Bob Iger (R), the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and company mascot Mickey Mouse stand together before ringing the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, New York, USA, on 27 November 2017.
New York Stock Exchange Disney CEO Iger, USA – 27 Nov 2017
Will Bob Iger Remain Disney’s CEO Into 2024?
By Movieguide® Contributor
Disney’s current CFO, Christine McCarthy, signaled she would be leaving the company, triggering speculation that Bob Iger will remain CEO of the company beyond 2024.
When Iger returned to Disney in 2022, he signed a two-year contract as CEO. Given that he was ousted from the position only two years earlier, many have reasoned that Iger was essentially an interim while the company looked for a suitable long-term replacement. However, McCarthy’s departure has likely extended Iger’s stay at Disney.
In recent decades, the CFO position at Disney has often been seen as a stepping stone to CEO. Given the company’s involvement in a variety of sectors – entertainment, theme parks, consumer goods — the CFO needs to do more than just work a spreadsheet. Iger uses Disney’s quarterly earnings calls to explain the state of the business and leans on the CFO to help explain the state of the company.
Furthermore, Disney’s CFO has “a responsibility to the board and our shareholders, which meant not always going along with whatever the CEO [has] in mind,” Iger wrote in his 2019 memoir.
Former CFOs Tom Staggs and Jay Rasulo had both been seen as major candidates for the CEO position in the past, however, ended up promoting to other positions.
McCarthy had been with Disney since 2015. She announced on June 15th that she would take a family medical leave of absence, though she would remain at Disney through June 2024, to help onboard her successor.
While Disney has yet to state anything publicly, the search for both a new CEO and CFO may be too much to handle – Especially as the company undergoes a complete restructure.
With the departure of McCarthy, the company no longer has an obvious successor to Iger, leading some to wonder if they will extend his contract to levy the stress of finding two higher-up replacements simultaneously.
Movieguide® previously reported on Disney:
The reorganization of the entertainment giant would dismantle the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution group created by former Disney CEO Bob Chapek in 2020. Disney CFO Christine McCarthy said that this change could save the company $5.5 billion.
“Our new structure is aimed at returning greater authority to our creative leaders and making them accountable for how their content performs financially,” Bob Iger, Disney’s current CEO, said.
“Our former structure severed that link and must be restored. Moving forward, our creative teams will determine what content we’re making, how it is distributed and monetized, and how it gets marketed,” he added.
The new structure will consist of three divisions.
Disney Entertainment will oversee the movie and TV assets, including Disney+. ESPN will head ESPN and ESPN+, while Parks, Experiences and Products will oversee the theme parks and consumer products.
The 7,000 jobs set to be cut would represent about 3 percent of the company’s workforce. Due to the nature of the company’s reorganization, many of these job cuts are expected to occur in the Disney Entertainment and ESPN divisions rather than in Parks, Experiences and Products.
This restructuring comes at a crucial time for Iger, as this plan is released alongside Disney’s first earnings report since Iger returned to the company.
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