Ever since the departure of Tom Staggs in April of last year, the biggest question facing The Walt Disney Company has been “who will take over as CEO once Bob Iger’s tenure is up?” After all, when Staggs ascended the role of COO, it was a foregone conclusion that he would replace Iger in 2018. However, apparently some on the board of directors didn’t feel that Staggs was the right man for the job and the COO resigned. The discussion then shifted to a shortlist of outsiders that might want to hop aboard and learn the ropes of running a major media conglomerate… but that has yet to happen.
As a result, the Wall Street Journal is now reporting that many inside Disney are expecting Iger to extend his contract once again. This could be the third time the CEO has done so, as he was originally scheduled to leave the company in 2015 — his 10th year leading the Mouse House. The Journal quotes an unnamed Disney executive as saying, “The prevailing theory is that Bob will have to extend to train his replacement. There will be a steep learning curve for whoever comes in and no one believes Bob or the board wants to set someone up to fail.” Thus, some suspect Iger will extend his contract until his eventual replacement can be properly trained and acclimated.
It’s also worth noting that Disney is scheduled to discuss their Q1 2017 earnings results tomorrow, February 7th (which we will be live blogging here on LaughingPlace). With this contract extension story making the rounds, it seems likely that Iger will at least be asked the question then. Otherwise, Iger is scheduled to leave in June of 2018.
UPDATE (2/7/17): During today’s Q1 earnings call, Iger said that he’d be open to extending his contract if the board felt it was in the best interest of the company. However, he made it clear he had no announcement to make at this time.