CEO Iger Meets Off-Campus With Senior Disney Leaders

In an off-campus meeting on Tuesday, the Disney chief executive Bob Iger spoke to senior leaders of the company’s television businesses, reports CNN. The meeting came just days after Iger made candid remarks to CNBC’s David Faber in which he said Disney’s linear business “may not be core” to the entertainment giant — a comment that immediately sent shockwaves through the industry.

The admission to Faber naturally set off alarm bells inside Disney General Entertainment Content, the division of the Magic Kingdom that houses its linear business and operates quintessential broadcast and cable networks such as ABC, the Disney Channel, National Geographic, and FX.

Employees in the sizable division have been experiencing “high anxiety,” sources noted to CNN Media Reporter Oliver Dorsey, with them adding that Iger had effectively left staff “in the dark” by not communicating directly with them since the stunning interview. There have been no company-wide memos. No town halls. Nothing but silence since Iger jolted the organization with the news.

Bob Iger

Iger sought to quell some of this unease as he fielded questions from senior company leaders assembled at the off-site. He told the personnel gathered that the content created by the company’s television production teams is “incredibly valuable to our business,” according to a person with knowledge of his remarks.

And Iger talked up the importance of ABC News: “I’m ridiculously passionate about news,” Iger said, according to the person familiar with his comments. “It’s important to this company. We need to figure out how it makes the transition into streaming. And I happen to believe we will endure. It’s too good, it’s too important, and it’s really fun.”

Of course, those comments are unlikely to entirely calm the rattled nerves of those working in Disney’s television businesses. While Iger did not explicitly tell Faber that he wanted to sell the linear stations and networks, he effectively put that sector of the business on the market with his comments.

As one Disney insider told Dorsey on Tuesday, Iger’s remarks to senior leaders were “the usual jewel in the crown stuff — except now we know that he’s selling the jewel.”