Bob Iger's retirement lasted eleven months. From his position as CEO, he had left Disney at the top. Under his leadership, the New York executive expanded Disney's rich history of storytelling with the acquisitions of Pixar (2006), Marvel (2009), Lucasfilm (2012) and 21st Century Fox (2019), as well as the 2016 opening of the first theme park in mainland China, Shanghai Disney Resort, and the release of a series of record-breaking films, including Marvel's Avengers: Endgame (2019), Frozen (2013), the latest Star Wars saga (2015), and Black Panther ( 2018).
“The riskiest thing you can do is maintain the status quo. If you're comfortable with everything you're doing, then you're not going far enough,” he said in his memoir. Forbes magazine reports that under Iger Disney's reign he created more than 70,000 new jobs. He also entered the platform business with Disney, which during the pandemic became the salvation of families with small (and not so small) children during the months of domestic confinement.
In 2005, when he became CEO, the company had a capitalization of $29 billion. When Iger left to enjoy a well-deserved retirement in February 2020, it was worth six times more and profits had increased by more than 330%. At the time, Disney alone produced one-third of the entire United States' box office revenue.
Iger had left great memories in the business world. He became one of the most admired executives on Wall Street. “I have literally never heard anyone say anything bad about him and I have never seen him be bad,” billionaire David Geffen told The New York Times. “Being an honorable, decent, smart, successful, great guy is unusual anywhere, especially in the entertainment business,” he added.
As a child, young Iger dreamed of being a television presenter and even became the weatherman at a local station. From a simple production assistant for the ABC network in 1974, with a monthly salary of $700, ten years later he became its vice president. Another of his intuitions was to produce the series Twin Peaks (1992), by David Lynch. When Disney bought ABC (1995), he grew up in the shadow of then CEO Michael Eisner, until he took the reins of the Mickey Mouse firm.
He did it for fifteen years (2005-2020), combining it with his hobbies. Iger is an early riser (he gets up before five in the morning), a sports lover (climbing and triathlon), he never eats carbohydrates (except pizza, perhaps because he worked at Pizza Hut when he was young) and he defines himself as a convinced optimist. . “No one is inspired or motivated by following a pessimist.” He even considered, at the height of his popularity, entering the race for the US presidency.
But the financial situation of the entertainment giant after the pandemic took a turn and shareholders in 2021 cried out for the return of their former messiah, who had not even been collecting his pension for a year. He didn't back down.
Disney has just turned 100 years old and the kingdom of fantasy is experiencing a film that is dangerously far from comedy. Bob Iger, in his second term at the head of the company, is growing dwarfs (which in real life, unlike cartoons, are always more than seven).
The entertainment giant's profits fell more than 30% until September, and a job adjustment of 7,000 personnel is being proposed. The Disney platform is not very profitable. As if that were not enough, minority shareholders are threatening to hold him accountable. The increase in the price of amusement parks, which already represent 37% of income, has not been well received by customers, but Iger assures that from now on they will become the priority of the business. So that they say that Disney fables always end well.
