Bob Iger can claim something unique. He’s the only person to become the CEO of The Walt Disney Company twice.

Iger famously left Disney at the end of 2021, only to return 11 months later.

Now, he is celebrating “50 magical years with the Walt Disney Company,” which is a bit misleading.

Iger technically didn’t join Disney until 1995/1996 as part of the merger with his employer, Capital Cities/ABC.

Still, the CEO just received the Snow White Award for 50 years of service.

And since he’s the boss, nobody’s gonna take that honor from him on a technicality.

So, let’s take this opportunity to discuss Bob Iger’s highlights and lowlights at Disney.

Highlights

Disney CEO Bob Iger is a living legend, and he didn’t come by that reputation accidentally.

Throughout Iger’s 15+ years as Disney’s leader, he has demonstrated a Midas Touch.

Iger seemingly acquires businesses moments before they’re ready to explode in popularity.

However, that’s selling him short. In truth, Iger’s marketing magic is often the secret sauce that helps brands level up in revenue.

The Pixar Gambit

The first demonstration of Iger’s excellence remains his most daring gambit.

When Iger earned the CEO job, Disney was in tumult, with Roy Disney working to oust Michael Eisner.

Meanwhile, the industry perspective at the time was that Pixar had surpassed Disney in terms of animation.

Since Disney had distributed Pixar films, that wasn’t a devastating turn of events…until Pixar ended its Disney deal.

When Iger arrived, he faced a struggling animation business and a thriving rival in Pixar.

Iger did the unimaginable in approaching Apple CEO Steve Jobs about an acquisition.

Jobs was taken aback by Iger’s bravado, and it ultimately led to the two of them developing a close relationship.

In truth, Iger learned much from Jobs and is basically the nicer person version of Apple’s iconic co-founder.

Disney acquired Pixar for $7.4 billion, and the deal pays tremendous benefits to this day.

Pixar’s most recent film, Inside Out 2, just surpassed $1 billion in box office and appears likely to become the studio’s most successful film.

The Marvel Heist

Here, we have an instance of an absolute heist. During Marvel’s early years as a film company, it licensed content to others.

After a time, Kevin Feige and others persuaded ownership that self-production would prove the more lucrative path.

The spendthrift in charge, Isaac Perlmutter, never liked the risk of it, but Marvel tested the waters with a couple of films.

Soon afterward, the studio created a bona fide blockbuster in 2008’s Iron Man.

The following year, a calculating Bob Iger bought low on a potentially lucrative concept.

Disney paid a paltry $4 billion for Marvel, a deal that has become one of the greatest of our lifetime.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has produced blockbuster after blockbuster, earning $42 billion in box office alone.

That’s not counting all the merchandising revenue included in the deal.

When history remembers Bob Iger, the conversation will begin with his Marvel purchase.

The George Lucas Deal

Then, we have the nearly as important Star Wars acquisition.

While some critics lament that Disney hasn’t done much for the Star Wars brand, they’re missing the forest for the trees.

First, Disney is a business, and the goal is to make money.

Since Star Wars was already one of the most lucrative toy franchises on the planet, the Disney marriage has been kismet.

Nobody makes toys as well as Disney, while Star Wars remains one of the most in-demand brands.

Then, we have the reality that Star Wars television series are anchoring Disney+, including the current The Acolyte.

If Disney hadn’t purchased Star Wars, The Mandalorian wouldn’t exist, either, and that would mean no Baby Yoda.

You’re sad at the thought of no Baby Yoda, aren’t you? Exactly. Disney has been good for Star Wars.

I say that before we factor in the fact that Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens is one of only five films to earn $2 billion in box office.

Overall, Disney’s Star Wars movies have grossed $5.93 billion and counting.

This seems like a good time to mention that Disney paid $4.05 billion for Lucasfilm.

Between the box office revenue, the Disney+ subscriptions, and the merchandise, this deal has already paid for itself.

Everything Star Wars earns from now on is pure profit.

Theme Park Expansion

Finally, we have the story that ties all the above highlights together.

Since Iger became Disney’s CEO, the company has opened theme parks in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Meanwhile, the parks have expanded dramatically. Disney has built entire themed lands based on Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars.

You can visit Avengers Campus, Toy Story Land, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to live out these stories.

In fact, one of Iger’s greatest achievements is that he has prioritized Disney theme parks.

Formerly criticized Disney gates like Disney California Adventure and Disney’s Hollywood Studios have earned massive upgrades.

Iger has deftly integrated popular intellectual properties at the parks, turning them into destination locations for Disney fans.

So, Disney’s CEO didn’t merely purchase these companies at bargain basement prices.

Iger also implemented a plan to maximize their value as part of the Disney empire.

Soon, the company will invest another $10 billion at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World to add even more.

Iger has had as much impact on Disney parks as anyone since Walt Disney himself. 

Lowlights

When Iger retired from Disney, any number of articles summarized his storied career with a simple epitaph.

To many, Iger was the greatest living media CEO and perhaps the greatest CEO of all-time.

In many many years of covering Iger, I’ve come to appreciate him as much as any executive in the world.

That’s why I consider the discussion of his lowlights so compelling.

Even someone like Iger experiences many setbacks along the way, some of which are self-inflicted wounds.

We’re none of us perfect, and that’s certainly true of Disney’s legendary leader.

Sleeping on Streaming

For example, Iger overlooked the disruption caused by streaming for far too long.

The CEO wasn’t ignorant of what was happening. After all, Disney took a (roughly) thirty percent stake in Hulu in 2009.

This deal happened barely two years after Netflix began streaming content over the internet.

At the time, Netflix was viewed as a curiosity, so much so that Blockbuster debated buying the company for a paltry $50 million.

Blockbuster executives declined because they failed to identify a profitable streaming future.

In this regard, Iger was only slightly better at first. To wit, Disney licensed Marvel characters to Netflix.

After shows like Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones succeeded, Disney’s CEO had a famous epiphany.

He suddenly realized that streaming had evolved into an existential threat to Disney’s lucrative Linear Networks division.

By this point, Iger was in his own words “selling nuclear weapons technology to a Third World country, and now they’re using it against us.”

Since then, Disney has pivoted to streaming and deftly at that, acquiring full ownership of Hulu and creating Disney+ and ESPN+.

Still, Iger proved slow to react to a growing threat, and it caused billion-dollar multiples of financial setbacks for Disney.

Labor Battles

In July 2023, I wrote an article entitled, “Hollywood is livid with Bob Iger.”

During the Hollywood strikes last summer, the mega-wealthy Iger dismissed writers and actors as being unreasonable with their demands.

Many of them were on strike so that they could earn better wages and thereby pay rent/mortgages and feed their families.

Iger’s early-morning words revealed how he really felt about those less fortunate than himself.

Frustratingly, this theme has recurred throughout Iger’s tenure, with Cast Member labor struggles a cyclical fight.

Just the other day, Disneyland workers handed guests buttons of Mickey Mouse raising his fist in solidarity.

Over the years, stories have recounted sad details of Cast Members living in their cars.

Meanwhile, Disney executives fight tooth and nail to prevent wage increases.

In 2023, Disney signed agreements with Walt Disney World and Disneyland unions that appeared to solve the problem.

Alas, these rate increases aren’t matching the rate of inflation.

Iger talks big about appreciating Disney’s cast, but he has never backed it up with his wallet.

Succession

Bob Chapek. Oof.

Conspiracy theories linger regarding what happened behind the scenes in early 2020.

Just when Kevin Mayer appeared likely to succeed his mentor, Iger, the pandemic arrived.

Soon afterward, Disney’s Chinese theme parks closed and while we’ll never know the why of it, Bob Chapek became CEO.

The change happened so suddenly that I was left fielding questions from others about the why of it.

I must admit that I lacked any good explanations at the time because all the tea leaves suggested Mayer.

Disney had placed him in charge of the company’s most important project, Disney+.

Meanwhile, Chapek’s CEO candidacy appeared to be flagging right up until the day he got the job. The whole thing was weird.

Over the next 18 months, Chapek ignored many of Iger’s ideas and went off on his own.

Those moves infuriated Iger, who eventually returned and spent a year of his life fixing Chapek’s mistakes.

Still, many don’t blame Chapek for being Chapek. It’s not like he could be anybody else.

Instead, the onus lies on Iger, who seemingly undercut all his potential successors.

Then, in a time of great turmoil, Iger selected a replacement who simply wasn’t up to the task.

Iger will get another kick at the can on succession and really needs to get this one right. Otherwise, his legacy will be tarnished.

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, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!

Feature Photo: Willow Bay on Instagram (via PEOPLE)