The Disney CEO drama is “f***ing insane” for those who were there
Disney's decision to drop CEO Bob Chapek for ex-CEO Bob Iger is described as "extraordinary" and "insane" by company insiders
Aux News The Disney
Oh to be a fly on the wall for what is being called (at least in this scoop from The Hollywood Reporter) a “Bob swap.” That is, Disney’s ousting of CEO Bob Chapek to bring back its former CEO, Bob Iger. This news was a jaw-dropper for those of us outside the company, but apparently, it was just as shocking for those on the inside—even those who were never a fan of Chapek to begin with.
One THR source who fits that description reflects, “He didn’t get to say goodbye or say, ‘I’ve decided to step down.’ I bet you it broke Chapek’s record of firing [Peter] Rice in seven minutes,” they say in reference to one of the more controversial moves of the ex-CEO’s tenure. “They called [Chapek] and said, ‘You’re out. Our lawyers will call your lawyers.’ No statement from him, no comment from him, no grace. It’s fucking insane.”
“As much as it’s a wow, in a weird way it felt inevitable,” says an additional source, while another celebrates: “I’m happy he’s going to revert everything back to the way it was. As though Chapek was never there.”
Yes, folks have clearly chosen sides in the Battle of the Bobs, as it has been called (by us). THR reports that a recent earnings call was the nail in Chapek’s coffin, and two “high level sources” complained about being “blindsided” by Chapek’s memo about layoffs and cutting costs, which left them “scrambling to figure out what they could still spend money on and what was now off limits.”
Iger is seen as the person who can right the ship, but not everyone sounds especially pleased about his return. “Bob Iger messed up succession at Disney for 15 years. When he finally did it, it was a colossal mess-up,” a “Disney veteran” source tells the outlet. “It’s extraordinary that [Iger] is the guy they chose to come back. It speaks to his reputation and the board’s lack of options and ineptitude. How could they have gotten to this place? How could this happen?”
161 Comments
But what do Logan and Kendall make of all this?
Well played.
came here for this comment. I’d humbly submit Greg Hirch for new CEO. He already has Parks experience.
So I’ve never seen this show, but is that what’s supposed to pass for a Disneyland style theme park owned by a super giant global media conglomerate? Cuz that looked like they filmed it in a local parking lot pop-up carnival.
So I’ve never seen this show, but is that what’s supposed to pass for a Disneyland style theme park owned by a super giant global media conglomerate? Cuz that looked like they filmed it in a local parking lot pop-up carnival.
If it is to be said, so it be — so it is.
I wonder if Iger is also going to bring back David Tennant to assuage longtime fans of the company
They’ve already put out a public statement
Nope, according to my sources, they’re currently vetting George Lazenby as the new CEO.
That’s good. He is in the best Bond movie until the Craig years.
Yes sir!
Lazenby’s Bond is woefully underrated. I wish he had a chance to do more films.
Yeah I wasn’t joking.On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is the only Bond movie that isn’t weighed down by unbearable levels of douchebaggery on Bond’s part. Connery’s Bond is an open misogynist, Brosnan and Moore are all smarm, and Dalton’s Bond is utterly charmless and frequently feels like he wandered-in off the set of Miami Vice. Craig’s Bond is also a ass, but he’s saved by the fact that his movies have actual directors and cinematographers working on them, who are at least aware that careful framing is required to let Craig’s performance be compelling.
So for everything bond between Connery and Brosnan, Lazenby is the only actor who tackled the idea of ‘what if Bond was a cool superspy who was also likeable as a human being and din’t make your skin crawl every time he spoke to women like a psychopath.’
I’d disagree with that- his first bedroom scene with Tracey has him twisting her arm and features this exchange- ‘You’re hurting me’ “I thought that was the idea for tonight.” And the only reason she is sleeping with him is to clear the gambling debt she has.)
Plus there is the sequence when he sleeps with just about every young woman he can at Blofeld’s Swiss hideout.
To me that exchange with Tracey was just as bad, if not worse, than any moment Connery’s Bond had with the women in his films.
What works in Lazenby’s favour is there is a naivety to his performance that I think is more a result of him not being an actor, rather than being a deliberate choice he made.
Dalton’s Bond on the other hand I feel had proper romantic chemistry with the women in his films and The Living Daylights in particular is carried by the romantic pairing of him and Kara.
Fuck, I totally forgot about that scene, but now it’s vivid in my mind because of how tonally weird it felt in the context of the movie, like one of the Brocollis showed up one day with a new scene just to hit some quota for women hate.
I still stand by him being the least-creepy Bond of the pre-modern period, though. And I was bored throughout both Dalton films so I have no memory of them except that I think he visits Tracey’s grave in moment that felt lightyears better than Connery speedrunning a Bloefeld murder at the start of Diamonds Are Forever so he can get ‘having feelings’ out of the way as quickly as possible and go back to being The Worst.
(I actually like him in Never Say Never Again because I’ve long argued that Sean Connery was an outright shitty actor for his first few decades an it’s only once he hits fifty and starts aging-into the man who would end up in Name of the Rose and Indiana Jones that he started being watchable. (I hear good things about The Man Who Would Be King but I haven’t seen it so won’t act like I have.
Also, he was a shitty humour being, and the fact that he was an out-and-out wife beater just comes through in his Bond work. He’s not really acting, he was that shitty to women in his daily life.)
If we are talking Bond’s being shitty human beings- from Lazenby’s own stories he was just as bad, if not worse, than Connery. At a recent concert event in Perth he told a story about how he pursued the daughter of a famous cricketer- following her to London when she left him, then dragging her out of a pub and forcing her into a car with him.
And he tells the story as if it was all just a bit of a lark, and doesn’t seem to grasp how abusive his behaviour in the story is.
Oh, no doubt he was a creep too – male actors of that period seem to mostly have been, and the casual way he still thinks its a lark speaks a lot to that – but it doesn’t come across (to me) in the movie the way Connery’s grossness always seems front and centred in his performance. Or contra that: Roger Moore’s Bond’s wearingly smug misogyny contrasted with, by all accounts, Moore himself apparently being a very sweet man who was himself the victim of domestic abuse by his wives.
Man, separating art from artist can be weird. I’ve been showing my friend the rebooted Battlestar Galactica, and also just watched The Vow, and I have a weird time watching Callie because I know the actress would go on to be one of the last devoted followers and abuse-enablers of NXIVM cult leader Keith Ranerie. Or my recent re-read of the very silly The Belgariad that foundered after I learned the authors had some horrific shit!
This is a fun topic, huh.
I don’t think Dalton was an awful bond. I think he was in awful films. They just weren’t the best stories and didn’t play to his strengths.
I think his film would have been great if it had a decent actor – not him. It’s the only Bond film I avoid like the plague.
Lazenby had a chance to make more films. He just chose not to sign the contract on the advice of his manager who felt Bond was out of date and Lazenby figured he could leverage doing one Bond film into further stardom. It’s entirely on him that he didn’t do more films.
Oh that’s interesting. I always heard he was a fill-in for Connery who had an injury and couldn’t film for an extended period of time. The producers didn’t want to wait, so they brought Lazenby in as a planned one-off. So that’s interesting to hear he did actually have a chance to do more films. I guess I’ll be digging into this now lol.
“This never happened to the other fellow.”
Since affording Disney Land is a complete dream these days I’m unaware or not entirely sure of what the hell one of the rich CEO’s named Bob did wrong.
I get that this sort of change is a bit sudden, but I don’t know how or why people are taking sides in this.
One of them did everything at Disney that you hated, and the other did everything that you liked.
I thought Bob was criticized for doing things wrong too though. I haven’t liked the content on Disney+ lately, so I guess I can blame Chapek for that. I haven’t been to Disneyland in years, but I know the food situation sucks currently.
I was being facetious
Not really….Facts don’t care about feelings or entitlement and Chapek was in charge of the parks for years before being chosen by the outgoing now current C.E.O….Chapek wasn’t just plucked out of obscurity.
Chapek drew a lot of criticism for his handling of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. He also shut down what were considered complementary services at Walt Disney World, like the Magical Express and free MagicBands. I can’t say how much of this is valid, but people associate Chapek with rising prices and declining quality.
Also, and most importantly, Chapek’s head looks like a penis.
You… uh… You might want to see a doctor about that!
Can’t be overstated.
Yours, maybe but not mine. I’d get that checked out if I were you.
Wait, yours doesn’t have a face? Jesus. What’s going on?
You can say that about all baled dudes.
Chapek was in charge of the parks division since 2015, and many people blame him for the gradual nickel-and-diming of many services that were previously complementary.
Yeah if the one thing that pretty much everyone can agree is the jewel of your operation, you best not fuck it up. Disney World remains the best family customer service experience I’ve had, and as I mentioned on another article the other day they somehow found the sweet spot of making it expensive without you feeling actively nickeled and dimed.
Makes me wonder how things are going at Euro-Disney World:
Ooh, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill response was pretty bad, good point.
The Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser scam at $5000 per night is reason enough to load Chapek into a clown cannon and shoot him to Cuba.
I thought that was weird for them to end the complimentary magicbands, which is a good way to get people to use them. They still sold premium ones if you wanted something different with your favorite Disney characters on them.
You know who never said “gay?” Walt Disney. He was more of an “I’ll fuck anything that moves” guy.
Would he bang a Jewish person though?
Honestly Walt’s diet is very well known and no man that eats that much canned chili is “fucking everything that moves”
He made that shit WORK!
Well, the Bob who left is the one who used to be in charge of the parks and in the past few years since he has been in charge has screwed up the park experience with perks removed and added costs making the experience worse. Not to mention, he was also slow to respond to the whole Dont Say Gay bill in Florida (unlike the old old (and new again) Bob) and then responded in a way that pissed everyone off. Oh, and Old Bob was the one making the decision to do the stream and release in theaters on same day that caused that big lawsuit with Scarlett.
Three quarters of lower than expected earnings, offending disneyphiles, faltering quality, and continuously raising prices.
Three quarters of lower than expected earningsoffending disneyphilesfaltering qualitycontinuously raising pricesPop quiz – which of those three would the board have 100% been okay with if not for the fourth?
Everything if not for lower earnings.
But then Disney is an extraordinary and insane company.
They ARE an unusual couple?
i just really don’t understand what they can do here. they’ve introduced so many new things in the past few years, and anything that changes to make it ‘better’ would just annoyingly introduce more, other things. plus the fact that disney streaming showed a 4.5 billion dollar loss this past year, coupled with the fact that disney+ was iger’s baby, i just really don’t see what they can do here that isn’t just ‘we’re gonna take a bunch more losses’
The Board’s problems with Chapek wasn’t his policies. It was his personality and management style, which caused him to lose the support of Disney employees, executives and stockholders. His brief tenure has been one PR disaster after another, capped by surprising stockholders about the 4th quarter losses. If Chapek was a more charismatic communicator, the bad news wouldn’t have hit as hard.
well okay, fair enough.i just don’t understand what they expect iger to do, either. you can only buy star wars once.
Yeah but WB has a pair of underperforming IP’s that they might want to offload . . .
For starters he can roll back the price hikes, nickel & dime upcharges, loss of resort benefits, and overall diminished experience at the theme parks. Customer satisfaction in “the happiest place on earth” has been steadily declining since Chapek was put in charge of the parks division, and only got worse when he was made CEO.
This is wishful thinking. I can’t imagine Disney will ever roll back prices on anything. I can’t think of a company ever doing that. The things you want are most likely gone for good.
Maybe, but they’d be fools. Their reputation is their greatest asset, and they’ve been shitting it down their leg for the past 7-8 years. When even the Disney zealots aren’t happy, your current way of doing things isn’t sustainable. People are comparing Disney fucking World to the airline industry for fuck’s sake.
And yet the parks are packed. The Disney zealots love only one thing more than Disney, and that’s complaining about how it isn’t as good as it was.
It can’t last. You can only overcharge people for a shitty experience for so long. My mom and aunt were the type to go every year. They haven’t been back since 2016, and they have no plans to change that. And that was the sentiment in Disney online groups they were in, at least when they were still active in them.Eve if they’re profitable and popular now, selling out your reputation for short term profits is idiotic, and Disney has been smarter than that in the past. The fact that they’re ousting Chapek tells me they know there’s a problem that needs solving.
So, your admittedly small sample size hasn’t been to the parks in 6 years. WELL before charging for Fastpass and likely 3 rate hikes ago. In fact, well before any impact of Chapek taking over the parks could be felt. Clearly Chapek wasn’t the person to run Disney as a whole, but literally nobody on the board thought that that was because he charged people too much money to go to the parks. And still, the solution will not be “let’s roll back prices.” That’s not how capitalism works. Adam J may have hit upon a solution with bundling some things into resort stays (they did that with meal plans and extra magic hours), but on a certain level Disney is always going to be a shitty experience. The days of strolling in, hitting a few rides and grabbing a quick lunch are not only over, but they’ve been over for close to 30 years. Now, if you don’t have your day planned out (for rides and meals) you’re at the mercy of the fates. Do you think charging less at the door or re-implementing the FastPass system is going to change that? Do you think Chapek is solely responsible for that?
To be honest the new fast pass system is great for people that don’t plan out every minute of their day, especially for the big rides. I went about a month ago and we hit every ride we wanted to because of Lightning Lane and Individual Lightning Lane. Compare that to the amount of time we had to spend in line for some of the big rides at Universal because they charged $150 for fast pass PER DAY, and overall the setup and lack of need to plan months in advance was worth the slight upcharge.
I don’t think I said any of those things. My experiences were great, and while I knew going in I was going to spend a lot of money, making it seamless and integrated kept me from feeling nickeled and dimed. I know full well they’re not going to roll back pricing; my suggestion based on other peoples’ comments is that they return to that “all in” approach. Everyone knows it’s going to be ghastly expensive before setting foot in the place anyway. And yes, the fast pass system worked pretty damn well and I can’t imagine why they got rid of it. We did sign up for an online service where you input the days you would be there, how old your kids are, etc. and it gave you an itinerary for the early part of the day so you could hit everything.
well this also speaks to my point. never in a million years will you see anything as basic as a ‘price reduction’, but what you might get is another stupid app/service/system like ‘fast pass++’ that ostensibly makes it cheaper/easier, but doesn’t solve the main problem of…introducing too much shit.the problem disney families have isn’t ‘it’s too expensive*’, the problem is ‘it’s too annoying and only caters to the absolute most hardcore who want to wake up at 6am and plan every minute of their vacation 90 days in advance’.and again, none of that solves the broken streaming business model which is haemorrhaging them money. *obviously it being expensive is sort of a problem, but it’s always been expensive and always will be.
If Disney can’t make money off streaming then I don’t know who can. Granted my perspective for several years now has been that subscribing to all the services I need to get decent total content is probably not much less than cable, and it only seems to be getting more atomized.
it’s a fundamentally broken business model that doesn’t work and never did.
I think everyone saw Netflix’s early success and thought they’d be better off monetizing their own content directly, it never occurring to them that demand for streaming subscriptions is not bottomless, nor is the amount of free time people have to spend staring at a screen. I have Netflix and occasionally Hulu, then get Prime because we order shit from Amazon pretty much daily. I occasionally see something that looks interesting but damned if I’m adding another subscription just to watch a single show.
It reminds me of the music industry’s early response to Napster, Limewire, Kazaa, etc. and how they never got their shit together until iTunes came along, and then later services like Spotify made it easier to access digital music.What customers want – an easy way to find whatever show/movie they want to watch, without caring about which streaming service currently has the license to show it. Most people would easily be willing to pay $50-$60 a month if they can watch Friends, the Office, the latest MCU movie, etc. without having to figure out which app/login combo to bring it up.What studios provide – a multitude of walled off services where you can watch a movie or show for $10 or less a month, but the selection sucks and is ever-changing according to contracts the average person knows and cares nothing about.
ooooooh yeah. I forgot about limewire.
netflix doesn’t make any money either!
This is why Universal is starting to win market share away from Disney. They have done everything right that Disney has done wrong. With the opening of the 3rd Universal Park it will be interesting to see what happens and how Disney responds with Iger back in charge.
Disney’s greatest advantage is that the typical family parkgoer ages out after a few trips, and another generation of parents comes along. My youngest is now too old to have much interest so after a handful of visits, I’m done with the parks. My opinion doesn’t matter.
The parks are packed because of the pandemic. People are still getting their two years of missing vacations done. That’s going to fall off soon with the recession and inflation going on.
The parks were packed before the pandemic. There is a LOT of foreign money being spent on Disney vacations (I see it every week). Saying that it will fall off soon because of the recession and inflation is meaningless, because changing CEOs won’t help that (and it’s also not likely).
also like…disney’s business model isn’t about ‘repeat customers’. it’s about taking 10-20 grand from one customer once, and them talking about it for the rest of their lives.less poor people will go to disney because of inflation and recession, but that just means more rich people will go.
Do what they did before: bake everything into the base price. You might gulp when you see what it’s going to cost you to go, but once there if you’re not confronted with bullshit upcharges everywhere it won’t feel like a big deal. You liquidated the college fund months ago, now it’s time for some fun.
they’ll never do that, but they will charge you more money to make it feel like you’re getting that.
Iger was the one who set that up.
Chapek was in charge of the parks division at the time.
First off, he can kill Genie and Genie + at the parks and reintroduce the free Fastpass. Also, kill the park reservation system. It was needed during the pandemic (Which was admittedly awesome. Went the first week they reopened and pretty much had all the parks to ourselves.), but there’s no reason for it now. It’s so much easier to plan for a trip when you don’t have to worry about not only what park you can go to each day, but also what rides you can ride while you’re there that day. This was the first year we haven’t gone in 5 years, and it’s because of all the new rules and pricing structures.
Disney’s next CEO… Conan O’Brien!But seriously, if the biggest criticism of Bob Iger is that he totally botched the succession plan then… that’s a pretty good record?And sounds like Chapek was particularly awful at managing the parks. I don’t care if they raise the price of Disney+ a couple bucks or whatever, but when i pay several thousand dollars to go and stay at Disneyworld, then get nickle and dimed to death inside and have to pay a bunch of extraneous surcharges, that really drains most of the “magic” from the trip. Fuck, just charge me more up front then let me enjoy the trip. If all Iger does is change the park pricing back, fine by me.
“I don’t care if they raise the price of Disney+ a couple bucks or whatever, but when i pay several thousand dollars to go and stay at Disneyworld, then get nickle and dimed to death inside and have to pay a bunch of extraneous surcharges, that really drains most of the “magic” from the trip.”Disney is running its parks like an airline — declining quality of experience + rising prices — knowing that the audience won’t balk. Yet. The parks are keeping the rest of Disney alive.
Welcome to The Magic Kingdom! Your money just disappeared!
That Mouse is HUNGRY! FEED THE MOUSE!
Chapek is the reason Disney parks pricing is fucking bananas now. Board saw that made them buttloads of money and decided he was it. Then when they finally realized Disney is a media company first he’s gone.
That was definitely true in the olden days. There were serious suggestions in the 1970s that Disney should just stop making movies and just live off the parks and licensing its characters for toys and so on. These days I think that’s less likely to be true given how they now own Star Wars, Marvel, etc.
Exactly, Re Star Wars/Marvel. I should have added that theatrical releases are the other profit engine. It’s really the streaming business that is hard to make profitable.
Plus that time they crashed the entire park into the Hudson River.
Of his many fuckups — and he fucked up at every level on every facet of the Disney business — he absolutely fucked up the parks.Which, to my money, is the most shocking thing. Because his previous job was running the parks! That’s where he came up! Was he just waiting to fuck them up until he was in charge of everything else too?
He came up through Product not the Parks, Parks was just his previous role.
Did not know that. But still. The parks were really good when he was in charge of them, it’s so weird.
He took over when the parks were at their best. From that point he started cutting free entertainment like streetmisphere and shows to bolster the parks bottom line. He was the one that really started the downfall. Not to mention the slow rolling of construction. Tron at WDW was started early 2019 and is still being built. Look at Universal, in that same time they’ve completed two elaborate coasters and started building a 3rd theme park. All while putting on the most elaborate Halloween transformations for 6 months out of the year every year.
He must have been biding his time, waiting for the day when he’d have the power to fuck them up!
Or perhaps he’s incapable of managing them from a bird’s eye view. He might have needed to be close to realise the issues his decisions would cause. Which would make him a terrible CEO and is consistent with his record.
i’d hoped to take my kids to disney for their, and mine, first time a couple summers from now. is the park experience really going downhil like that?
I went last year just as stuff was reopening so we kinda hit the sweet spot of affordability/lower capacity. But tried to go again this past summer and the price was just way too much. Hopefully stuff gets sorted out soon, even if it’s just a return to how things were before Chapek took over.
Not as bad as these posts say.Right now, I think the parks are suffering from what most places are suffering from: a lack of quality talent. A lot of people just dropped out of the employment pool during the Covid lockdown and haven’t returned. Also, construction that should have been completed for the 50th celebration is still ongoing, another victim of Covid.
I think this goes beyond Covid. Disney has been slow-playing their construction for years. Construction that could have been finished long before Covid (e.g., Tron) is still ongoing. They also decided to fire a crap ton of people during Covid with apparently no intention of replacing many of them. And they decided to get rid of “free” perks like Magic Express and Magic Bands while adding more fees. These were all decisions that have negatively impacted the parks, irrespective of Covid.
And this I’m after years of not investing in expanding the parks, despite the fact that history has proven time and again, that if they invest in a good product, it pays.
But but most of the things you just pointed out were all decisions made by the guy they just kicked out
Sure. Although he wasn’t actually in charge of the parks during Covid so maybe they were things the current guy wanted and Chapek just went along with them? He definitely gets blamed though, as a lot of things started going down while he was running the parks. Billion dollar lands with two rides, cutbacks from original plans, and veeeery slow construction times – all the while multiple areas of the parks remained shuttered or seemingly forgotten. Decreased staffing levels, increased crowds at “limited capacity” events, and of course rising prices to go along with it. I guess Iger should get some blame for those things as he was CEO. I think he skates because so much was going well in other parts of the company. TBH, I don’t have much faith in either guy.
Yeah, but my brother and his family recently went to Disney World with a couple of days at Universal out there and they were disappointed with Disney and yet loved Universal. If they are beating Disney at their own game something is seriously wrong with Disney World these days. They used to be the top that all other theme parks could only dream of comparing themselves to.
HELL YES
Yeah the changes to the Fastpast system alone seemed like insulting and ill-chosen nickel and diming. And I wonder how that Star Wars hotel experience did financially- it’s a lot of money a pop but there’s limited information about much they’re managing to book. It’s only based on the new Star Wars stuff and it doesn’t really work that great thematically- plus it kind of traps you
Apparently a lot of Chapek’s early fuckups were carrying out Iger’s stuff. I fully anticipate that little will change, with regards to pain points.
Plus, Chapek pulled the plug on nearly all new park attractions in development, and he cut the maintenance budget so rides break down more often and stay broken longer. So you’re paying more money for a park with no new stuff coming in the future, and half the rides don’t even work.But hey, at least you can pay $5,000 to sleep in a basement dressed up to look like a spaceship! That’ll turn things around, right? Right?
By all accounts, it’s not the parks. It was the losses at Disney+, the surprise layoffs, and his authoritarian management style. The parks remain the most profitable thing they do and make the Disney+ losses possible.The changes at the parks with daily reservations and Genie were in the works for years, back when Iger was there. They help control crowds and let them anticipate demand which any business loves. Like a restaurant using reservations to dictate staffing. Those are likely to stay although the form may change a little.
agreed. Chapek seemed to bring an obnoxious accountant/financial guy mindset to Disney which might have pleased the spoiled shareholders to no end but as a loyal Disney slave LOL, it just pissed me off to hear him talking so brazenly about “we know we have a great product so we’re going to make the lemmings pay for it.” What an incredibly bad look when it seems like the entire fucking corporate world has decided all at once that they want to get back to their pre-pandemic YOY revenue trajectory and to do that they’re going to take it out of the customers’ asses, i.e. MY ass. Even after our last trip my family and I decided without much dissent it would be a little longer before our next trip just because the nickel and diming really pissed us off (and only 2 of us were paying LOL).
It’s not just the money issue, though it’s now way beyond most people’s ability to pay for. They’ve been eliminating things people like, chasing away pass holders, making it far more complicated to visit the parks. And D+ – it’s nice to see the final US Elton John concert, but as a stockholder, I wonder what it cost them, and how doing this will help the bottom line.
The issue with Chapek wasn’t how he was running the parks – he did, and was doing, a superb job there. It’s the TV/movie side of the business where he really screwed things up.
tl:dw – Iger made a lot of questionable financial decisions toward the end of his tenure that will take years to turn a profit on, and some of what people blame Chapek for was actually started under Iger. Chapek fucked up trying to nickel-and-dime the customers, but Iger’s reputation as a “master negotiator” is a little disingenuous.
Chapek is also the guy that basically said “Adults dont watch cartoons”
Disney’s next CEO? You guessed it, Frank Stallone.
“As much as it’s a wow, in a weird way it felt inevitable,” says an additional source, while another celebrates: “I’m happy he’s going to revert everything back to the way it was. As though Chapek was never there.” Ah, you sweet summer child…
I assume Bob Chapek’s going to host ‘Chapek’ on TBS in the late night slot?
I believe he is starring in “Chapek: the Night Stalker”
He’s a welder by day & a stalker by night?
This is starting to sound like some strange Bob Chapek/Flashdance Fanfic . . .
I believe you mean some GREAT Bob Chapek/Flashdance Fanfic!
He could shill for Chapstick. I don’t think Dr. J.’s doing it anymore.
Maybe now we can have a show or movie where a gratuitous gay character isn’t shoe-horned in for cheap virtue-signaling purposes.
Because you want to see three-dimensional, fully fleshed-out gay characters that don’t need to be justified since human beings shouldn’t have to justify their existence, right?Right?
Had to meme your brilliant comment.
Thank you!
Double K, you KNOW the person you’re responding to isn’t looking for a sane, logical response. Take your star anyways, the ratio is pleasing to the eye (five bucks the singular like that person has is self-made/burner account).
This was beautiful. Just… chef’s kiss.
This is all about streaming. The theme parks actually serve fewer customers now compared to pre-pandemic life — yet they make way more from each customer, rendering that business highly profitable. (And the declining quality of experiences so far hasn’t hurt the business — in a way making it something like the airline industry.) Streaming is the cash hole, as it is for every other streamer (Amazon is safe because streaming is nowhere near its core biz). Chapek gutted Disney creatively (particularly in animation) and even alienated high-profile Marvel peeps like Scarlet Johansson. So morale was VERY low. That said, I’m not sure either Bob can turn Disney+ into anything but a loss leader that fuels merch and theme park sales.
Wow, comparing a trip to Disney World/Land to flying commercial. Tempting!
(And the declining quality of experiences so far hasn’t hurt the business — in a way making it something like the airline industry.)When your brand is “the happiest place on Earth,” being compared to the airline industry isn’t where you want to be, even if it is profitable for the time being. Anyone with a shred of long-term sense can see this, and Disney is incredibly protective of its image.
American Airlines: The Happiest Place 35 000 Feet Above Earth.
4.5 billion dollar loss. the subscription model fundamentally can’t generate as much money as advertisers. and it’s iger’s baby too so he’s not gonna hurt it.
The parks are falling apart, with constant breakdowns, emphasis only on the latest ways to squeeze more money out of visitors in return for a lousy experience. I had many nice visits over the years – now I’ll likely never go back.
M-I-C . . . won’t see ya real soon!
K-E-Y . . . why? because you’re fired!
I’m finding it hard to care overmuch about which rich white asshole is in charge of any particular soul-sucking capitalist enterprise.
I cannot tell those two men apart anyway.
Personally, I like to know which sociopaths are being revered by weird capitalism bootlickers who somehow believe they’ll also be billionaires one day.
“What would you say you actually do here, Bob?”
is there a chance this was always the plan? use the unpopular guy to make unpopular cuts and layoffs, then bring Iger back
It’s a regular Beast Rabban to Feyd Rautha kind of situation.
Anyone who uses “wow” as a noun should be put to the sword
Fuck it – as a verb, too. “Wow” should be strictly an interjection.
I support the verbing of most any word. Nouning is where extreme discretion should be used
VolunteerExecutioner
I’m feeling very wow
He said, wowly.
Niagara Falls…slowly I wowed…
Michelle Branch was feeling yeah. She had a whole song about it.
I think in all fairness, Iger when he chose Chapek as his successor, he never expected Chapek to end up not wanting Iger’s guidance, nor did he expect the pandemic to hit. Frankly if Chapek had taken Iger’s guidance, things might not have turned out like they would have. Also, since Chapek ran the parks division, no one would’ve thunked it that this guy would’ve ran Disney as if he was an accountant.
“I’m happy he’s going to revert everything back to the way it was. As though Chapek was never there.”So…who’s gonna tell them that’s not how anything ever works? Yeah, there will be some notable things reverted, but there will be even more things changed to something entirely different or even left in place for now because…that’s how things work.
If you can read a cash flow and a balance sheet and chase it down with an earnings call then there is no mystery – I assume many commenter can do none of the three.
I love the implication that Chapek, a white male millionaire ex-CEO of one of the biggest brands in the world, deserved sympathy or whatever. Everyone can rest easy, I’m certain that he and his multi-million dollar buyout will be just fine despite not getting to make a final statement. Maybe they even paid him enough to stay in one of Disney’s nicer resorts or afford a good PTSD therapist LOL.
A couple of loudmouth assholes vying to out-asshole each other. Yes, truly insane.
https://globalbizm.com/
No one cares about HB 557 bill, I don’t live in Florida and I don’t try to influence the politics of a state that I only visit on vacation. I am there for the sun and fun. A fraction of less than 1% of Disney employees walked out, so let’s stop pretending this is a bigger issue than it is.
OK very recent D-Land family attendee here: The nickel-and-diming is the absolute WORST. It’s not the actual $$$ amounts, that’s whatever, although it’s obvious D-Land is just going after non-local whales at this point. What’s that customer theory where if you give to many options then they will just walk out without buying? Genie+, individual lightning lanes, app only – halfway into planning our trip I felt like not going at all. Also I assumed the confusing and pricey options would at least result in less crowds but HOLY SH*T every day was like walking through a Niners game. If it was up to me we’d never go again.
The accusations of Chapek’s creative accounting concerning new shows on Disney+ are the most damming. The guy was committing fraud on the highest levels.
Bob Chapek: “So that’s it – so long, good luck?”Disney: “I don’t recall saying ‘good luck’.”