What a dramatic change of events at Disney. Bob Chapek has been ousted and replaced by his own predecessor.
Why does the return of Bob Iger matter?
Let’s be honest though: Bob Chapek never really stood a chance. He always seemed to be not a good fit for the role. Starting his tenure coincided with the start of the pandemic, which hit the Disney business hard. At the same time, Iger was always overshadowing his every move.
My main concern with Chapek was however, that he never really felt passionate about the special character of Disney. He came across more like a technocrat, not a compassionate leader – and that is a crucial characteristic with such a delightful and unique brand like Disney.
One other thing that I never understood. While I greatly admired Disney‘s move to go all in on #streaming, their cardinal mistake was to cut off the linear business so dramatically. I can testify from cases, where I am involved, that they loss a lot of regular income by not continuing linear carriage deals across markets in Europe and by their lack of signung up new deals: the whole operation is not working smoothly and customer-/market-oriented. For instance, one client of us it waiting since more than a year to get a contract for licensing content. All parameters are negotiated and agreed upon, yet Walt Disney company fails to finish the paperwork. Very sad.
Hopefully, Bob Iger makes the difference and invigorates Disney. Something he accomplished before.
