Bob Iger Comments on Ike Perlmutter’s Disney Exit
While Disney’s latest waves of layoffs affected nearly every inch of the company, there was perhaps not a more shocking departure than that of Issac “Ike” Perlmutter.
Perlmutter, the Chairman of Marvel Entertainment, had helped the comic book brand avoid bankruptcy in 1997 and was instrumental in Disney’s purchase of the company.
Since the rise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, Perlmutter had been a thorn in Bob Iger’s side.
Tensions Between Perlmutter Iger
Tensions began when Perlmutter and his “creative committee” in New York began to butt heads with Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios.
At one point, following the filming of Captain America: Civil War, Feige even considered leaving Marvel due to Perlmutter’s interference.
With Disney’s cash cow in peril, the problem between Feige and Perlmutter ended up on the desk of Bob Iger. The Disney CEO sided with Feige and quickly reorganized Marvel. Feige was liberated from Perlmutter and assigned to report directly to then-film studio chief Alan Horn.
In Bob Iger’s autobiography, the Disney CEO also recounted Perlmutter’s attempts to block Marvel’s first lead black and woman superhero.
“I called Ike and told him to tell his team to stop putting up roadblocks. And ordered that we put both Black Panther and Captain Marvel into production,” Mr. Iger wrote.
Support For Nelson Peltz
When Bob Iger returned to Disney in 2022, he once again had to deal with Perlmutter, who retained a seat on the Disney board.
Perlmutter was in the midst of a campaign to get his friend and activist investor Nelson Peltz a seat on the Disney board.
In fact, Perlmutter had warned former CEO Bob Chapek that without Peltz on the Board, Bob Iger would be brought back.
An Unceremonious Exit
After years of corporate battles, Bob Iger finally vanquished Perlmutter under the cover of the company’s widespread layoffs.
In a recent interview with TIME Magazine, however, Iger suggested that Perlmutter’s layoff, and the dissolution of his department, were about redundancy, not personal feelings.
“This decision would have been made regardless of that,” he stated.
When asked if he handled Perlmutter’s exit personally, Iger was vague in his response.
“There are times I handle it personally and there are times that I don’t. I’d rather not get into details about this one. This was a necessary step in the direction of us creating a more efficient company. There was redundancy specific to the way Marvel was being managed.”
In the end, regardless of the specifics, Iger was able to remove a thorn in his side and do it in a way that made business sense. A win-win for everyone.
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