In the last 12 years, Bob Iger has brought a lot to the Walt Disney Company, but soon, they’re going to have to find someone to fill some very big shoes. The CEO and chairman of one of the most lucrative companies in the world has confirmed he will be stepping down and leaving Disney sometime in mid-2019.
Many thought it was going to happen a couple of years ago, but he decided to stay on a bit longer to help with different things. As he’s told Vanity Fair (by way of the New York Daily News ), there is no turning back this time.
“This time I mean it.”
Robert Iger first stepped into the position as CEO in 2005, and he has certainly had a lot to do with the huge success Disney has had since that time. He’s been the man behind the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm from 2006 to 2012, and it’s hard to argue that those properties wouldn’t make any company more successful immediately.
Business is booming for Disney even if theme park attendance has been down a little the last couple of years. There are many new projects on the rise at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and the theme parks around the world, which will surely help bring in larger crowds.
Iger was actually prepared to retire as the chairman and CEO of Disney back in the summer of 2016, but things changed. He ended up signing a three-year contract extension that would label him as a consultant, but Iger has been doing quite a bit more behind the scenes.
Bob Iger began his career at ABC, where he quietly worked his way up the ladder and became the president of the Network Television Group of ABC in 1993. By 1999, he had become president of Walt Disney International and then president and COO of the Walt Disney Company in 2000.
When 2006 rolled around, he took the spot once held by Michael Eisner.
“We should be outraged”: Disney CEO Bob Iger reflects on finding out that a Disney employee was killed in Las Vegas https://t.co/tmNp2cQL4B pic.twitter.com/yYhfvLKci1
— CNN (@CNN) October 4, 2017
Disney has not yet said who will end up taking over for Iger once he steps down in 2019, but the 66-year-old has confirmed he is truly walking away.
Robert Iger has done a lot for the Walt Disney Company over the years, and that includes before he became chairman and CEO. Since taking over the top spot, though, he has acquired some huge names while putting a lot more focus back on Disney’s theme parks around the world. As of 2019, someone new is going to have to step in and take over, but they will have a long road ahead of them if they want to be as successful.
[Featured Image by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images]
