Bob Iger Admits Disney STILL Paying Price for Past Mistakes

While answering a question during the earnings call on May 7, 2024, Disney CEO Bob Iger admitted that he and the company were still watching their steps around due to past mistakes.

For years now, Disney has been on the back foot, trying to catch up after the world was hit with a variety of completely unexpected events. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, every individual on the planet was affected by the oncoming quarantine that would change all of our lives forever.

In the case of many businesses, Disney included, they took a massive hit when they had to shut shop, temporarily, with the theme park business, and with people no longer going to theatres and more.

Cinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom Park, Walt Disney World / Credit: Greg Park, Unsplash

Recovering from the effects of the pandemic has been a long road, but now, four years after the world first shut shop, many are finally coming back on their feet with operating profit and revenue slowly inching back toward pre-pandemic normalcy.

In the unique case of the Walt Disney Company, however, there was one more ghost from its past, and that is its former CEO, Bob Chapek.

Chapek was long touted to be Iger’s chosen successor, and when he came on in 2020, he had his work cut out for him. Very quickly, though, the situation devolved, and Bob Chapek became persona non grata. He was even booed on stage at D23 by fans (let alone shareholders’ frustration with him and was finally unceremoniously ousted in November 2022.

Current Disney CEO Bob Iger and former Disney CEO Bob Chapek at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park, Walt Disney World / Credit: Disney

Since then, Disney and current Disney CEO Bob Iger have been on a journey to rectify the mistakes made during Bob Chapek’s time at the helm, and they are not small.

Since his return,  Bob Iger has been working hard to cut costs to the tune of $5.5 billion (no small feat), and Disney, in fact, exceeded this goal by $2 billion.

While this was achieved primarily through massive layoffs and major cost-cutting, Mr. Iger intends to make it stick by reworking the creative working strategy for the company and its departments, primarily Marvel Studios.

Disney intends to follow this strategy for the foreseeable future, despite what it may seem to audiences.

As shared on the earnings call on May 7, 2024, when one analyst asked Mr. Iger about Disney’s strategy with Marvel content, considering some of its recent releases, the CEO explained that “Some of what’s coming out [with Marvel] is a vestige of a desire to increase volume.”

Iron Man from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) / Credit: Marvel Studios

Mr. Iger reiterated that the company was “working hard with the studio to reduce output and focus on quality.” He also shared they were working to reduce from four TV shows and series a year to two and reduce the number of movies released in a year as well.

Further, Mr. Iger noted that the focus will be on the Avengers franchise (will we see the return of Captain America and Iron Man?).

“Overall, I feel great about the slate.” He shared on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “It’s something I’ve committed to spending more and more time on.”

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