• Walt Disney Co has a new CEO as Bob Chapek exits the company with immediate effect.
• He will be replaced by long-running executive Bob Iger, who helmed the company for 15 years before being succeeded by Chapek.
• Iger returns to the media giant amid huge losses amassed by its streaming business and investors unhappy with the latest financial results.

In a surprising turn of events, the chief executive of Walt Disney Co. Bob Chapek is reportedly stepping down with immediate effect, and to replace him the board of directors at Disney has chosen former long-running CEO, Bob Iger.

Iger, 71, previously served as CEO for 15 years before retiring as chairman last year. He was succeeded by the now-exiting Chapek, whose tenure was earmarked by controversy and tumult, leading the company since February 2020 just at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He departs Disney on the brink of its transformation from an entertainment company to a technology company.

“We thank Bob Chapek for his service to Disney over his long career, including navigating the company through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic,” Susan Arnold, Chairman of the Board for Disney, said in a statement seen by CNN.

“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.”

Reportedly, Chapek was in a difficult position leading the company’s metamorphosis from a traditional media company into a company of the future.

During his tenure at its helm, the former CEO faced backlash on the handling of Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow lawsuit, and the company’s reaction to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Iger joins a Disney also beset by sustained losses from its streaming arm and slumping share prices. In its latest earnings report that the media megapower said that while subscribers to Disney Plus were still climbing, it continues to lose the company money.

Disney+ has cost the company nearly $1.5 billion in the quarter alone, more than twice the loss created by the business in the previous year.

Launched in a bid to compete with industry-leader Netflix, the streaming service has reportedly yet to turn a profit since launching in 2019 with the company expecting it to only become profitable in 2024.

Apart from its latest streaming profits not being to the liking of investors, the Q4 2022 report also pointed out that results from its parks and media divisions were likewise less than expected estimates.

“I am an optimist, and if I learned one thing from my years at Disney, it is that even in the face of uncertainty – perhaps especially in the face of uncertainty – our employees and Cast Members achieve the impossible,” Iger said in a memo to staff.

Email from Bob Iger to Disney staff, 7:19 p.m. pic.twitter.com/IiTQvBYYZp

— The Ankler (@TheAnkler) November 21, 2022

Investors are likewise optimistic about Iger’s return, with shares up 8.2 percent in premarket US trading. In Europe, Disney’s Frankfurt-listed stock leapt 9.6 percent at the news.

As of yet, it is still early in Iger’s second turn as the media giant’s chief executive, and no major changes to operations have been announced. Whether Iger will maintain course on Disney+ until 2024 or steer the ship in another direction is still unknown.

His mention that Disney is a storytelling company first could be an indication that more time would be dedicated to crafting high-quality stories, something that Disney+ has been struggling to get right with certain IPs as of late.

In August, Disney announced that it would be launching an ad-supported subscription tier to its mix of subscription plans in the US. This tier is set to go live on 8th December and came about as Disney sought to add more options to woo potential subscribers.

There is yet no news when this plan will be coming to Disney’s other markets, such as South Africa.

Local users have been stuck with a rather sub-par version of the Disney+ platform. One which is rife with inexplicable bugginess and doesn’t have the kind of customer support that can be expected from a billion-dollar company like Walt Disney Co.

[Source – Reuters]

[Image – Jocelyn Hsu on Unsplash]