Executive Level Drama: More and Messier
From Bob Iger to Bob Chapek back to Bob Iger again.
This is long btw! But it’s the most comprehensive guide to why I gasped and screamed and laughed reading the news that Bob Chapek is being replaced with Bob Iger, and why it’s soooo dramatic. I know some people feel some type of way about links, but nearly all of these are citations.
The internecine dramas of Hollywood’s C-suite are usually not of interest to this newsletter. I’m not Puck or the Ankler: There isn’t as much intrigue, to me anyway, about the person in charge of Warner Bros. as there is about the person running J.Lo’s Instagram and TikTok. An executive is an executive is an executive; turnover amongst these people feels inevitable and non-specific enough to not warrant mentioning. Celebrities, people who truly seek a public-facing life, take up enough of our time.
But sometimes there is an executive shakeup that is too messy and dramatic to not be of the general interest, a hiring and firing at the center of a company that is maybe the most general interest. It’s not Succession or Industry or Billions, but it’s Succession-y, Industry-y, Billions-y enough that I put on a pencil skirt and a blazer and sit down to tell you all about it because it’s too wild to ignore. That’s what happened on Sunday night between Bobs Iger and Chapek. The White Lotus is meandering on, kind of spinning in circles, but the real Sunday night prestige drama came in the form of the chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company being replaced by the previous chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company.
On Sunday night, Disney issued a press release: Bob Iger, the beloved and lauded Disney CEO, was returning. Bob Chapek, his handpicked predecessor with a recently renewed contract, was out. Friday night news dumps are when something is intentionally meant to be buried; Sunday night news dumps are when a rollout might be inevitable but unplanned, when you’re fine with giving the girls something to talk about.
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