https://deadline.com/2022/11/disney-...ut-1235178223/
After less than a year in retirement, Bob Iger has returned as the CEO of the Walt Disney Company.
The board just sent out a notice that Bob I. is back and recently re-upped Bob Chapek is out. Having handed over the baton as CEO in February 2020 to Chapek — a stunning move unto itself at the time — and then serving as executive chairman until the end of 2021, Iger will be CEO for a second time for the next two years, the company says. Iger had previously been top dog at the House of Mouse from 2005 for 15 years, the final stage of what would be a 47-year run at Disney.
Despite the turbulence the company has experienced since Iger left the corner office and his well-earned reputation for being as smooth and diplomatic a figure as Chapek could be awkward and untested, Iger was repeatedly asked if he would consider an encore. He always refused, citing his new phase as an investor and industry observer with a lot more time on his hands. At 71, though, he is certainly not at what is considered retirement age in a business sector where many CEOs are active into their 80s. Rupert Murdoch, coincidentally Disney’s largest shareholder, is 91 and still chair of Fox Corp. and executive chair of News Corp.