Bob Iger, Disney’s longtime leader, has confirmed that he will step down from the company in December.
Iger, who resigned as chief executive last February but remained chief executive, remains a force at Mouse House as the company faces the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I will be leaving in late December with a strong sense of pride and a deep sense of appreciation for the very special place that Disney occupies in the hearts of people around the world,” Iger said at the company’s shareholder meeting on Tuesday.
The executive said that his successor, CEO Bob Chapek, and senior management will “adhere to the same principles” that he did in leading the company.
The news of the 16-year-old veteran’s departure from Disney comes as no surprise, but his next steps have been a hot topic for some time. Last fall, Iger appeared in an episode of “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations”, in which he ruled out a presidential candidacy, but not a job in the Biden government.
“Coming back in some style – serving our country in a certain way – is certainly something I should seriously consider … but a lot depends on what it is, what opportunities and what I thought. Both are motivated and good, ”said Iger.
In the meantime, Iger still has a lot of work to do to fix the ship at Disney. Mouse House’s theme parks and TV and movie business were destroyed during the pandemic. While things seemed to be improving due to the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine, Disney is still slowly recovering its path after losing billions of dollars during the pandemic.
Under Iger’s supervision, the company reorganized its business to focus on streaming and its nascent Disney + service, launched 16 months ago. The move is paying dividends, according to Disney, which said on Tuesday that Disney + has exceeded 100 million global subscribers.
“The huge success of Disney +, which has already exceeded 100 million subscribers, inspired us to be even more ambitious and to significantly increase our investment in developing high quality content,” said Chapek.
Disney + has launched a series of popular TV series since its launch, including two seasons of “The Mandalorian” and its first Marvel series, “WandaVision”.
He also released the great films “Soul”, “Mulan”, “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Hamilton”, the filmed version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical on Broadway.
The streaming giant, which is second only to Netflix, which has more than 200 million global subscribers, has plans for about 100 film and television projects, about 80 percent scheduled to go directly to Disney +. This includes nearly a dozen Marvel series and more than 10 Star Wars shows.