Former Disney CEO Bob Iger Spotted On a Jog With Family After Giving Up Salary Amid COVID-19 Shutdown
It’s been a tough couple of weeks for The Walt Disney Company. Just over the past two months we’ve seen Bob Iger step down as CEO of the company, Bob Chapek fill his shoes and then ALL of Disney’s theme parks worldwide get shutdown due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Last week, we here at MickeyBlog also shared the news with you that Iger (now Executive Chairman of the Walt Disney Company) agreed to donate his salary to cut costs during the companies downtime. However, as you can see from a recent article in The Daily Mail, Iger seemed relaxed when enjoying a walk with his family over the weekend.
The family was spotted wearing near-matching athletic clothes during a jog near San Vicente Blvd in Los Angeles. Photos show Iger with his wife Bay and sons William and Rober.
As we previously reported here at MickeyBlog, Iger agreed to waive his entire salary amid theme park shutdowns, the stop in production of several film projects, cancelling of Disney cruises and the announcement that all non-essential employees would be furloughed starting on April 19th.
It should be noted that Iger’s base salary sits at about $3 million but that he raked in a might $47.5 million last year and $68.5 million the year before when cash bonuses and stock awards are factored in. Iger has an estimated wealth of $690 million.
As part of the paycut, new Disney CEO Bob Chapek has agreed to give up 50% of his base salary of $2.5 million. However, he also has an annual target bonus of $7.5 million and a long-term incentive grant of $15 million.
As we previously reported, Chapek sent a memo to staff last week stating that he would also be slashing executive staff salaries by 20- 30%. In a written statement he advised staff, ‘In a matter of weeks, we’ve experienced widespread disruption across our company, with our domestic parks and hotels closed indefinitely, our cruise line suspended, our film and TV production halted and theatrical distribution delayed both domestically and internationally, and our retail stores shut down.” Chapek added, ‘While I am confident we will get through this challenging period together and emerge even stronger, we must take necessary steps to manage the short- and long-term financial impact on our company.’
However, according to a piece in the Hollywood Reporter last week, the move was met with backlash from the companies Vice Presidents.
With most in these roles earning somewhere between $200,000 – $700,000 and seeing salaries cut 20-30%, their argument was that they would be hardest hit as Chapek and Iger’s bonuses and stocks would mean that the salaries of both would remain relatively untouched.
You can find out more about that story here.
Its not only the theme parks that have been impacted. As we mentioned here at MickeyBlog, highly anticipated releases like ‘Mulan’ and ‘Black Widow’ have had release dates postponed. In a recent meeting with investors, Disney warned about the impact of COVID-19 on the company,
‘There has been a disruption in creation and availability of content we rely on for our various distribution paths, including most significantly the cancellation of certain sports events and the shutting down of production of most film and television content,’ the company wrote.
Readers are encouraged to keep following along with MickeyBlog for the latest Walt Disney World news and updates.
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Source: Daily Mail