Just hours after replacing Bob Chapek and being reinstated as Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger reportedly issued an ultimatum to employees across The Walt Disney Company, demanding they “go mad for the mouse” or get out.
In a tweet on Sunday evening, Paris Martineau, a tech reporter at The Information, tweeted, “Bob Iger just sent a company-wide email telling all Disney employees they have till 5 pm tomorrow to decide if they’re ready to go ‘mad for the mouse’ or take severance.”
bob iger just sent a company wide email telling all disney employees they have till 5pm tomorrow to decide if theyre ready to go ‘mad for the mouse’ or take severance
— paris martineau (@parismartineau) November 21, 2022
It was a bold tweet, and the notion that Iger would jump into his new-old position and make it his first order of business to send out a mass email, giving employees less than 24 hours to decide whether to sign over their lives to Disney–um, “the Mouse”–or follow suit with Chapek and get the boot, sounds a bit (angrily) ambitious, even for a go-getter like Iger.
But the replies to the tweet tell the story.
https://twitter.com/seanlconnelly/status/1594736696750481411
User @seanlconnelly tweeted, “Jeff Harmening, CEO of General Mills, just sent a company-wide email telling all employees they have till 5 pm tomorrow to decide if they’re ready to go ‘Cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs’ or take severance,” jumping on the tyrant CEO-bashing bandwagon.
Bob Iger sent an email to all employees saying they have until 5pm to embrace female-led movies & minority-relevant scripts & reasonable prices at the theme parks & higher stock earnings & larger paychecks…or take severance.
— Afro Deesiac (@MyAfro) November 21, 2022
And the fun just continued from there.
Taking a page out of the @elonmusk playbook.
— beaching it (@jasaggie) November 21, 2022
One user hilariously responded, tweeting, “As if Disney would offer severance.”
As if Disney would offer severance
— Radio Free Derry (@ItsMissDorothy) November 21, 2022
The tweet is a nod to–or jab at–Twitter’s new fearless leader, Elon Musk, who gave workers at the social media company a deadline by which to decide whether they’ll stay on with the company or leave.
In reality, it’s not likely Bob Iger will send any such email to any employees anytime soon (or ever). His track record in setting the standard in large company leadership is an impressive one that includes success after success, including overseeing huge mergers and acquisitions nearly seamlessly.
Disney’s Iger was reinstated on Sunday night as CEO of The Walt Disney Company, replacing Bob Chapek after a short, “tumultuous” tenure of fewer than 3 years in the role.