47 billion dollars was Disney’s market cap in 2005.

257 billion was the market cap in 2019.
30 billion was the revenue in 2005.
69 billion was the revenue in 2019.

Bob Iger became CEO of Disney in 2005, being credited as one of the greatest CEO’s in America, leading a 500% growth in the companies market cap, while also handling the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, LucasFilm and Fox Studios.

He retired in the beginning of 2020, being replaced by Bob Chapek, who previously ran the Disney theme parks. Chapek ran the company during COVID, but after a lot of speculation, Bob Iger has returned to

Disney Under Bob Iger

There’s constant articles flooding the internet saying “Go woke! Go broke!”, making this feel like a cultural attack on Disney, where Bob Chapek was a symbol of PC culture taking over Disney and Bob Iger returning is the response.

This is totally false, where every movie and TV show they are complaining about was approved and started pre-production before Bob Chapek began as CEO. Not a single Disney property to currently be released wasn’t a product of Bob Iger’s leadership.

Ideologies Over Political Issues

Bob Chapek did publicly oppose Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay Bill”, but he was put under a lot of public pressure to make a stance on that, where he brought it up only one or two times. Bob Iger also wasn’t this symbol of conservative values, where he was registered as a Democrat from age 18 to the year 2016, only leaving under the possibility of an independent political bid. Bob Chapek though has endorsed the Democrat nominee in every single election he’s been able to vote in, never once being conservative.

This has nothing to do with cultural issues, where if anything Bob Chapek is probably more culturally conservative than Bob Iger.

Financials Of Disney Under Bob Iger

For Bob Iger’s tenure, the financials are also pretty solid.

82.7 billion dollars will be Disney’s revenue in 2022.
3.1 billion will be the profit.

To compare that to pre COVID numbers, Disney made 69 billion in 2019, with 11 billion in profit.

Disney despite a near collapse in 2020, where amusement parks and movies were shut down, has made a full recovery on the revenue front growing more in the last two years with Bob Chapek over the three years prior with Bob Iger.

The profit is noticeably lower, but that was due to paying off debts from COVID, as well as investing more into Disney+/projects associated with Disney World.

Bob Chapek with theme park, movie, merchandise and above all streaming revenues did an amazing job as CEO, where he lead Disney passed the toughest two years they’ve ever had.

why Bob Iger was brought back?

The real question is why Bob Iger opted to retire.

The claimed reason was Bob Iger felt he wasn’t Walt Disney’s vision for a CEO. Walt Disney said he always wanted the CEO to not be older than 65 and felt Disney should be run by a man in his 40s or 50s, with children and kind of fit his mold. Which this story fits with Michael Eisener, who was CEO from 1984 to 2005, leaving around the time he turned 65 and having Bob Iger replace him, when Iger was in his mid 50s.
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Bob Iger in his autobiography said he was going to run for president in 2016, but changed his mind, saying he had to focus on Disney. Oprah Winfrey said he should have run in 2020, when interviewing Iger and he said he wanted to run in 2020, but had to give Disney a proper transition. Bob Iger also was considered heavily in late 2020 to be Joe Biden’s ambassador to China, but didn’t get it, due to public criticism of Disney’s relationship with China.

Our belief is Bob Iger envisioned a future in politics for his 70s, but didn’t see an entry point for Governor of California, president or any title with weight to it, he’d realistically get.

Return Of Bob Iger As CEO Of Disney

Bob Iger wanted to return as CEO, because he just didn’t get the retirement he wanted.

Which when bringing up why Disney let him return, it’s nothing personal with Bob Chapek, but just Bob Iger is stronger.

Handled the Pixar acquisition his first full year in charge.
Handled the Marvel acquisition in 2009.
Handled the LucasFilm acquisition in 2012.
Handled the Fox acquisition in 2017.

He’s handled now about 90 billion dollars in acquisitions, which all ultimately profited Disney heavily.

This makes the case that Bob Chapek was actually a pretty good CEO, but Bob Iger was just better.