Disney's Secret CEO War (It Got Real Ugly)

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]In 1940, Disney released the iconic Fantasia. A sorcerer leaves the room.

[00:00:05]His apprentice Mickey Mouse puts on the hat. For a moment, it works. Then it doesn't. Because the power was never the hat. It was the man who wore it. 80 years later, it would play out for Disney in real life. This time with ego, politics, and a whole lot of backstabbing. This is the Battle of the Bobs.

[00:00:30]February 25th, 2020, Bob Iger, Disney's sixth CEO, announces he's stepping down after 15 years. He reshaped the cartoon and theme parks company into a $200 billion media empire. The guy who could smoo around Hollywood, sit with agents, talent, and executives. For years, his license plate holder on his silver Porsche asked one question. Is there life after Disney? Well, he was about to find out. His successor, another Bob, Bob Cheek. Very different resume. Cheap came up through home video in the early 90s. Spent 27 years inside Disney and built his career running supply chains.

[00:01:10]He was a reliable company man. The only executive who called Iger boss instead of Bob. A year earlier, Disney closed its massive acquisition of 21st Century Fox. To oversee integration, Iger extended his contract as CEO again. his sixth extension. At one point, Iger had told CHAPEC to meet each board member one-on-one to build trust. Cheap scheduled those meetings, but Iger's contract was extended, so the urgency faded, and he canceled them. Those relationships never got built. CFO Christine McCarthy pulled Iger aside and laid it out. Cheek lacked film and TV experience. He had no sports media connections or Hollywood connections either. He also lacked charisma and personality. Iger backed him anyway, but he did add something to calm the board down and also something that would complicate everything. He told them he'd still be around. The board eventually went with his recommendation. The night before the announcement, though, it nearly fell apart. Normally, the CEO reports to its board. Iger wanted something else. He wanted CHP reporting to him, too. That's not how most transitions work, but I pushed it and the board agreed to it right there in the press release for everyone to see.

[00:02:23]Cheap would report to the board and to Iger. He might be stepping down. He wasn't stepping away. The board believes Cheek can manage operations while Iger stays on guiding creative strategy. The next morning on Disney's Burbank lot, they sit on stage together in matching director's chairs to make the announcement. And the two couldn't be more different. Iger is and looks like a true Hollywood mogul straight from central casting. Cheap looks exactly like what he is, a career operations manager. No offense to him. Then Ager makes a joke about some employees calling him Big Bob and Cheek Little Bob. Everyone laughs a little too well.

[00:03:02]And that little joke would be a sign of things to come.

[00:03:09]Inside Disney, people already have other nicknames. Handsome Bob and Boring Bob.

[00:03:15]Behind the scenes, Disney's executive floor turns into a snake pit. People have picked sides early. Weeks into the job, CHP was already feeling it. He told his chief of staff he didn't think he could survive 2 years because Iger's presence hung over everything. Iger built such a powerful empire and reputation that the company could barely function without him. He was to Disney what Steve Jobs was to Apple. Iconic leaders who were inseparable from their companies. Before Jobs died in 2011, he urged Iger not to stay so long that he missed out on what life had to offer.

[00:03:47]But for Iger, Disney was life. And when the board suggests Cheek move into Iger's huge office, Iger refuses. He tells Chape he lives for what he calls two shower days. Inside Iger's office is a private shower that he uses before nighttime events like movie premieres or big ceremonies. So instead, the new Disney CEO, Bob Chapeek, moves into a smaller office on the same floor. The two Bobs sit side by side on CNBC for an interview. Igger got asked who's actually in charge. He answered, "Bob is going to be running the company." But as Chape speaks, Iger stiffens and his eyes drop to the floor. At home, even Chapeek's wife saw it. She told him he looked like Iger's lap dog. Sure, Chapeek inherited the throne, but Igger still owned the kingdom. The Magic Kingdom. Yeah, sorry I had to.

[00:04:44]March 11th, 2020, CO hits hard. Disney executives fly to Raleigh, North Carolina for the company's annual meeting right before the world shuts down. On the flight, Iger catches Cheek offguard. Tells him he's leading the Q&A. Iger used to call it stump the CEO.

[00:05:02]Cheap is nervous. Public speaking was never his strength. Iger spent most of the flight flipping through photos on his iPad and Cheek tries to steer the conversation back to prep. But Iger kept showing his photos with celebrities and shots of his new yacht design.

[00:05:16]Eventually, Cheek gives up and moves to the back of the plane and studies alone.

[00:05:21]Iger notices, walks to the back, and offers to help, but Cheek says he's fine and says he'll just read the materials to get ready. Later, Iger would describe how he felt in that moment, like standing at the altar, watching the bride walk toward him, and realizing he'd made a big mistake, but it was too late. The flight back is even worse.

[00:05:41]California Governor Gavin Newsome called Iger, not Cheek, to discuss whether Disneyland should close. Iger and Newsome agreed to close the park. Cheap found out after this wasn't even his lane anymore. Iger was supposed to be there for creative only, but Iger made the call anyway and the governor publicly praised him for it. Cheap later tells his friends that this is his first sign Iger regrets stepping down. Back in Burbank, it keeps happening. Iger holds meetings with division heads and CHP isn't invited. The shadow CEO never left.

[00:06:18]In what was originally thought to be a temporary setback, COVID shuts down Disney's entire business. Parks close, film and TV production stops, and ESPN runs out of live sports. It got so bad at ESPN they filled airtime with the movie Airbud. Profits are down 91%. CHP wants to furlow 100,000 employees, about half its global workforce, to save about $500 million a month in losses. Iger wants to wait for federal relief. The furlows happen eventually. Both men take pay cuts. Cheap announces he'll give up half his salary. Iger announces he'll give up all of it. The headlines rope themselves. Cheek lays off 100,000 people. Iger sacrifices everything for his employees. Except in reality, Iger's salary was a small piece of his compensation. The real money came from stock awards worth tens of millions of dollars. But it did make for a nice PR move. And he wasn't exactly against the idea of furloss. He just wanted to postpone them. Then the New York Times drops a column. It's a Sunday afternoon and to mark his CEO promotion, he's hosting a party at his house. The column says Iger has already taken control back. Calls Cheek the nominal CEO. Igger is quoted saying a crisis this big naturally pulls him back in. Cheek calls Disney's communications chief and says, "He's killing me." She tries to calm him down, but he doesn't sleep that night.

[00:07:43]Early the next morning, he calls Iger, tells him the article cut his legs out from under him, also tells him he never asked for a savior. The call escalates and turns into a shouting match between the two. Iger later tells friends that no one in his entire career had ever spoken to him with that kind of disrespect. As far as he's concerned, the relationship is done. Then Iger says something that really rattles.

[00:08:08]During one of their phone calls, Iger tells him that before the board agreed to make him CEO, the directors assured Iger he could fire Capeek and return whenever he wanted. And for the first time, Cheek takes his concerns to the board. He calls Susan Arnold, chairman of Disney's board, the person he basically answers to. She brushes it off and says the board never agreed to that and tells him that's just how I is and to let it go. Cheap wouldn't let it go.

[00:08:34]He felt like he had a guillotine hanging over his head that Iger could drop at any moment.

[00:08:43]Bob Chapek's big vision turned Disney into a streaming first company like Netflix. For decades, Disney operated like a federation of powerful creative kingdoms. You had studios like Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, each off on their own running their own empires. CHPEC wanted to centralize all of it >> is separate out the folks who make our wonderful content based on tremendous franchises from the decision-making in terms of where the prioritization is in terms of how it gets commercialized into the marketplace.

[00:09:15]>> So in October of 2020 he announces a massive reorg. He creates DMED short for Disney media and entertainment distribution. He appoints Kareem Daniel to run it. The plan is simple. take power away from the studios and give it to one unit, deciding what gets funded, what goes to theaters, what goes to TV, and what goes to streaming. Daniel is a 46-year-old executive who first worked with CHP as a Stanford MBA intern.

[00:09:40]Cheek's first choice had actually been Alan Bergman, the wellrespected head of Walt Disney Studios. Bergman said he'd think about it, and then he called Iger.

[00:09:49]Iger told him to tell CHEC what he really thought, that DMED was a terrible idea. Bergman eventually turned down the offer. So Chapeek went with Daniel, a loyalist, and it didn't go over well.

[00:10:01]Suddenly, creative executives at Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar report to a management consultant with no Hollywood background. Daniel shut down ideas bluntly and didn't have the usual Hollywood polish. He didn't play the room or stroke any egos, so they complain loudly. At premieres, Daniel sometimes needed help working the red carpet. Communication staff guiding conversations and introducing him to people he was supposed to know. Word gets around town and it's an embarrassing look. Chipek meets Igger at his house and spends 2 hours walking through the reorg plans. He left thinking that they both had alignment.

[00:10:36]10 minutes into the drive home, his phone rang. It's Alan Bergman and he said Iger isn't on board with the reorg that he hated the idea. Cheap pulled over and called Iger. Iger confirmed it.

[00:10:48]He didn't like it. Cheap asked why he hadn't said anything in the meeting. No real answer. Cheap pushed forward anyway. The board backed him and I didn't formally object. DMED launched.

[00:11:00]Cheap believed it was the move that would transform Disney. Well, it was a fatal mistake in a company where loyalty still belonged to one man that had that extra shower.

[00:11:12]December 25th, 2020, Soul debuts exclusively on Disney Plus, and Pixar employees are furious. Soul was supposed to be a prestige theatrical release. You know, the kind of film that wins Oscars.

[00:11:25]Instead, it becomes streaming content.

[00:11:28]Then it happens again when Luca goes straight to Disney Plus. Pixar doesn't want to be a streaming content farm.

[00:11:34]They want their movies on the big screen, not the phone. Here's the extra slap in the face. Disney releases Rya and the Last Dragon on Disney Plus premiere access. 30 extra bucks to watch those on release. But Pixar, no special price. Then in January of 2022, Turning Red gets pulled from theaters and sent straight to Disney Plus. The third Pixar film on a road to skip theaters. Pixar loses faith in JPEX leadership. The same studio Iger called the best acquisition I ever made.

[00:12:09]July 9th, 2021. Black Widow debuts simultaneously in theaters and on Disney Plus premier access for that 30 extra dollars. There's a problem though.

[00:12:19]Scarlett Johansson's contract is tied to box office performance. And surprisingly, the opening weekend looks pretty good. But Disney does something unusual. Instead of talking a box office, they brag about how it made $60 million from Premier Access. Johansson looks at that and says, "Yeah, that's great and all, but I'm suing for $50 million." And the whole thing about Bob Chapeek not being a Hollywood schmoozer really comes through at this moment because the response stuns Hollywood.

[00:12:46]Disney calls out the lawsuit basically saying it felt tonedeaf and ignored just how brutal and drawn out the pandemic had been. Then they go further. Disney tells the world Scarlet got paid $20 million upfront for the film. So of course the Hollywood community loses its mind and blasts Cheape. Eventually the lawsuit gets settled. Sources say the deal runs to more than $40 million. So Johansson walks away with more than $60 million for Black Widow. But here's the thing that makes it even worse. Igger had actually approved the public statement. The response came from both of them, but nobody called him out on that. Instead, CHP took the blame.

[00:13:32]November 19th, 2021. Igger doesn't want a farewell ceremony at Disney. He can't stomach the idea of Cheek hosting it.

[00:13:40]So, he and his wife Willow Bay decide to host a party at their Brentwood home.

[00:13:44]And every major Hollywood A-lister shows up. Now, here's the funny thing. Bob Cheek wasn't even supposed to be there.

[00:13:52]Iger had picked a date when he knew he'd be out of town, but Cheek cancels his trip and shows up anyway. As guests arrive, Willow Bay is in full host mode at the door, hugging people, calling them by name, making a big show of how far they came. Then Chapek steps up and the tone changes. No hug, no warmth, just a quick polite hello. The kind you give someone you pass in the hallway.

[00:14:15]And then she's already turned back to gushing over the next guest. But the embarrassment for Cheek wouldn't end there. During his speech, Iger thanks dozens of people who helped his career.

[00:14:25]Then he spotted Al Michaels in the crowd and lit up. Back in the ABC days, Iger had been Michael's assistant, hauling gear and covering dirt track racing in Indiana for Worldwide of Sports. He then glanced over at Cheapek and says, "That's your area, isn't it, Bob? You know all about dirt tracks." The room laughed. Cheap was upset and hurt at being mocked. Iger keeps climbing through his career story, thanking everyone along the way. Then he reaches the present day. Now, you'd think he'd acknowledge the CEO handoff, say something about his successor. Nope.

[00:14:56]Instead, he wraps it up and thanks everyone for coming. Not even a pity sentence for the new CEO. Cheap felt every eyeball in the room turn toward him. His face went red. He stood up and walked out. Their feud is now public.

[00:15:13]November 30th, 2021. Igger presides over his final board meeting as chairman. He could have been graceful. He wasn't.

[00:15:22]During an executive session with Cheek out of the room, Iger unloaded. He said the culture he'd spent 15 years building was crumbling. Afterward, Iger, who was usually the life of the party, seemed down at the board's farewell lunch. They play a video tribute, and someone gave him a pair of custom Nike sneakers as a gift. Chape steps up and gives him two gold coins with Mickey Mouse stamped on them. It's a sailing tradition. You place them under the mast of a new yacht. Supposed to protect against pirates. A little too on the nose if you ask me. In private with allies, Chapek starts using a specific word for what Iger is doing. Assassin.

[00:16:04]March 28th, 2022, Governor Ronda Santis signs the parental rights and education bill. Opponents call it the don't say gay bill. Iger tweets his opposition to the bill. Behind the scenes, CHPEC was worried the company was becoming too political. He's lobbying quietly, trying to keep Disney out of the culture wars without making a public statement. Susan Arnold told him the company should at least sign on to a broad industry letter opposing anti-gay legislation. Dozens of major corporations had already signed.

[00:16:33]Cheek agreed to sign it, just didn't follow through. When the board found out, Susan was furious. Cheek texted her, "My bad, we decided not to sign. I got busy and forgot to tell you." That didn't go over well. A group of activist employees stage walkouts and blast CPEC for not in their eyes understanding the threat to LGBTQ plus communities. Then Iger goes on CNN to say the bill is about right and wrong and that it seemed wrong. The message from Iger was clear.

[00:17:03]I would have handled this differently.

[00:17:06]Eventually CHC is forced to take a stand. In a letter to employees, he writes, "You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry." He pauses political contributions in Florida and publicly condemns the bill. Dantis fires back instantly. The Florida legislature strips Disney of his special governing status at Reedi Creek, a privilege the company held for over 50 years. Inside the board, directors discuss for the first time whether Chapeek was the wrong choice. Some are openly critical and explore whether a director could step in as an interim CEO. Nobody brings up Iger. Not yet, at least.

[00:17:48]June 8th, 2022. Peter Rice gets called into a meeting. Rice runs Disney's television business, ABC, FX, Hulu. He's one of the most powerful and well-liked executives in media and a potential CEO successor. In a conversation lasting 7 minutes, CHP tells him he's out. Says he's not a fit for the new culture. Rice pushes for specific examples. Cheek tells him now's not the time and ends the meeting. 10 months earlier though, Cheek extended Rice's contract based on how well his business performed. The tradition at Disney is that when a senior executive leaves, you give them a production deal, a cover story, and a farewell. Rice got 7 minutes. One theory spreads fast. JPEG saw a threat and removed it.

[00:18:40]June 28th, 2022, Disney's board meets in Florida and makes it official.

[00:18:46]>> Carl, Disney announcing that its board has voted unanimously to extend CEO Bob Chapek's contract as CEO for another 3 years. Uh Disney's the chair of Disney's board, Susan Arnold, issuing a statement saying Disney was dealt a tough hand by the pandemic. Yet, with Bob at the helm, our businesses from parks to streaming not only weathered the storm, but emerged in a position of strength. Cheek feels validated. Well, that doesn't last long. Disney Plus is bleeding money at the worst possible time. Just two months earlier, the entire streaming bubble burst. Netflix lost subscribers for the first time in a decade and shares dropped 35% in a single day. Overnight, investors stopped caring about subscriber counts and started caring about profit. Investors started circling and activists pushed for change.

[00:19:34]Meanwhile, Bob Iger enjoyed retirement.

[00:19:36]He spent most of his time on his yacht, wrote a draft of his second book. There were even rumors he was going to run for president. But behind the scenes, Iger couldn't stop trash talking. And a lot of that trash talk made its way back. At one point, Marvel chairman Ike Pearlmutter hears enough to get concerned. Pearl Mutter, who had his own history with Iger, he'd clash with them for years and was happy to see him go.

[00:20:01]But now Promutter's sources inside the company were convinced Iger was plotting a return. He calls Disney's general counsel, Horatio Gutierrez, and tells him they need to protect Chapeek. They can't let Iger take the company back.

[00:20:20]Around Labor Day 2022, Bob Cheek sits down with Disney's CFO Christine McCarthy. They're preparing for the upcoming earnings report. There's a gap between what Wall Street expects and what Disney is going to deliver. But JPE isn't worried. Subscribers are still growing and Kareem Daniel keeps telling him streaming is killing it. A few weeks later, the board sees the real numbers.

[00:20:42]McCarthy walks them through it. There's no good news first and bad news here.

[00:20:47]The very first slide in her presentation, major earnings miss.

[00:20:52]Streaming costs are exploding with losses heading towards $1.5 billion for the quarter. more than double the year before. Board members started firing off questions. They want to know how this could happen. Cheap is totally caught off guard. McCarthy had already sent projections to the board 9 days earlier, but Cheek hadn't read it. He assumed it matched the tone of their earlier conversation. You know, the whole killing it vibe. Now he's hearing the full picture in real time in front of the board. About an hour in, Cheek has had enough. He stares at McCarthy, taps his watch, then takes it off and starts swinging it back and forth like a pendulum. Translation: Hey, wrap this up. They take a break. Cheap pulls McCarthy aside and accuses her of blindsiding him in front of the board, making him look bad. She doesn't back down and tells him the numbers are the numbers. After the break, the board meets separately, first with Cheek, then with McCarthy. She explains Cheek came after her for presenting the truth. One of the board directors asks the question everyone is now thinking. Is he up to the job? McCarthy doesn't even hesitate.

[00:22:00]He can't do it. That's it. No sugar coating it. Afterward, an angry Susan Arnold calls Cheek demanding to know why he attacked McCarthy for presenting accurate numbers. Cheek blames her for blindsiding him. And from that moment on, the trust is gone.

[00:22:19]October 2022, Disney holds a management retreat at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

[00:22:25]Finance teams lock themselves in conference rooms and grind through the numbers. They don't look good. Outside, it's a different scene. Executives tour the parks and ride the rides. Cheek moves between both. Stops into meetings, then heads back out into the parks.

[00:22:40]Spend some time at Animal Kingdom talking with employees and trying to connect. Around this time, he grows a beard. Colleagues tell him to keep it.

[00:22:48]Says it makes him look more relatable.

[00:22:50]When the executives locked in the conference room find out is out having fun, including petting a hippopotamus, frustration starts to boil. When the meetings wrap, the finance team warns CHP. Losses are a lot worse than expected. The market reaction could get ugly. He starts referring to the more pessimistic executives as Eors. At one point he starts referring to some of the female executives as the mean girls feels they're ganging up on him. And this is when the executive team turns on him permanently.

[00:23:25]November 8th, 2022. Disney reports fourth quarter earnings. At first glance, there's a positive. Disney Plus adds 12.1 million subscribers, beating expectations.

[00:23:37]Then the rest hits. streaming losses $1.47 billion in a single quarter.

[00:23:44]Revenue misses expectations and their guidance for the next fiscal year disappoints. The stock drops 13% the next day. The worst one-day drop for Disney since the September 11th attacks that rocked the stock market. Disney's market cap loses $ 24 billion in value in one day. The worst year for Disney stock since 1974.

[00:24:07]The relationship between Cheek and CFO Christine McCarthy is totally shot.

[00:24:12]Cheek leaves her out of a board meeting and starts telling people McCarthy's lost focus. Says she's distracted by her husband's health and she's unstable.

[00:24:21]Those comments make their way around the company and eventually back to her. And this is where she makes her move.

[00:24:33]Behind Cheek and the board's back, Christine McCarthy calls Bob Iger to see if he'd come back. He's been telling friends he doesn't like where Disney is headed. Days later, Iger meets with senior executives Alan Bergman and Dana Walden. Both vent about how bad things are. Walden asks if he'd consider coming back. Iger says the board would have to make that call. She tells him to call Susan Arnold. Iger won't make the first move. If Susan wants to talk, she has his number. That same weekend, Cheek flies to Palm Beach to meet Nelson Peltz at his oceanfront mansion. The activist investor spends two hours making his case for change at Disney. Afterward, CHP briefs Pearl Mutter, but doesn't tell the board. Iger finds out anyway.

[00:25:16]Nothing stays private at that level.

[00:25:22]November 17th, 2022, the board holds a special meeting to discuss the Pelt situation. He's been making a lot of noise in the media about demanding a board seat and management changes. The board can't stand Peltz and makes it clear to that Disney wants nothing to do with him. Susan orders Chase to have no further contact with Peltz. Cheek doesn't like that. He feels his power slipping. And that Friday, Walden calls Iger and cancels a walk they had planned for that afternoon. And at 300 p.m., Susan calls Iger and they clear the air.

[00:25:55]She apologizes for the tension between them. That matters to Iger. Without that, he wouldn't have considered it.

[00:26:01]Then she asks him if he would come back.

[00:26:04]He accepts, but on three conditions. He wants it announced immediately. It has to be for a limited time. They agree on 2 years. And he offers to serve without pay. The last one didn't really stick.

[00:26:16]His final contract would include a base salary, bonuses, and up to $25 million a year in stock incentives. The call lasts 15 minutes. That's all it takes. She then orders a board meeting for Sunday and tells Gutierrez to organize it without CHP. During the meeting, Gutierrez delivers a deathblow verdict.

[00:26:38]The senior leadership team has turned on Cheek and key creative talent might leave, and he's not facing reality of how bad things are by skipping critical meetings before the earnings call. He might even be depressed, Gutierrez says.

[00:26:51]Then they vote. It's unanimous. Cheap is out. Iger is back in.

[00:27:01]November 20th, 2022, Dodger Stadium.

[00:27:05]Elton John's final US show is livereamed on Disney Plus. It's a big moment for the company. Cheap is set to introduce Elton John on stage. As the team prepares at Dodger Stadium, word starts spreading. Cheap isn't coming. He's at home when his phone rings. Susan Arnold gets straight to the point. effective immediately, you're out. Despite everything, JPEC isn't prepared for something this sudden. He asks why. Lost confidence. That's it.

[00:27:35]>> Bob Iger announced his return as CEO of Disney overnight. Iger retired from the company less than a year ago, but he's agreed to come back and serve as CEO for 2 years effective immediately. Now, typically at a senior position, especially CEO, instead of getting fired, they release a fancy press statement saying, you know, you're stepping down or you're looking for your next adventure. Nope. No face saving resignation here, just out. Executives read it and look at each other. Some actually think it's fake. Kareem Daniel shows up, sees what's happening, leaves before the concert starts. Elton does still perform. The show must go on. Not for Cheek, though. He sits alone at home. His worst fear just became reality. Wall Street celebrates the announcement. Disney stock surges almost 10% on the announcement of Iger's return.

[00:28:31]Within days, Iger dismantles Capeek's short-lived legacy as CEO. DMED gets abolished and power returns to the studios. Cape doesn't even get a farewell email. And like a scene out of the Godfather, Iger gets rid of all of Chapeek's closest allies. Kareem Daniel, CHPEC's second in command, is gone. Ike Pruter is also finally fired. Not only that, but the people who helped orchestrate Iger's return, well, they didn't last either. Iger demanded McCarthy's resignation. The CFO who made the phone call that brought him back was pushed out. Susan Arnold leaves when her term ends. The coup's architects got cleared out alongside its target. Iger tells people he came back to fix one of the biggest mistakes of his career, choosing Cheek. Later, Cheek tells a friend that his time as CEO was about 3 years of hell. He mostly disappeared after that. Took a sweet severance package north of $20 million and kept a low profile. At one point, a lawyer said he had a strong legal case against Iger and Disney for interfering with his role. Cheek didn't want a legal fight with Disney. Says his family is a Disney family. Doesn't want to hurt the company. A company man through and through all the way to the end.

[00:29:50]Go back to 1940s Fantasia. You know, the sorcerer leaves the room. Mickey puts on the hat. One broom turns into 10. The buckets keep coming. Water starts to rise. He tries to stop it. He can't. The sorcerer walks back in. He takes the hat back. Sure, Bob Cheek had the title of CEO, but he was never truly CEO. He commanded the brooms. Sure. DMED, the streaming pivot, the parks. For a minute, it even felt like it was working. Then things started stacking up. Co shuts down the business. Pixar pushes back. The Scarlett Johansson lawsuit. Streaming posts a billion and a half lost in a single quarter. The stock drops hard. the Florida political fight.

[00:30:35]His own executives turned on him. The water kept rising and rising. Bob Iger walked back in. He raised his hand and took the hat off's head. And Chape stood there alone at home while Elton John played Dodger Stadium and Disney celebrated without him. And for a minute, it worked. The stock popped and Hollywood opened its arms back to Iger.

[00:30:58]Yeah, but real life isn't always as simple and clean as a movie. streaming was still bleeding money and the company was releasing bomb after bomb after bomb after bomb after bomb. Even the stock told the story. It did pop when I returned. Then it drifted back down again. The board doesn't come out of this looking great either. They backed Jpek, extended him, even said he was the right person for the job. Then a few months later changed their minds. Even Hollywood started to turn on Iger during the strike. Uh, we've got a message for Mr. Iger. We don't expect you to understand who we are, >> but we ask you to hear us >> and beyond that to listen to us when we tell you we will not be having our jobs taken away and giving to robots.

[00:31:54]We will not have you take away our right to work and earn a decent living.

[00:32:04]>> And lastly, and most importantly, we will not ALLOW YOU TO TAKE AWAY OUR DIGNITY. JPEG didn't drown because he was incompetent. He drowned because the sorcerer built a kingdom that only worked when the sorcerer was wearing the hat. Then he left the room, stood outside the door, and watched the water rides. The palace coup succeeded. The problem stayed because Disney's real curse was never Bob Chapek. It was building a $200 billion media empire that couldn't survive without one man's magic. And the hardest part, the sorcerer had to leave the room again.

[00:32:36]Igger said 2 years for his return. Then extended his contract through 2026. The man who couldn't stay away had to figure out how to leave all over again. Now it's up to someone else to wear the hat and make sure the water doesn't rise.