{"id":518553,"date":"2022-11-30T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/bob-igers-austerity-era-begins-at-disney-behind-his-most-pressing-concerns\/"},"modified":"2022-11-30T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T12:30:00","slug":"bob-igers-austerity-era-begins-at-disney-behind-his-most-pressing-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/bob-igers-austerity-era-begins-at-disney-behind-his-most-pressing-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"#Bob Iger\u2019s Austerity Era Begins at Disney: Behind His Most Pressing Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3c16f836b32\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3c16f836b32\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/bob-igers-austerity-era-begins-at-disney-behind-his-most-pressing-concerns\/#Bob_Igers_Austerity_Era_Begins_at_Disney_Behind_His_Most_Pressing_Concerns\" >Bob Iger\u2019s Austerity Era Begins at Disney: Behind His Most Pressing Concerns<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Bob_Igers_Austerity_Era_Begins_at_Disney_Behind_His_Most_Pressing_Concerns\"><\/span>Bob Iger\u2019s Austerity Era Begins at Disney: Behind His Most Pressing Concerns<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    When Bob Iger returned to Disney\u2019s Burbank lot on Nov. 28, clad in a bright white shirt and a blue cardigan, he sought to reassure anxious employees by quoting <em>Hamilton<\/em>, Lin-Manuel Miranda\u2019s Tony-winning musical. \u201cThere is no more status quo \u2026 But the sun comes up and the world still spins,\u201d actor Daveed Diggs sang as Thomas Jefferson in the original production. \u201cThat\u2019s how I feel here. The status quo is gone,\u201d Iger told assembled Disney employees. \u201cA lot has changed, but the sun is still shining, and our Disney world is still spinning.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Iger\u2019s triumphant return to Disney after Bob Chapek\u2019s ouster is complicated by a troubled macroeconomic environment, and the incoming CEO acknowledged that austerity would be in order at the company. And there\u2019s also the matter of the ticking clock, with Disney\u2019s board giving Iger two years to point the company in the right direction and find a worthy successor \u2014 who sticks. Inside Disney, the excitement from the employees at the town hall for Iger\u2019s return was palpable. Two employees who watched remotely tell <em>The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> that Iger was reassuring, giving the presence of a steady hand during unsteady times.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    If one wants to understand what Iger must have been feeling, watching from the sidelines over the past year as Disney stumbled from misstep to misstep while its stock price fell about 40 percent year-to-date, you would need only to read the prologue to his 2019 leadership tome, <em>The Ride of a Lifetime<\/em>. \u201cI tend to <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roach bad <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> as a problem that can be worked through and solved, something I have control over rather than something happening to me,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    \u201cI do believe that the past can be a beacon to light a path to the future,\u201d Iger told Disney employees during the town hall. So it makes sense to note that his first shake-up since returning to Disney bears an eerie similarity to the very first move he made after being named Michael Eisner\u2019s successor in 2005. Under Eisner \u201cvirtually all noncreative decisions were made by the central oversight group [called Strategic Planning],\u201d Iger recalled in his memoir. The problem? \u201cThe centralized decision making had a demoralizing effect on the senior leaders of our businesses, who sensed that the power to run their divisions really resided at Strategic Planning,\u201d Iger wrote. \u201cThe other was that their overly analytical decision-making processes could be painstaking and slow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    So Iger dramatically restructured the group, and handed power back to the creative divisions. He wrote in the book that it was the \u201cmost significant accomplishment\u201d of those early months. \u201cThe announcement that they would no longer have such an iron grip on all aspects of our business had a powerful, instantaneous effect on morale,\u201d the executive added. \u201cIt was as if all the windows had been thrown open and fresh air was suddenly moving through.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Seventeen years later and Iger is surely hoping that the fresh air is once again flowing through the halls in Burbank, as yet another centralized structure bites the dust.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    On the sidelines, Iger was a bystander (albeit a bystander with a great deal of his net worth tied up in Disney stock), watching as his handpicked successor, who he hoped was prepared for the worst, stumbled. Back in the CEO seat, Iger can reassert control. But if he felt he left the company last time with a winning hand, now he has to start from scratch. \u201cIger has a lot of work to do. The company hasn\u2019t been a well-run machine, and Bob is coming in to reenergize and improve profitability,\u201d says a veteran Hollywood source.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Ousting Kareem Daniel and unveiling plans to reorganize his Disney <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a> and Entertainment Distribution group left some in Hollywood thinking that he was returning to the pre-COVID norms. Such a move would be welcomed inside the company. A Disney source had griped to <em>THR<\/em> weeks before Chapek\u2019s Nov. 20 departure that the creation of DMED slowed down the process for deciding where certain content would be the best fit. And the 2020 Chapek-led reorganization led to significant layoffs and changed responsibilities. Any effort to reverse course, even in part, will take time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    But that doesn\u2019t mean changes won\u2019t be made, and fast. \u201cWith Daniel out of the way, we believe that Iger may return P&amp;L responsibilities to division heads from the centralized model under Daniel,\u201d Morningstar senior equity analyst Neil Macker wrote in a Nov. 21 note.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Indeed, in the company\u2019s annual report, which it filed with the SEC on Nov. 29, Disney said that it expects changes to come, and impairment charges to follow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    \u201cWhile the plans are in early stages, changes in our structure and operations, including within DMED (and including possibly our distribution approach and the businesses\/distribution platforms selected for the initial distribution of content), can be expected,\u201d the filing states. \u201cThe restructuring and change in business strategy, once determined, could result in impairment charges.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    If P&amp;L is returned to the content divisions, each will need staff to account for their respective finances, something that is now centralized in DMED, and from a technical and legal standpoint, Disney will need to change how it reports earnings to investors.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Some analysts argue that Chapek\u2019s reorganization also made much-needed changes for a streaming-first age. While streaming revenue increased 8 percent to $4.9 billion in its latest quarter, losses ballooned by more than 100 percent to $1.5 billion. Iger\u2019s plan to enhance streaming profits is, for now, about as detailed as Chapek\u2019s. The Disney+ ad-supported tier is certainly part of it, but finding places to cut costs amid an ongoing battle for content will be challenging. Perhaps Disney takes a cue from Warner Bros. Discovery and sends fewer films directly to streaming, hoping to recoup more cash from theatrical distribution.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    But streaming is unlikely to be Iger\u2019s only focus. Chapek\u2019s \u201cheavy emphasis on raising prices across the organization,\u201d such as at Disney\u2019s theme parks, is likely to be another area \u201cwhere Iger deviates,\u201d wrote Bank of America\u2019s Jessica Reif Ehrlich on Nov. 21. With demand for theme parks and experiences so high, Chapek responded by raising prices but also adding upcharges like Genie+ and Lightning Lane (which allow parkgoers to skip long lines), features that had previously been free. While strong demand can sustain higher prices, it can come at the expense of brand equity, something near and dear to Iger\u2019s heart. In a stark contrast to streaming losses, revenue at Disney\u2019s domestic parks segment (now run by Josh D\u2019Amaro) rose by 44 percent year-over-year to $5 billion, while operating profits soared by more than 100\u202fpercent to $741 million. But an employee in the parks division (Chapek\u2019s division before being made CEO) says morale has been low in that unit. \u201cThe reaction [to Iger returning] has been universal joy and excitement from everyone,\u201d this source adds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    The board mandate to Iger to focus on overarching strategy, structure and succession, and his limited two-year deal, may keep him more focused on high-level operations rather than the minutiae of Disneyland\u2019s Dole Whip prices or cruise ship entertainment options. And while Chapek\u2019s plan to launch a \u201ccost structure task force\u201d may be on hold, Disney will need to find places to cut costs, much like every other media and tech company. (Iger plans to keep Chapek\u2019s hiring freeze and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a> reduction rules in place.)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    In early September, Iger issued a dire warning for the industry. Linear television, which for 30 years has formed the economic backbone of Hollywood, \u201cis marching to a great precipice,\u201d he said, \u201cand it\u2019s going to be pushed off.\u201d For linear\u2019s slow decline and other issues, there\u2019s \u201cno \u2018quick fix\u2019 for Disney in the months ahead,\u201d LightShed analyst Rich Greenfield noted Nov. 22.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    But after the initial Iger glow wears off, the reality is that his return is all but assured to be short-lived, with the board tasking him with finding a successor. And while there are internal candidates like TV entertainment chief<strong> <\/strong>Dana Walden, ESPN and sports head Jimmy Pitaro, and international chief Rebecca Campbell, Iger may also very well look outside the company, perhaps to a veteran entertainment executive (bring back Peter Rice?) or a more outside-the-box pick (former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg was in the mix last time).<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    <em>Hamilton<\/em>, which Iger is clearly fond of, leans into the complexity of legacy (\u201cWho lives, who dies, who tells your story?\u201d is the tagline, after all). His return to Disney may have sparked exuberance from staff, but it will also be an opportunity for him to give his professional legacy a do-over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    <em>Kim Masters and Pamela McClintock contributed to this\u202freport.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    <em>This story first appeared in the Nov. 30 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.hollywoodreporter.com\/sub\/?p=THR&amp;f=saleb_2&amp;s=IH2205THRS\">Click here to subscribe<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/plain\" class=\"optanon-category-C0004\">\n!function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\nif (f.fbq) return;\nn = f.fbq = function() {n.callMethod ? n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments);};\nif (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\nn.push = n;\nn.loaded = !0;\nn.version = '2.0';\nn.queue = [];\nt = b.createElement(e);\nt.async = !0;\nt.src = v;\ns = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\ns.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);\n}(window, document, 'script', 'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\nfbq('init', '352999048212581');\nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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