Disney Enters Its Succession Era
A recent article by The Hollywood Reporter quotes Bob Iger.
Notably, a spokesperson for The Walt Disney Company denies the quote, a sure sign that it’s incendiary.
(Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
The article paints Iger’s comments as advice from a current corporate CEO to those who would follow him. And the implication is clear.
Disney has entered its succession era with one high-profile gig recently claimed and two even bigger titles still on the line.
Photo: wikipedia
As reporters describe the internal struggle, it’s “Hollywood’s modern Game of Thrones.” Let’s talk about all the behind-the-scenes intrigue.
What Did Iger Say?
Photo: Getty
According to this report, Iger told an executive, “You need to be more selfish.” I laughed at this quote, as I get told this at least once a month.
However, Disney defiantly pushed back on the report. No less than Chief Communication Officer Kristina Schake fiercely denied the statement.
Photo: ABC 7
Disney’s spokesperson stated, “That is not something Bob said, or would ever say, and the incident described simply never happened.”
The denial itself differentiates Disney from most companies, as a lot of places would wear that quote as a badge of honor.
Photo: Disney
There’s a prevailing belief in corporate America that Gordon Gekko had it right way back when. “Greed is good.”
As a family-friendly company, Disney doesn’t want anyone, even the hardened cynics of Hollywood and Wall Street, to believe that nastiness is afoot.
Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
Iger has worked quite hard to cultivate at least the appearance and possibly even the reality of a coordinated C-suite.
He wants everyone to believe that Disney executives possess mutual admiration for one another, and there are at least some signs of it.
Photo: The Hollywood Reporter
Alan Bergman’s joint appearance with Josh D’Amaro at SXSW demonstrated that the two work together a lot.
Their SXSW segment felt forced, but the relationship seemed real. To a larger point, none of Iger’s potential successors has gotten out of line thus far.
Photo: Walt Disney Company
On Wall Street, aggressive tactics often lead to promotions, especially when it comes to the CEO position.
With Disney, that hasn’t been the case at all. Jimmy Pitaro even publicly dropped out of the running, although few believe him.
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Pitaro has given himself an out in the (likely?) event he doesn’t win. But it underscores the quote Iger may/may not have made. It’s an unselfish proclamation.
When you want your dream job, you should say so.
More Than One Competition
Walt Disney Company
I’m not going to write about it because it’ll just make me mad, but Disney recently announced another round of layoffs.
Nobody at the company tipped me off that this was coming, but they didn’t need to tell me. I knew as soon as this story came out.
X-Scott Gustin
Asad Ayaz is a tremendously talented executive MickeyBlog has been praising for years now. But that wasn’t the story here.
Disney consolidated its creative agencies into a single silo, and whenever a company does that, layoffs are typically happening soon.
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You’ve probably experienced it with your job, as it’s (sadly) a basic part of the corporate world today.
While nobody really noticed this point, Ayaz won a bakeoff of sorts. The heads of Disney’s other creative agencies would have liked this job, too.
Yahoo news
Chief Brand Officer at Disney looks very good on a resume. Ayaz earned that gig two years ago, and it proved impactful to the fates of hundreds of executives.
Had the heads of their agencies won instead, they would have probably avoided layoffs. That’s how it works. To the victors go the spoils.
Photo: Disney
Little competitions like this are happening within huge corporations all the time.
At Disney, two are happening simultaneously. I’ve been posting Disney CEO Succession power rankings pretty much since the day Iger returned.
(Photo by Adam Kissick/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images)
As you can read in the most recent one, I just flipped the positions of Josh D’Amaro and Dana Walden, calling him a slight favorite.
This Hollywood Reporter article says something similar, describing D’Amaro, the Chairman of Disney Experiences, as “now in pole position.”
Photo: JIM CARCHIDI
That’s not all, though. Disney is also currently scouting replacements for Kathleen Kennedy, the CEO of Lucasfilm.
Dueling Succession
As I mentioned three months ago, she’s expected to retire soon, although this new report suggests she’ll last into 2026, which isn’t what I’ve been hearing.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Kennedy is expected to end her reign shortly after Iger ends his.”
Photo: Hollywood Reporter
So, that would mean she stays until 2026 and possibly even into 2027.
Since everyone expects The Mandalorian & Grogu to be massive, maybe she wants to go out on a high note.
Kathleen Kennedy
That’s the thing about any discussions of succession. They’re often rife with speculation.
In fact, the early quote I posted about Iger probably isn’t the one that has Disney so upset.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
This same article accuses the Disney CEO of spending “two years undermining and outmaneuvering (Then-CEO Bob Chapek) behind the scenes.”
Now THAT wouldn’t be very Disney. But it’s also the type of behavior executives typically demonstrate while trying to win this particular Game of Thrones.
Photo: AdWeek
Former Disney executives Thomas O. Staggs and Kevin Mayer can tell you about the pointless nature of finishing second in a succession race.
Once neither of them replaced Iger as CEO, they left the company. “When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die.”
Photographer: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney
A lot of Disney employees quietly lost their jobs because their bosses couldn’t beat Asad Ayaz in 2023.
Bigger heads will roll at Lucasfilm and in Disney’s C-suite once successors are chosen.
Holywood Reporter PHOTOGRAPHED BY DIANA KING
For instance, Disney hopes to keep whichever one of Walden or D’Amaro loses, but that scenario would be a rare exception on Wall Street.
Disney faces an either/or with its top two executives, barring something unforeseen, which brings us back to Iger’s comments…
The Battles Are Intensifying
(Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images)
Here’s a direct quote from the article:
“What Iger meant, according to the source who relayed the comment, was that the execs vying to succeed him must be willing to go to extraordinary lengths to beat out their competitors.”
(Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)
That sure sounds like a CEO telling his potential successors, “Show me something.”
Nobody involved with either Disney or Lucasfilm succession has acted so brazenly thus far.
Image: Lucasfilm
And perhaps there’s no need. The same reporter notes that any attempt to bring in someone from outside Disney is likely to fail.
“Bringing in a CEO whom you don’t know — and I don’t care how many hours you interview someone, you don’t know them — is a bad dice throw and rarely works.”
Photo: Disney
Therefore, Disney’s internal candidates may realize that they don’t need to worry about insiders, just one another.
Since Pitaro and Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman apparently don’t think they have a legitimate chance at winning, it comes down to D’Amaro and Walden.
Image: Disney
Since these two know one another’s strengths and weaknesses, they may feel like brazen behavior would come across as desperation.
We may be witnessing the rarest of rare noble competition where the individuals genuinely want to prove which one is better.
Source: wired.com
As for Lucasfilm, the current candidates are reportedly Dave Filoni, whom I’m on record as saying will probably win, Lucasfilm’s Carrie Beck, and Emma Watts.
I don’t understand the buzz on Watts, who joined Disney after the Fox acquisition but then quit soon afterward.
Variety
Watts left because she wasn’t happy at Disney and knew she could get at Paramount. Alas, joining Paramount in 2021 was a terrible career move for literally anybody.
Mandatory Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP/Shutterstock (10474497k)
Honestly, this job is probably Filoni’s, but they’ll want to pair him with someone who understands business. He doesn’t.
The Succession Era Will Be Brief
Disney hired James Gorman from Morgan Stanley and then placed him in charge of succession for a simple reason.
Chapek was Iger’s choice. That’s why the report of Iger undermining Chapek makes no sense unless this truly was a fall guy situation.
(Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media)
I’m not cynical enough to believe that Iger threw Chapek under the bus by promoting the executive to CEO.
If Iger did that, never play him at Chess. He’d be 20 moves ahead of you the whole time.
The point is that Gorman just came on board 18 months ago. He needs more time, which is why Disney has said it won’t announce a successor in 2025.
Still, we all know it’s coming and probably within the next 12 months. The same statement applies to Lucasfilm as well.
Photo: Disney
So, the succession era won’t last long, but change is coming soon to Disney. Two people will win, while plenty of others will be weighing their career options.
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