Chapek, Iger Rift Looms Over Disney’s Future

Bob Chapek and Bob Iger

April 12, 2020. That’s the day former Disney CEO Bob Iger’s relationship with his handpicked successor, current Disney CEO Bob Chapek, began to fall apart, reports CNBC.

Iger had stunned the world in February of that year by resigning as Disney’s chief executive, effective immediately. He elevated Chapek, whom Iger and the board had long seen internally as the front-runner for the position given his operational experience and decades at the company. Iger would stick around as executive chairman and direct the company’s “creative endeavors” to help with the transition.

The timing of a CEO change at arguably the world’s most famous entertainment company couldn’t have been worse. Just weeks after Iger stepped down, Disney began closing its theme parks around the world during the initial stages of the Covid-19 quarantine.

Iger and Chapek seemed to be ready for the pandemic challenge together.

“I can’t think of a better person to succeed me in this role,” Iger said March 11, 2020, during the company’s annual shareholder meeting, a day before the company announced it would begin closing its parks.

Chapek returned the optimism.

“I’ve watched Bob [Iger] lead this company to amazing new heights, and I’ve learned an enormous amount from that experience,” Chapek said.

One month after those comments, with everyone stuck at home, then-New York Times media columnist Ben Smith published a story after reaching Iger by email. He reported Iger wasn’t going to turn Chapek to the wolves as a brand-new CEO while the world was falling apart. Iger told Smith he would stick around to help run the company.

“A crisis of this magnitude, and its impact on Disney, would necessarily result in my actively helping Bob [Chapek] and the company contend with it, particularly since I ran the company for 15 years!” Iger said in his email.

Chapek was furious when he saw the story, according to three people familiar with the matter. He had not expressed a need or desire for extra help. He wasn’t looking for a white knight.