Gerber Kawasaki Calls Bob Iger “One of America’s Best CEOs”
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Gerber Kawasaki CEO Ross Gerber threw his support behind Bob Iger as The Walt Disney Company finds itself in proxy battles with Nelson Peltz’s Trian Management and Blackwells Capital.
Discussing yesterday’s news that George Lucas was supporting Iger, Gerber admitted that the legendary filmmaker’s opinion carries weight.
Photo: LucasFilm
“One hundred percent, I mean, George Lucas is like one of the geniuses of Hollywood, and Bob Iger, who, you know, I’ve met and talked to many times, is like one of the best CEOs in like America or maybe the world, but also one of the best CEOs in Hollywood” he began before noting Iger’s recent achievements like “getting this deal yesterday with ESPN and in college sports, getting Taylor Swift on the platform.”
Kawasaki Says Peltz Doesn’t Understand Hollywood
Gerber then admitted that he would be fine with adding Jay Rasulo (whom he repeatedly called Joe); however, he said Peltz should stay in his lane.
Photo: Variety
“So these are the Bob Iger effect that people like Nelson Peltz who just like do financials. He should worry about Ben and Jerry’s and Unilever versus getting involved with companies like Disney and Hollywood, which are really, really hard to understand how to make money in Hollywood,” he explained.
“Very, very few people ever have understood that, and Bob Iger is one of them. So we support him 100%. He’s a great person…a great leader and George Lucas as well…one of the great creators of our time. And basically, everybody supports Iger.”
Nelson Peltz
Gerber went on to highlight Disney’s recent successes in streaming and Parks before turning his attention to Disney’s recent movie output.
“And Parks and Resorts is great as well. They just need to make some good movies. That’s the only thing. And the best person to make good movies is either in his team, there is,” he said. “There’s nobody else that I would trust doing it.”
Iger Continues to Rack Up Endorsements
In the last couple of weeks, Iger has now been endorsed by Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, the grandchildren of Walt and Roy Disney, former President of Imagineering Bob Weis, and, as mentioned, George Lucas.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The showdown between Iger and Nelson Peltz will take place at the Walt Disney Company annual meeting on April 3.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below. One of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon! Also, thanks for reading!
