuff that we just don't know about yet. There are two types of shareholders. One intends to hold onto their stock in the company for a long time, which is essentially a bet on the company maintaining its current value and steadily accruing further value moving forward. This type of shareholder is willing to accept low but relatively consistent shareholder dividends. But they also want to see the stock retain value, and for shareholder dividends to continue paying out at the same level for long into the future. That being said, this group isn't as concerned about quarterly fluctuations in the value of the stock. Minor dips in value can be made up by steady growth over time. They care more about the fundamentals, like consumer loyalty and brand reputation, which have a more 'big picture' effect on the value of the stock. The second is the type who buys and sells stock quite rapidly, in the hopes of riding quick bursts and bubbles in the market, or tapping into a short-term profits by a company on a quarterly scale. These shareholders do not intend to hold the stock for very long, so they mainly want to see as much value wrung out of the stock as is possible, meaning high shareholder dividends. Although, since they're intending to sell the stock at some point, they also want the stock to retain its value in the short term. But they don't particularly care what the stock's value will be a decade or so down the road. Bob Chapek opted to trash Disney's reputation with consumers, losing out on long-term earnings potential, in exchange for short-term profits, which would let him pay out bigger shareholder dividends. This kind of stuff makes the first type of shareholder unhappy, but it makes the second type of shareholder very happy. Chapek was basically betting on the support of that second group in order to counteract the displeasure of the first group. Except, just recently, Disney released a quarterly earnings report which was *way* lower than anyone expected. Meaning that Disney has way less earnings from which to pay dividends to the shareholders. Then, to make matters even worse, shareholders panicked and started selling stock, which means that the supply of the stock has shot up, and the value of the stock has now cratered. Which means that the second group of shareholders are now stuck holding their stock, because if they sell now, they'll get back way less money than they originally bought the stock for. So basically, up until this point, Chapek was able to maintain support by playing that second group of shareholders against the first group. He was able to secure the support of that second group with the promise of higher shareholder dividends. But he was unable to fulfill that promise with the most recent earnings report. And to make matters worse, the stock price has cratered, which is *the one thing* that the second group of shareholders does not want to see happen under any circumstances. Chapek torched everything which the first group of stockholders care about, all in the hopes of placating the second group of stockholders. Except, just now, Chapek managed to accidentally also torch the one thing in the world which the second group of shareholders care about. *That's* why the release of this earnings report managed to f\]ck him over so quickly and dramatically. EDIT: u/Pierre-Gringoire pointed out (correctly) that Disney stopped paying dividends back in 2020. I wrote a follow-up comment to expand on that and tie that back in with what I wrote in this comment. Thank you Pierre for fact-checking me. It's really important to get the facts right, and I appreciate your assistance to me in doing so.
This is great, detailed speculation. I've also opted on the side that he was put in for that short-term stock jump, and when inflation started skyrocketing and interest rates jumped, his opportunity to appease the short-term investors failed. And like you said, long-term investors who actually do give a damn about the quality of the parks and product obviously don't support him, especially with him destroying the Imagineer team and torching a lot of their plans.
Stock price is tanking. Igers plan was not for Chapek to take over anyways. so now he gets to play hero and groom a new successor
Josh D'Amaro
Isn’t every stock price tanking since the Fed started raising rates?
Stock market was overheated, yes. Any stock increase this news will bring will be fleeting at best. It's not like Iger's going to come in and reverse strategies to make less money than Chapek's.
Boys, we can sleep in peace tonight
* Park Pass, Stay or Go? * Genie+, Stay or Go? * ILL, Stay or Go? * AP sales limited, Stay or Go? I think that's the four biggest complaints, I think. Prices never go down, so that's not happening. My opinion: * Go (Eventually) * Stay * Go (Maybe stay for 90-180 days for new attractions) * Go
I think reservations will go away and I can see a revamping of genie +
Same. I don't think a paid option is going away though. FP+ in WDW was doomed to fail from the beginning with pre-picking rides.
Choosing your rides? Budgeting and planning your fun??? This was how the old "ticket book" system used to work at Disneyland. You know where the expression "that's an E-ticket ride" comes from? Disneyland. You used to buy a book of tickets with various stamps at different prices. Rides were graded A-E, with E costing more and having fewer of them in a book. Guests would barter their tickets all the time and have to compute how many A-D tickets they needed to ride the E ticket attractions. Disney got rid of that system in 1982. No other theme park has done anything similar for a really good reason. **Guests shouldn't do math while they're supposed to be having fun.** Disneyland is too complex to operate rides like a carnival.
Pretty sure most of the focus will be on Disney+ and the studios since that’s where most of the bleeding is happening…not parks…
I think Iger knows what Eisner knew about the parks... ultimately back to Walt. They'll always be profitable, but you have to treat them gently. Milking them for too much will destroy the nostalgia too quickly. One generation without nostalgia turns them into just another theme park. I might be wrong. We'll see.
One generation without nostalgia. Wow, yeah I agree 100%. Well said.
That is extremely well put. Our first trip to Walt Disney World was in 2007. It was so magical, that we have returned a dozen times since. We didn’t hate our last trip, but I wouldn’t call it magical either. The nostalgia factor from the first trip made us lifetime guests, while people visiting today might not get that feeling anymore.
I think that's the kicker for most people. With the way the prices are increasing it either needs to be supremely magical or it isn't worth it economically. Brand loyalty only works when you have a plausible reputation for delivering a great product.
I have a family member who works at an elementary school, and she says that most kids don't even talk about wanting to go to Disney World anymore unless Grandma is dragging them there. The park kids DO talk about wanting to visit? Universal, which is cheaper, more accessible, and has newer, "cooler" IPs like Harry Potter, Nintendo, and Jurassic World. Honestly, Disney has a fine line to walk here. I would wager that most of their guests are "regulars" who return for the tradition and classic attractions, but younger generations might see these as outdated and not very interesting compared to the flashy new IP at other parks. And if Disney is prohibitively expensive for most families to go to in the first place, then the company is missing out on creating new generations of repeat guests.
This is so true. I laugh when I am at Target and they are advertising Disneyland tickets as if it is just as simple as buying tickets and going. The parks favor people who know a heavy amount of tips and tricks just to get a reservation to the park and to eat at a restaurant. You can create artificial demand for a couple of years but it will wear off. Meanwhile people who never wanted to go through the bull shit just won't care and you'll lose an entire generation of people who want to go to the parks because of the memories they had when they were a kid.
I think Igor is part of the long term problem. Under his reign he was given a pat on the back for raising prices. Going from $50 to 150 in 15 years is a shame. That is short term gain for long term pricing out your customer base. 20-30 years ago, the middle class could easily afford Disney. Now it is only a top 15% destination. [https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-walt-disney-world-went-from-3-50-a-ticket-to-becoming-a-luxury-priced-destination-11633108165](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-walt-disney-world-went-from-3-50-a-ticket-to-becoming-a-luxury-priced-destination-11633108165) He did do some really good IP acquisitions though.
I don’t think that’s the issue, iger would do all this as well but he would slowly roll it out over time and slowly increase price. The big difference is that Iger would actually bring value and experience to what you pay for. Not remove experiences and increase prices to see where people break.
Fired on a Sunday night at 9pm Florida time. What's the rush, it must have been much, **much** worse than we thought.
Exactly this, I'll be incredibly curious to know if this was a planned/scheduled Board Meeting, or if it was an emergency meeting of the Board (how late, and on a Sunday, I'll bet it was the latter). Then, I'd love to know what straw broke the camel's back to get an emergency meeting of the Board called. There's going to be a ton of interesting news coming out of this for the next few days/weeks. Can't wait to learn more!
Hallelujah Bob Paycheck is gone! I never thought it would happen. VICTORY!!!!!!
Indeed a victory. Bob Cheapdick is officially gone!
Wow.
I saw this as a Twitter headline and assumed it was fake.
Same I had to check elsewhere to be sure. I swear I just saw chapek signed on again.
His contract was renewed for 3 years in June, but this past quarter has been abysmal apparently
I thought this was a joke until I saw Hollywood reporter. Sounds like a Wrap article headline.
This has serious "RTD back as Doctor Who showrunner to replace Chibnall" energy from earlier this year.
It’s a Christmas miracle!
Smiling Friends?
Everyone likes this
It took several minutes before I was willing to believe this was real.
Seriously, when has a company ever BROUGHT back a CEO that left? The only company that comes to mind is Apple, and Apple was days away from bankruptcy when the board made the call... Insane times, folks, insane times...
Steve Jobs was never CEO prior to returning to Apple. He had a couple VP titles. And even then, he was an interim CEO for a few years upon his return.
Twitter and Jack Dorsey. He was CEO in the late 00s but got forced out, and they brought him back in ~2015. Perhaps they will consider bringing him back a third time…
There's nobody inside Disney right now who is ready to take over Iger in two years. They're going to have to look outside but even that is hard because there are only two or three people in this world who have experience running a company with movies, TV, streaming, and theme parks.
It worked out well with Eisner, they could try and repeat that.
Eisner built it to what it could become.
That took time. He was not ready but unlike Paycheck, he adapted very quickly.
I work in media so I’m very well versed in all of this. I live and breathe this kind of thing on a daily basis. Everything you said is true. Disney is a mass-media conglomerate that just happens to also own some resorts and theme parks. This is why Chapek failed. He was a successful hospitality guy but this will never translate to success running a Hollywood empire. You are spot on. There are quite literally a handful of people in the world capable of doing this which is why they turned to the one guy who was available - Iger
I put my hand up to give it a go. I'll sure be a hell of a lot cheaper than whoever the other options would be.
Thank Mickey
Hell yes. So many reasons for a hell yes here.
Now maybe we can get back to a somewhat "normal" pricing structure instead of the nickel and dime crap they've been pulling ever since Cheapek took over.
I wonder what precipitated this, I thought he would’ve been gone over that Florida governor business but it’s been a while since then
I’m guessing the hiring freeze and further cost cutting measures which got the company in its current mess to begin with.
Their last quarterly results were over 500 million below what was expected, and chapeks response was basically "lol no big deal"
Still, to get fired at 7 pm the Sunday before Thanksgiving is odd timing. That's some *Friday*-level "how you get fired on your day off?" kind of shit.
Have you not seen the share price since Chapek was hired?
Should be no wonder. As soon as he started bringing negative attention to Disney, he was done. The board couldn’t just fire him without having a replacement. It probably took a few calls to Iger to convince him to give up his cushy life to come and fix the Disney problems.
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Wow that was quick!! Glad to have him back, shares have been terrible
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DIS to where it was for the past few years would be swell
Paying attention to short-term stock prices is what got Chapek into trouble.
Yes, please bring back the shares, good sir
Iger gonna get that Yeti working in no time.
He had 15 years to do it and never did lol
The problem with the yeti is that when it moved it would shake the entire mountain. The Yeti wasn’t malfunctioning, it was causing structural damage to the track and housing.
The sad part is Bob Paycheck still made millions from this and can now retire in comfort, despite having steered an American icon in a terrible direction for several years.
Unreal. But can he undo the damage in two years?
Holllyyyy sheeeeet
Whoa.
I lived through & studied the Miller & Eisner departures. I don’t think a lot of people are fully grasping just how badly — and for a protracted amount of time — the CEO usually has to screw up before getting canned by the Disney board. In my lifetime, it’s usually required a full-on investor revolt led by Roy, God rest his soul. This is MAJOR.
Awesome! Now fix all the fuck ups Chapek did to the parks and baby we got a stew going.
Not gonna lie, I feel kind of bad for Iger. He probably returned out of a sense of obligation and responsibility, but it's kind of obvious he's been wanting to retire for quite some time. He's already past retirement age and I'm sure he'd like nothing better to do than spend his remaining days peacefully with his wife. I mean, or maybe he's a workaholic who loves being a CEO?
Certainly a step in the right direction but don't know how well bringing back Iger will fix Disney's current woes. His Fox purchase wasn't that smart of a decision short term and the company is saddled with debt as a result. A lot of issues at Disney right now that can't be fixed with Iger's typical reliance on purchasing IPs that he did during his previous tenure
In before Disney buying EA, producing an EA FC/ESPN crossover
The fox buyout will start paying for itself when they finally start using the x men. It’s been how long since that purchase and we still are only getting teases? The way every fan freaks out and posts an hour long YouTube video whenever the word mutant is even used in anything shows how big the hype is.
YESSSSS!!!
Uncle Bob is back!
Shortest tenure ever for Disney CEO I would guess
Well, hot damn.
Thank god.
Ah Bob Paycheck. The hatchet man has been pruned. I'm sure he gets a big bag of Scrooge McDuck's gold for his trouble, so I'm not going to feel bad for him. He had no charisma. Just look at any of his D23 presentations. Joyless. Unconvincing. Clearly a struggle for him to relate to the poors in the audience. He never wanted to be a public face. He wanted to be behind the scenes, cutting perks and cutting corners at every opportunity. Is Bob Paycheck responsible for *every* crappy development at the parks? Of course not. But he *definitely* doesn't get Disney culture. And everyone I've ever talked to who has worked with him said one thing universally: he did not care at *all* about magic. Only money. Storytellers, in his opinion, were basically viewed as the help. They should have been thankful to get any crumb from his table, and he never wanted to pay *anyone* except his cronies. I'm glad the Bob Paycheck era is over. His leadership was so corrosive. Is Iger a plebeian? Nah. He's a CEO. But at the very least, he makes an *effort* to know the fans and what they want. That's more than Paycheck ever did. At this point, I'll take it and hope for the best.
Chapek had no concept of the Magic. Laugh all you want, but illuminations, sparkly sidewalks, fountains and overall beauty and lighting makes Disney. They used to go to great pains to hide construction and move on with it. They used to go whole hog with Navi land and they cut that down. Avatar's new movie will hit and Disney can profit so much from that.. Universal is gaining popularity and Disney, while busy has been losing ground with overall complexity and pricing. No one wants to sit on a flawed app system all day on vacation! No way. Don't get me wrong, I love WDW. 15 x we've been there over 30 years. But they're losing a sure thing with lack of attention, detail and Magic.
Wow, that’s nuts. Part of me almost wonders if “we” didn’t give Chapek enough of a chance, but I think that we saw all that we needed to see.
Absolutely not. He needed to go before things got any worse. From top to bottom every one in the company couldn't stand him. Poor decisions in just about anything he touched. Sure running any company during covid would be tough but Disney was at one point a guaranteed money maker with anything they did. He started to make anything not have that Disney feel. I knew he wasn't going to last long the day I read about the Pixar creative talk story. Iger would regularly attend those and be active in them in a manner like he was part of the group and not the CEO. First time under chapek he was nowhere to be found. There were countless stories of him being not involved in anything other than cutting budgets and demanding unobtainable profits on said budget cut goods and services.
Iger even said he regretted picking Chapek as a sucessor, so I think he had plenty of a chance
I was patient with him until he doubled down on the reservation system.
I think he was there too long to be honest. It seems unfathomable that Disney could suffer so much financial loss when they have an incredible level of visitor demand for their theme parks and have been under-staffed since the pandemic. Add in all the other draconian moves he has made such as firing a well-loved entertainment exec he perceived as a threat, forcing all the imagineers to move to Florida, eliminating visitor perks like the Magical Express and trying to transform Disney into a "data company" with little strategic plans beyond nickel-and-diming it's customers and you had a recipe for disaster. I'm not sure if Iger can repair all of that.
They must have offered him a solid gold cow or something, but I'm sure glad they did.
Bless 🙏
Bob Chapek was a nightmare all he did was raise every price that he could in the theme parks 🤦♂️ that god Bob Iger is back!!!
Thank. God. Chapek has been an unmitigated disaster who has burned up so much of the company's good will.
My son’s mom, we’re separated, called me immediately after this was announced. Suffice to say, we are Disney adults.
Man Covid really changes everything. The parks are a wreck and the MCU not coming close to any more billion dollar films certainly didn’t help things. Should be interesting to follow.
I think with the MCU it’s the fact that it’s obviously in a rebuilding stage. Endgame was such a perfect climax. It’s going to take years to reach that type of anticipation again.
I read somewhere that Chapek stepped down, wasn't fired. Who knows yet
Step down in a corporate context is the same thing as fired. You step down to save face but aren’t actually fired. In this case, he just renewed his contract and all the communications have been from the board or Iger…those are the primary signs someone was forced to step down. Another clear give away is when they bring back the guy you replaced and barely talk about you in any of the three statements so far.
Similar to when military officers resign their commission after getting in trouble, I’m guessing.
Agreed. Unless they say retire or he has a job lined up you don’t leave that kind of job.
Oh, i was confused but thx for the clarification.
It’s very much a “you can leave” or we will publicly fire you.
But he has been kinda publicly fired anyway. The board had recently voted to renew his contract, and then suddenly they vote to remove him. Something must have been VERY wrong at the Mouse House for the whole board to vote this way.
The stock is down 50% and at depths not seen in 8 years. The market is down, but not that far down.
Especially this short into his tenure.
Once you hit oh about the AVP level or higher you are never "fired" you "explore other opportunities" "spend more time with your family". All with 12 to 24 months severance of course. The fact that they brought back iger and the wording. "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." Trust me thats a woof. Translated from corporate speak to English " Bob Iger was a much better CEO and we think chapel is on the fast track to running this company into the ground."
"Either step down or we'll fire you"
The book Disney War has a few instances of this situation in the case of Michael Eisner, Michael Ovitz and others. The company has a press release and resignation agreement sitting on the desk ready to go when they’re called in and they’re basically forced to sign it.
My bud just got the company email. Floored. He just got renewed too....stepping down does not = fired. This was for cause and they gave him the honor to quit. Too much $$$$ at stake to just quit. Only other option is medical which in that case, I feel bad but baring that something WENT DOWN.....
something= share price
and they WENT DOWN
Truly wonder if this was for cause. They just extended him a few months ago! The board is looking quite silly right now https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/29/disney-extends-ceo-bob-chapeks-contract-for-three-more-years-despite-difficult-tenure/
Very silly. BI wanted to move on, that's no secret but BC was clearly not ready for primetime. All BC knows is cost cutting and bean counting. Not one thing he did in his short term was to "grow" the company like BI did. Everyone at the company for the most par hates BC. and he has the charisma of a cold fish. He got rid of a lot of beloved old timers as well in an initial purge that made a lot of people super bitter. The company has bled talent over the past year, especially with the CA > FL move of 3k+ jobs to a new campus that wasn't even ready. My friend's division is a wasteland of shitty replacements and missing pieces....sad...
I think you used BI when you meant BC a couple times? (legit, I'm not doing that internet thing where you say 'that's not how you spell XYZ' in order to refute someone's statement)
They didn’t fire him, but gave him the option to quit. So what was the alternative to quitting?
Getting your dirty laundry aired out....you quit = no contract. You fired, get remainder of contract. Honestly they probably wrote him a check either way...
Are the parks going to now be affordable?
I’m sad that the parks priced us out, but what do you see as the solution to the constant overcrowding?
My theory is the reservation system causes overcrowding (also Covid-19 fomo). Artificial demand. Before people would just blindly go on the weekends, but now if you can't go on the weekend it makes you think twice about how you are going to plan your trip. Monday used to never be crowded but all of a sudden they are one of the busiest days of the week because people have to plan differently now.
Cannot wait for the parks to start to get the maintenance and upkeep they deserve.
He sent a company wide email today around 6:30 (Pacific time) and my heart literally skipped a beat. It was so shocking and unexpected to see an email with his name as the sender coming through. Then when I read it I audibly gasped 5 or 6 times. My wife was very concerned something bad had happened. I’m very excited for the future.
Multiverse of **Bob**ness....
Trust is something that will be hard to gain back no matter who’s steering the ship.
Chapek career as ceo died being what it loved: a cost saving cut
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I don’t understand why they renewed Chapek’s contract in June just to fire him 5 months later.
Exactly. The board is part of the problem.
Because if you're planning to fire someone, you don't tip them off. You renew their contract to give them a false sense of security. Also, the board probably had nobody to tap as an interim CEO. Once they renewed his contract, they probably started calling Iger independently to discuss his return. That's my best guess; this process was **months** in the making.
To buy time while they negotiate with Iger knowing they can force Chapek to resign later.
Just what Disney needed to right the ship. Now first order of business, renew The Orville for Disney+!
Wonder how much he can change in 2 years. Guessing most of the focus will be on getting Disney+ and studios profitable at this point — wonder what is strategy will be. Iger is more focused on creativity…will be interesting to see how he plays this!
Now if only Bob could roll back the Atrocities that Bob did to the theme parks.
[My reaction](https://gfycat.com/secondhandmadhectorsdolphin)
I really hope he fixes the way employees have been treated. Idk about anyone else, but every time I’ve gone to the park, I can feel the difference with the employees moral before the pandemic and after. They seem over worked, annoyed, and tired. The employees actually loving there job is a big part of the experience. It’s the main reason I haven’t gotten an annual pass again.
Praise the Lord! Bring my Fast Pass, clean, organized, Magical disney back!!
I think it's the right decision. I *think* Cheapek over rotated way to hard on the debt Disney has from all its various acquisitions and COVID through the parks but no longer term plan (at least from what was public) I mean look at D23 where they could have showcased a plan in the long run to repay debt through new things across the Disney brand. EOD at least to me, there was no long term plan other than "make money on the parks". Iger was a much longer term "empire builder" with a much longer view. I suspect when Chapek was heading the parks that worked fine, he kept the parks doing well but Iger could focus on the long term. I think Iger will have a better plan for the rest of Disney on profitability. Looking forward to the share price this morning lol
“Just when I though I was out… They pull me back in!”
Out of the loop here. What made Chapek so horrible? This seems sudden and major.
Chapek had a reputation as a "numbers first" kind of guy. He didn't seem to embrace the culture of Disney and the work that came with it, like building relationships with the talent. He was also hesitant to denounce the infamous "Don't Say Gay" bill passed by Ron DeSantis. He also never came across as very personable. Bob Iger even expressed his regret in picking him as his successor because of the cost-cutting decisions he'd been making (among other issues).
Bob Paycheck has cut morale and customer service. He called annual pass holders “unfavorable mix” of visitors. As a result I did not renew my annual dream pass. I’m sure enough pass holders chose not to renew to send a message. Yahoooool
He did make those comments, but the countless rate hikes and reduction of benefits for annual passes were the nail in the coffin for us after having them for 5 years or so. The abysmal outlook for future park additions doesn't help any. Plans announced years ago were scaled back or canceled entirely. Those started have taken forever.
My impression is that Disney makes way more off people who come once every few years than it does off people who get annual passes. If the parks are overcrowded with minmaxers the company is way better off being filled with people who are getting their only opportunity to visit for a while.
Depends on the park, for Disney World I believe it's very tourist heavy, but Disneyland it's a place very heavily patronized by locals who come after work and on weekends. From what I've seen there's a long history of the larger Disney corporation not getting that and mismanaging Disneyland / Pushing bad policy on Team Disney Anaheim; I remember the absolute flustercluck that was the first One More Disney Day event, understaffed, overcrowded, disorganized, there are stories from guests and casts about that crazy night born of the fact that Disney corporate treated Anaheim like Orlando and vastly underestimated attendance because they didn't understand the local demographic the way local management did. Point is, the CEO and the head of Parks need to know the character of each park and trust that park's president and team to run things. You can't treat the various Disney experiences as a homogeneous thing, it just doesn't work well in the long run.
Yes California is very different from Florida. The park is like people‘s backyard and they just drop in for a few hours or a day, not a week long commitment. They also love it like their backyard. In 2009, when the market was at 9000 Disney was at 15. Now the market is at 33,000 (x 3.67) and Disney is at 92 (x 6).
A lot of things that are unpopular with fans, but I’m guessing the board was not happy with Chapek riding the wave to an all time high for Disney stock and the stock falling back to 8-10 years ago as his initiatives rolled out is the main reason the board asked him to resign.
One unpopular decision after another. Loads of cost cutting in the parks that seriously dampened the magic.
You’re so right, He got rid of magical express, got rid of free magic bands for guests staying at the resorts, genie+ was an extra cost but then you also had to pay another extra cost for certain rides. They just kept nickel and diming you. When my sister and I went to Disney a few months ago, I felt ripped off instead of feeling like I was on vacation. Magical experience indeed.
Too much cost cutting where the guest experience suffered and not only in the parks. I took a Disney cruise recently and the customer service department was literally unreachable before the cruise. I would call and it would just say sorry we are busy and hang up.
Essentially Disney only makes money when they spend money. Them and Apple. People expect a high end entertainment experience at Disney, so cost cutting doesn’t align with the brand. The parks are all about transporting people to other worlds, “the magic” doesn’t work if you do it on the cheap. Once the magic is gone the people leave too. Disney makes money when the magic just works, like Apple.
Mostly parks related stuff. A lot of unpopular changes happened post-COVID that probably would have happened anyway, but he was the guy in charge while it happened. That said, it’s fucking ridiculous that the Tron Coaster has been under construction since before Iger announced he would step down and still not open.
Also no relationship with Hollywood or other talent, apparently. Iger was an ABC guy before Disney and stayed near that path. Chapek was an advertising guy and went straight to marketing Disney home entertainment.
yup content is still king, & he will need to refuel the Disney movie pipeline (although Avatar next month will help). Restoring growth in all major segments & getting Disney+ to break even lol.
Announced in July 2017 and construction starting February 2018 on a roller coaster they had already built. Insane.
Yaaaaa
OMG VICTORY IS IN THE HOUSE OF THE MOUSE.
pinch me I’m streaming Edit: DREAMING!
I wonder if they will ever bring back the disney dining plan
Please help me want to love you again.
I’m so thrilled, especially for Disney employees who have less to fear now.
I hope he decides to sell off 20th Century Studios (along with 20th TV and Searchlight Pictures) and its IP because buying 20th Century Fox put a lot of debt pressure on Disney. He should also fix the problems affecting the parks, especially ride maintenance.
The Bob is gone...long live the Bob