Disney Extends Bob Iger's Contract as CEO and Chairman

[Sotiris]

Robert A. Iger will remain chief executive of the Walt Disney Company until July 2016, an extension of 15 months beyond his previously announced retirement date, the entertainment conglomerate said on Monday.

Under the terms of Mr. Iger’s contract, signed in 2011, he was to step down as chief executive in March 2015 and remain as executive chairman until the middle of the following year. But Disney’s board, which was eager to retain a leader with a highly successful track record for as long as possible, last week asked him to stay on as both chief executive and chairman until June 30, 2016. Mr. Iger’s compensation will not change.

“Now Disney will continue to have the full benefit of Mr. Iger’s leadership,” Orin C. Smith, the independent lead director of Disney’s board, said in a statement. Mr. Smith cited Mr. Iger’s ability to “consistently deliver against a strategy of producing high-quality branded content, technology innovation and international expansion.”

Keeping Mr. Iger in place does not signal that Disney needs more time to groom a successor. Disney has a deep bench of chief executive candidates, including James A. Rasulo, chief financial officer; Thomas O. Staggs, chairman of Disney’s theme park division; and Anne Sweeney, co-chairwoman of Disney Media Networks. Rather, retaining Mr. Iger’s services reflects an if-it’s-not-broken-don’t-fix-it strategy. Disney has suffered the occasional setback — a movie flop, for instance, like “John Carter” last year — and has continued to struggle in video games, but over all the company has been soaring. Its shares were trading Monday at $63.87, a 31 percent increase compared with one year ago.

Disney reported profit of $5.68 billion last year, an 18 percent increase from a year earlier, on $42.28 billion in revenue. By remaining at Disney’s helm, Mr. Iger will be able to see to fruition the high-stakes opening of Shanghai Disneyland, a sprawling resort on par with Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. The Shanghai entertainment and vacation complex, Disney’s first major outpost in China, is expected to open in late 2015. Disney is still working to integrate its latest acquisition, Lucasfilm, and restart the “Star Wars” franchise. ABC, now owned by Disney, also is under pressure to introduce a much-needed new hit this fall.

Mr. Iger, 62, started his entertainment career at ABC in 1974 and took over as chief executive of Disney in 2005. He will be 65 upon his departure; Disney’s mandatory retirement age for board members is 74. Since chief executives typically leave their corner offices reluctantly, attention has focused on what Mr. Iger has planned for his long-term future. There has long been speculation that he has political ambitions. He has steadfastly declined to comment on his life beyond Disney.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/02/busin ... .html?_r=0

[TheValentineBros]

I can see DisneyJedi or TsWade2 being pissed off about Bob Iger being Chairman and/or CEO until 2016 and their reaction to hand-drawn animation. (joke, though it will happen)

Anyway, I'm actually optimistic.

[disneyboy20022]

I can see DisneyJedi or TsWade2 being pissed off about Bob Iger being Chairman and/or CEO until 2016 and their reaction to hand-drawn animation. (joke, though it will happen)
.

That's one of the first things I thought of when I read it on a Google News Site.

Also this news isn't too shocking to be honest

[DisneyJedi]

Be that as it may, I'm still hoping Kathleen Kennedy gets to be chair(wo)man and not Rasulo.

[TsWade2]

Frankly, I'm not surprise. I know he's going to stay as CEO until 2016.

I hope Kathleen Kennedy is the next chair(wo)man.

As for the other three,

Tom Staggs, well, he's a nice guy and did very good job taking care the Disney Parks. He may have potential to be the next CEO, but the question is, will he give hand drawn animation another chance?

Jay Rasulo, Well, let me put it this way in Gravity Falls cryptogram:

"8-5-19 -1- 7-18-5-5-4-25 9-4-9-15-20-9-3 4-9-18-20-2-1-7"

To find out what it says, got to here: http://gravityfalls.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_cryptograms

And for Anne Sweeney, I don't trust that wicked witch of the west! She's the one who brought crappy sitcoms and banished Mickey and friends to Disney Junior. Which means she replaced Mickey Mouse to Hannah Montana. I don't know if she has love of hand drawn, but if she's the next CEO, then she'll banned Mickey Mouse again. So I'm against her, unless if someone clear things up about her and prove me wrong. then I'll change my mind.

But in the meantime, Kathleen Kennedy as the new CEO of Disney.

VOTE FOR KATHLEEN KENNEDY!

[DisneyJedi]

Frankly, I'm not surprise. I know he's going to stay as CEO until 2016.

I hope Kathleen Kennedy is the next chair(wo)man...

VOTE FOR KATHLEEN KENNEDY!

If only the whole process of choosing the next CEO was as simple as that.

[TsWade2]

"8-5-19 -1- 7-18-5-5-4-25 9-4-9-15-20-9-3 4-9-18-20-2-1-7"

Well, since nobody gets what it says about Jay Rasulo, it says:

He's a greedy idiotic dirtbag!

Carry on.

[DisneyJedi]

Well... Iger better do something real worthwhile before his term ends, something that doesn't say, "I'm ruining this company's legacy and I don't care what you have to say about it." Something like what Michael "Scumbag" Eisner did before his time as chairman was up.

[Sotiris]

Michael Eisner, who ran Walt Disney Co. for 21 years, said his successor, Robert Iger, should continue as chief executive officer beyond his recently extended term.

“If I had my choice I would have him stay even longer, God knows, maybe he will,” Eisner said in an interview yesterday with Bloomberg Television at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. “The longer he stays, the better it is for the shareholders.”

“The great thing about Disney (DIS) is this is such a big company, as opposed to what it was when I went to it, that a stumble like ‘Lone Ranger’ is going to have no effect,” Eisner said. “Their parks are strong, they have all those Marvel and Pixar, Star Wars movies coming out.”

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-1 ... -bomb.html

[estefan]

Says the guy who harmed relations with Pixar, peeved off Walt Disney's nephew, made the bone-headed move to buy Fox Family Channel, greenlit lower-budget direct-to-video sequels that ruined the brand name and appointed David Stainton as head of Disney Animation. Yep, he has a good idea of what makes a worthy CEO.

[DisneyJedi]

Says the guy who harmed relations with Pixar, peeved off Walt Disney's nephew, made the bone-headed move to buy Fox Family Channel, greenlit lower-budget direct-to-video sequels that ruined the brand name and appointed David Stainton as head of Disney Animation. Yep, he has a good idea of what makes a worthy CEO.

I think I said something similar in the 'Hand Drawn Animation Dead at Disney?' topic.

"We have to, it's our legacy."

Says the same man who took a shit on what the company stood for years later by trying to deliberately kill it with his greed.

So let's all agree that Michael Eisner is a selfish, dirty, rotten, greedy, lowlife hypocrite.

[thelittleursula]

And for Anne Sweeney, I don't trust that wicked witch of the west! She's the one who brought crappy sitcoms and banished Mickey and friends to Disney Junior. Which means she replaced Mickey Mouse to Hannah Montana. I don't know if she has love of hand drawn, but if she's the next CEO, then she'll banned Mickey Mouse again.

Oh wow ! What a-

[DisneyAnimation88]

So let's all agree that Michael Eisner is a selfish, dirty, rotten, greedy, lowlife hypocrite.

I don't think that's the case. He certainly followed through on that "legacy" comment in the years that followed when no one would have blamed him for shutting down animation entirely the day he walked into the company given that it was on the back of the failure that was The Black Cauldron. I don't think Eisner initially liked animation (he's admitted that as a child he never saw Disney films) or wanted to be involved in it himself but he didn't kill it entirely, he put Katzenberg in charge of sorting things out and we got the "Renaissance". Things went south for Eisner in the end but there are a multitude of reasons for that; Frank Wells' death, the issues with Katzenberg and Ovitz, problems with EuroDisney, the falling out with Pixar, struggles that followed the acquisition of ABC, the SaveDisney campaign, the eventual critical and commercial failings of animated and live-action films. It's easy to look back in hindsight and criticise Eisner and there is no question that his own legacy has been tarnished to some degree, but it wasn't all bad when he was CEO; there was a period of time where both the film and theme park divisions underwent a period of almost unprecedented growth and success and Eisner played a big part in that because he was creative and not afraid to take risks and go against conventional industry wisdom. The death of Frank Wells signalled the beginning of the end in hindsight but Eisner wasn't always selfish, greedy or a hypocrite, he just made the mistake of falling into the trap of believing that he was invincible because he had been so successful at Disney. In some ways he tarnished the Disney legacy, in other ways he replenished and strengthened it.

I'm not an Eisner fan but I would love a CEO with his creative instincts and willingness to take a risk alongside a COO with the business sensibilities of someone like Frank Wells, the same kind of working relationship that Walt and Roy enjoyed. That's the formula that seems to work at Disney.

[TsWade2]

So let's all agree that Michael Eisner is a selfish, dirty, rotten, greedy, lowlife hypocrite.

Here here!

[Kyle]

You bumped this for that?

[thedisneyspirit]

That means more Mickey Mouse Clubhouse until I die.

[disneyboy20022]

And here I was expecting breaking news or at least something new

[Mickeyfan1990]

That means more Mickey Mouse Clubhouse until I die.

It was confirmed by Bill Famer that this season (season 4) will be it's last.

Incidentally, I like Michael Eisner.

[TsWade2]

That means more Mickey Mouse Clubhouse until I die.

Are you doing this to make fun of me? Because that's not cool!

[thedisneyspirit]

That means more Mickey Mouse Clubhouse until I die.

Are you doing this to make fun of me? Because that's not cool!

I was just joking. Jesus fucking christ what the hell is wrong with you?