Bob Chapek: Celebs Rumors

“There is a lot to do,” Bob Iger told Disney staffers today of the state of the company he is now running again. “Quickly,” added the newly re-minted CEO at a town hall at the company’s Burbank HQ heralding his official return.

Disney stock faded more than 1% on the second day of Bob Iger’s return engagement as CEO, reflecting investors’ divergent outlooks on the media giant’s prospects

The surprise return of Bob Iger as Disney CEO, replacing his own replacement Bob Chapek, is not without precedent in corporate America, as Jimmy Kimmel reminded viewers last night.

Bob Iger, who was reinstalled as CEO of the Walt Disney Co. yesterday, will be eligible to receive up to $27 million in each of the two years he is under contract to lead the company.

Kareem Daniel is exiting Disney as head of its Media and Entertainment Distribution division, one day after the ouster of CEO Bob Chapek.

Among those quite happy with the re-installment of Bob Iger as Disney’s CEO was exhibition giant, AMC’s Adam Aron, who took to Twitter in the wake of the news exclaiming, “Based on box office grosses, Disney is the biggest film maker of any movie studio. Bob Iger coming back to again lead Disney as its CEO is a big deal. Let me shout this from the mountain top. I have the absolute highest respect for Bob Iger.”

So much for the retired life of Bob Iger. Deadline reports that after less than a year into retirement, Iger returns to the Walt Disney Company as CEO.

Disney shares busted out of the starting gate, rising 8% in early trading on a wave of optimistic sentiment about Bob Iger’s return engagement as CEO.

Wall Street has already embraced the news that Bob Iger has returned as Disney’s CEO, replacing Bob Chapek’s short and tumultuous reign: Shares in the entertainment giant climbed nearly 9% in premarket trading on Monday, to $99.85. Chapek, the former Disney parks chief who himself replaced Iger as CEO less than two years ago, has struggled during his brief tenure amid COVID pressures, economic issues as well self-inflicted management wounds — and Disney’s shaky revenue picture has driven its stock price down 41% since the start of the year.

Disney’s Bob Iger reached out to House of Mouse employees Sunday with the shocking news that he’s replacing Bob Chapek as chief executive, effectively immediately, noting “an incredible sense of gratitude and humility—and, I must admit, a bit of amazement.” He’s not the only one.

After less than a year in retirement, Bob Iger has returned as the CEO of the Walt Disney Company

A hiring freeze at Endeavor Group Holdings will take effect after Thanksgiving, company president Mark Shapiro revealed at a conference hosted by Wall Street firm RBC Capital Markets.

Reeling from a roller coaster stock market and earnings misses, the Walt Disney Company is about to start cutting spending, costs, and staff, CEO Bob Chapek said today.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek called Disney+ a “lifestyle portal for Disney fandom” and streaming the nexus of a “reengineered” company that would never have survived and thrived for a century if it didn’t take bold swings.  

Addressing Wall Street analysts during Disney’s quarterly earnings call, the company’s top executives sought to emphasize their progress toward attaining streaming profitability.

Advance ticket sales through Sunday for Disney-Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever stand at $45M, about 20% behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness at the same point in time and 40% ahead of Thor: Love & Thunder.

It is quite clear from a theatrical and a streaming front, Disney is already dominating.

Bloomberg report that they are nearing a deal for online betting with ESPN.According to Bloomberg, the deal could be worth as much $3 billion. In September, Disney CEO Bob Chapek told Bloomberg, “Sports betting is a part of what our younger, say, under-35, sports audience is telling us they want as part of their sports lifestyle.”Disney, which owns ESPN, acquired a stake in DraftKings as part of its acquisition of Fox’s entertainment assets in 2019.

The Walt Disney Co., after some cage-rattling by activist investor Daniel Loeb, has added former Viacom and Facebook exec Carolyn Everson to its board of directors.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Human Rights Campaign has agreed to accept a contribution from the Walt Disney Co., months after rejecting it at the height of the “Don’t Say Gay” controversy. The move comes as Disney continues to try to heal the damage done by its response to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, which restricts classroom instruction on LGBTQ identity. Disney initially declined to take a public position on the measure, leading to a major backlash among its employees. As the furor mounted, CEO Bob Chapek announced that the company would oppose the law and make a $5 million donation to HRC and other gay rights organizations. But HRC rejected the money, saying it first wanted to see the company “build on their public commitment” by working closely with LGBTQ organizations.

backed down from that recommendation. Disney said in a statement Friday that it has “agreed to customary standstill, voting and other provisions through Disney’s 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders” with Third Point.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor As a top executive at Facebook and Instacart, Carolyn Everson knows a lot about the habits of tech-savvy consumers. Soon, she may be able to help Walt Disney Co. figure out how to harness them. Disney plans to expand its board of directors to 12 from 11 and nominated Everson as a new member. The move is supported by Third Point LLC, the activist investor that in August took a new stake in Disney and suggested a litany of big moves, such as spinning off ESPN or buying out Comcast’s ownership of Hulu. “We have a productive and collegial relationship with Third Point, with whom we share a deep commitment to continue building on Disney’s many successes and increasing shareholder value,” said Disney CEO Bob Chapek in a prepared statement.

While the Emmys drew mixed reviews, the film festivals closed to strong applause this week, not only for their movies (we’d forgotten some) but for their star turnout (forgot a few of them, too).

With a bit more than a year left before Disney can buy out Comcast’s financial stake in Hulu, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts pushed back on Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s suggestion that Hulu’s value has declined amid public market skepticism about streaming.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Is there a bidding war brewing over Hulu? Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts called Hulu a “phenomenal business” — and said that if Disney were willing to sell it, the cable and media company would be interested in buying it out. “Hulu’s a phenomenal business. Its scale is fantastic. It has wonderful content,” Roberts said, speaking Wednesday at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia + Technology Conference 2022 in San Francisco. “If it was up for sale, Comcast would be interested” in buying 100% of Hulu, and “others would I think as well.” Disney currently owns 66% of Hulu and Comcast holds the remaining 33% stake. As of July 2, 2022, Disney recorded Comcast’s interest in Hulu as being worth $8.6 billion, implying a valuation of $25.8 billion. In an auction-style sale of Hulu in its entirety, Roberts suggested, Hulu may fetch more than that.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek, coming off a promotional blitz at the company’s D23 conference last weekend, reiterated many of those messages for a Wall Street audience but struck a more confident tone than ever before in outlining the future of Hulu.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney+ was first launched three years ago with the “pretty absurd” low price point of $6.99 per month, CEO Bob Chapek admitted. Now the company is gearing up to raise prices again on the flagship streamer — but Disney+ still offers a better price/value equation than competitors, he said. “I think we’re way underpriced relative to the value we provide,” Chapek said, noting that the core Disney+ service without ads will continue to be priced below several competitors. The CEO was speaking Wednesday at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia + Technology Conference 2022. Amid rising inflation, Disney has announced price increases coming in the fourth quarter of 2022 for Disney+ and Hulu, as well as a December launch for the ad-supported Disney+ tier in the U.S. Disney+ Basic, the name of the plan with ads, will launch Dec. 8 in the U.S. for $7.99/month. That’s the price of the current ad-free version of Disney+, which at that time will bump up to $10.99/month, a 38% increase, and will be known as Disney+ Premium.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek is opening up about ESPN as activist investor Daniel Loeb had been pressuring the company to spin off the sports network.

reported Sunday.“We have a better understanding of ESPN’s potential as a standalone business and another vertical for Disney to reach a global audience to generate ad and subscriber revenues,” Loeb tweeted Sunday. “We look forward to seeing Mr.

Today at the D23 Expo, Josh D’Amaro, the handsome chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, led guests on a tour of the future of the Disney Parks. During the lengthy presentation, several new “Frozen” lands being built at the international parks were detailed, an announcement was made about a forthcoming Disney Cruise Line ship and potential expansions of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom were fuzzily alluded to.

Today at the D23 Expo, Josh D’Amaro, the handsome chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, led guests on a tour of the future of the Disney Parks. During the lengthy presentation, several new “Frozen” lands being built at the international parks were detailed, an announcement was made about a forthcoming Disney Cruise Line ship and potential expansions of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom were fuzzily alluded to.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Activist investor Daniel S. Loeb of Third Point has backed off his proposal from last month for Disney to divest itself of ESPN in order to devote even more resources to content creation for streaming platforms. Loeb sent two Twitter messages early Sunday morning that amounted to an olive branch to Disney and its CEO Bob Chapek. Loeb said he had gained a “better understanding” of Disney’s plans to more deeply integrate ESPN into its direct-to-consumer operations and the emerging Disney bundle of channels. The social media missive signals that Loeb will not step up his public pressure on Disney and seek to field an alternative slate of directors at the company’s annual meeting next spring.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor “You should see the backstage,” actor Diego Luna told the D23 Expo crowd Saturday morning as he talked up his new “Star Wars”-branded Disney+ series “Andor” to the 5,000 faithful fans who packed the Anaheim Convention Center. The assembly of boldface names that were brought out at the three-day Disney fan event for a wave and brief chat about upcoming projects was a visual representation of the breadth of content produced by the studio these days. The list of boldface names included Harrison Ford, Angela Bassett, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Don Cheadle, Owen Wilson, Zoe Saldana, Giancarlo Esposito, Christian Slater, Pedro Pascal, Gael Garcia Bernal, Anthony Ramos and more.The star power on display was impressive and so was the brand power that Disney flexed during D23 Expo by releasing dozens of trailers, teasers and first looks at content bound for Disney+ and theaters in the coming year. The rapid-fire delivery of “Coming Soon” messages was music to the ears of Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who has been telling investors and others that Disney+’s has yet to fully hit its stride in content delivery because of pandemic disruptions.

There’s going to be a lot more of Earth’s mightiest heroes and villains at Disneyland and a lot more interaction on Disney+, said Bob Chapek today, kicking off 2022’s D23 Expo.

Disney’s chief financial officer Christine McCarthy said today, “We like the hand we have with ESPN,” calling the sports network and streamer an important piece of the broader portfolio.

Disney’s upcoming D23 Expo is just a few weeks away, and news is emerging about what fans can expect from this year’s event.