Bob Iger’s Christmas Carol & The Ghosts Of Past, Present, & Future

deadline.com:

In about 698 days, the Walt Disney Company is supposed to have its fourth CEO in three years. Optimistically presuming that past and current House of Mouse boss Bob Iger really does hand over the keys to the Magic Kingdom in late 2024 to a designated successor, the soon-to-be 100-year-old media giant may look very different than it does now — as could the contracting industry overall.

It’s a reality in a self-described “age of great anxiety” that Iger himself is markedly responsible for in many ways, but rarely is held accountable for. “Iger gets a lot of praise as an executive, a lot of it well deserved,” noted an agency captain of the Disney vet, who returned on November 20 to the CEO job he handed to Bob Chapek less than two years ago. “But one of his greatest accomplishments may be sidestepping his missteps.

The billions in debt that came with the Fox purchase, going all in on streaming, hemorrhaging TV and ESPN viewership, and the succession fiascos alone would have killed any other CEO.” Lauded by some as the man in the center of the room where it happens, in a nod to his beloved Hamilton, one studio insider added of Iger: “He’s teflon like Reagan, but left a lot of mess over the years for others to clean up like (Bill) Clinton.” Still, eulogized and feted by fellow grand viziers both during his previous stint running Disney and during his short-lived but socially-crammed retirement, Iger will wake up on Christmas morning facing a new year likely full of economic austerity and hard choices as the company and the entertainment business heads deeper into choppy waters.

Perhaps in his sleep, Iger will have heard whispers from ghosts like one-time heir presumptive Tom Staggs, real life successor Chapek, and Apple