Changing of the Bobs; Why Iger is Back in the Saddle and What This Means for Disney
A couple months ago Bob Chapek was appointed Disney’s seventh chief executive officer. There was a lot of chatter in the “Twittersphere”, blogs and vlogs all around the world as to why Iger stepped down so abruptly. The bottom line was Iger wanted to start transitioning into retirement.
Due to COVID-19 and its affects on Disney, Iger has quietly taken back CEO responsibilities from Chapek. The crippling economic effects of the ongoing pandemic has cost Disney millions of dollars.
And now, Mr. Iger has effectively returned to running the company. After a few weeks of letting Mr. Chapek take charge, Mr. Iger smoothly reasserted control, BlueJeans video call by BlueJeans video call. (Disney does not use Zoom for its meetings for security reasons.)
Mr. Iger is now intensely focused on remaking a company that will emerge, he believes, deeply changed by the crisis. The sketch he has drawn for associates offers a glimpse at the post-pandemic future: It’s a Disney with fewer employees, leading the new and uncertain business of how to gather people safely for entertainment.
BEN SMITH – NEW YORK TIMES
New Safety Measures + Operations
There is word that there could be a new way to handle guests entering the parks by way of taking their temperatures.🌡The day-to-day operations will be forever changed. Iger stated that he anticipates ending expensive old-school television practices like producing pilots for programs that may never air and less office space. There was a rumor about having fewer Cast members, but Iger said in an email Sunday night that he had “no recollection of ever having said” that he expected a smaller work force. “Regardless, any decision about staff reductions will be made by my successor and not me,” he added.
What’s Next?
We will not really know until we start seeing some official moves from Iger. Furloughs start on April 19th and we imagine more will happen after this. Stay tuned as we will provide you with the latest information as things unfold.
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RocketEAR99
Definitely better to have a more experienced man in the chair during this mess. These are not good times to be breaking in a new CEO.
DisneySusie