Bob Iger, Acknowledging ‘Challenging Times,’ Meets With Disney Employees

Also last week, Mr. Chapek’s top lieutenant, Kareem Daniel, was shown the door, as was Arthur Bochner, who helped write Mr. Chapek’s prepared comments on earnings conference calls and previously served as his chief of staff. In what was viewed as a petty move, someone removed a tribute to Mr. Chapek from the side of a small themed building at Castaway Cay, a Disney-owned island in the Bahamas that serves as a Disney Cruise Line activity port.

Mr. Iger did not mention Mr. Chapek by name on Monday. But Mr. Iger’s repudiation of his tenure was clear.

Dismantling the structural changes that Mr. Chapek had put in place — changes that Mr. Chapek had called wildly successful — would “restore control, responsibility and accountability to the creative businesses,” Mr. Iger said. He added that empowering Disney’s creative executives and cultivating a company culture where creativity can bloom was his No. 1 priority.

“I’m obsessed with it, and I’m obsessed with it for a reason — because it drives this company,” Mr. Iger said.

“It’s not about how much we create, it’s about how great the things are that we do create,” Mr. Iger continued, perhaps in a swipe toward the avalanche of content that Disney and other media companies have been dumping on streaming services to drive subscription growth.

One employee asked about Disney’s commitment to L.G.B.T.Q. storytelling going forward. In the spring, Disney became a political piñata among conservative pundits, partly because it had started to add openly gay, lesbian and queer characters to its animated movies.

“One of the core values of our storytelling is inclusion and acceptance and tolerance, and we can’t lose that,” Mr. Iger said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/28/business/media/disney-bob-iger.html