[PDG Disney] Bob Iger (2005-20??)

Je ne le vois pas comme ça. La 2D était déjà morte en 2004 avec La Ferme se Rebelle et Iger et Lasseter n'y étaient pour rien.
Ils auraient pu se contenter de rester sur leur lancée et produire uniquement des films en 3D. On peut trouver que La Princesse et la Grenouille et Winnie l'Ourson, c'est trop peu, mais au point où on en était, c'était déjà pas mal. Je peux comprendre qu'il ait été difficile d'allouer un budget élevé à La Princesse et la Grenouille mais on a quand même un bon film au final, quoiqu'on en dise. Je suis vraiment intimement convaincu, et c'est malheureux, que la principale raison pour laquelle ce film n'a pas marché est qu'il était en 2D !
Je pense que le plan de Lasseter était de relancer la 2D petit à petit pour attirer les spectateurs et ne pas affoler les actionnaires qui ne devaient pas croire au projet.
Malheureusement, ça n'a pas marché mais les plus grands fautifs dans l'histoire, ce sont les spectateurs qui ne sont pas allés voir le film.

Paperman est tout de même la preuve d'une certaine tentative de ramener (encore !) de la 2D chez Disney, il faut espérer que le succès du cartoon fasse sérieusement réfléchir à la possible utilisation de cette technique dans le futur. C'est le meilleur compromis à mon avis pour espérer voir de la 2D à l'écran tout en continuant à attirer les spectateurs férus d'images modernes.

Oui, et Paperman ne sera peut-être pas le seul projet dans son genre. J'ai lu récemment sur BleedingCool un article sur les prochaines sorties Disney, parmi lesquelles un projet d'inspiration polynésienne par Musker et Clements, prévu pour 2018, qui serait "CG-hand drawn style" - un film en 3D mais avec un rendu 2D. Donc, cela pourrait relancer l'engouement des gens pour la 2D.

La liste des candidats au poste de CEO risque de s'allonger d'ici 2016. NYP cite Sheryl Sandberg (directrice des opérations et membre du conseil d'administration de Facebook) dans un article daté de cette semaine. Sheryl Sandberg est, depuis 2010, membre du conseil d'administration de The Walt Disney Company (qui en compte onze). James Rasulo et Thomas Staggs étaient jusqu'à présent les noms les plus cités, loin devant John Skipper et Anne Sweeney.

Sheryl Sandberg eyed for top Disney job

In Washington, the jockeying for the 2016 presidential election has already begun.

In media circles, the 2016 race is for the Mouse House chief position and it is proving just as unpredictable, with two years to go before CEO Bob Iger’s predetermined exit.

The talk on the West Coast these past few weeks has a surprising candidate joining the list of those who might have a shot at the top slot: billionaire Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

“The job is the most coveted role in all of media,” said one source close to the action. “People are angling early on.”

Disney TV boss Anne Sweeney took herself out of contention Tuesday by announcing her departure from the company. Few discussed Sweeney as a possible successor to Iger, one possible reason she opted out of the company.

The 44-year-old Sandberg already sits on the Disney board and is said to have had conversations about her interest.

“Sheryl has great leadership skills. Disney should pick someone who understands advertising, content and has experience of the digital future,” said one person campaigning for Sandberg, who used to run ad sales at Google.

The Facebook executive launched a campaign with Beyoncé on Monday encouraging girls to take leadership roles, though Sandberg is still the No. 2 at her own company. Sandberg has been on the Disney board since 2010. She’s also been a top executive at Google and a chief of staff at the Treasury Department.

Campaign-watchers say its no coincidence those rumors come at a time when Sandberg is launching another leg of her “Lean In” women’s leadership initiative.

Putting Sandberg in the mix would follow precedent.

Last time the Disney board discussed the succession back in 2005, Meg Whitman, then eBay chief and now CEO at Hewlett-Packard, was invited to go through the interview process.

The conventional wisdom on Wall Street is that the Disney crown belongs to either the chief financial officer, James “Jay” Rasulo, or parks chief Thomas Staggs, with Staggs widely believed to have the edge.

Wall Street sources say Staggs’ tenure at the parks has been viewed positively. The parks boss introduced new $ 1 billion technology MyMagic+, a wristband that provides guest data to the company in order to ease traffic flow, for instance.

But industry executives say the board wanted to cast a wider net. “They’re not happy with the two main choices,” said another source.

Last summer, Iger agreed to continue as CEO and chairman through July 2016, though some see Iger exiting sooner if he can get the board to settle on the right candidate.

Others wonder if ESPN boss John Skipper would have a shot.

Whether billionaire Sandberg would be tempted to take part in the process remains to be seen. While she’s made noises that suggest she’s soured on politics, she’s viewed as having a shot at a cabinet post if former State Department chief Hilary Clinton were to run and win the White House in 2016.

Sandberg may be ready for a move from Facebook, where she may no longer be needed now that CEO Mark Zuckerberg is nearing the two-year anniversary of the firm’s IPO. He just snapped up WhatsApp for $19 billion. “There’s a lot of goofy tech guys there now,” said one source, explaining why Sandberg could be looking for a move.

A Disney spokeswoman declined to comment. Sandberg referred calls to Disney.

Claire Atkinson - 11 mars 2014.

'Fortune' Names Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger a Tech Top Visionary

In looking at this year alone, there have been many exciting developments in the technology domain at Disney. We welcomed Maker Studios, the leading network of online video content, to The Walt Disney Company. We’re also collaborating with modern-day visionaries and start-ups to help influence the future of the entertainment industry through our Disney Accelerator program. And with premier interactive products such as blockbuster video game Disney Infinity and the continued roll out of Disney/ABC Television Group's WATCH apps, we are constantly innovating the ways our fans interact with their favorite Disney properties digitally.

With these significant examples in mind, we're very proud that Fortune just named Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger as a “Fortune 500: Tech Top Visionary.”

The Fortune 500 issue hails Bob on his commitment to staying at the forefront of technology. “Iger’s legacy at Disney will always include his plays for intellectual property: He bought Pixar, Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm,” author Erin Griffiths writes in the article. “But in 2013, he made a bold play for digital-first content, paying almost $1 billion for Maker Studios, a multi-channel network which runs a number of popular YouTube channels. Beyond his M&A efforts, Iger will be personally involved in Disney’s new startup accelerator, which will seek to infuse the organization with an entrepreneurial spirit.”

At Disney, technology has always been integral to reaching audiences around the world. The Fortune 500 ranking is a reflection of Bob's strategic focus on embracing and driving innovative technology, which—along with creativity and global growth—is one of the three key priorities he has set for The Walt Disney Company.

The Walt Disney Company - 3 juin 2014.


Le lien vers l'article d'Erin Griffith (Fortune Magazine) : http://fortune.com/2014/06/02/500-tech-visionaries/

The Walt Disney Company a officialisé, ce jour et sur son site internet, la prolongation du contrat de Bob Iger jusqu'au 30 juin 2018 !

Une excellente nouvelle selon moi

"The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors announced today that it has extended Bob Iger’s contract as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer through June 30, 2018.

“Bob Iger is the architect of Disney’s current success, with a proven history of delivering record financial results for the company quarter after quarter and year after year,” said Orin C. Smith, Independent Lead Director of the Disney Board. “Mr. Iger’s vision and strategy for the company led to the successful acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, the resurgence of Disney animation, and the dramatic expansion of its parks and resorts around the world, positioning the company for continued long-term growth. Given Mr. Iger’s outstanding record to date, it is obvious that shareholders and the company will be best served by his continued leadership, which is why the Board of Directors has asked him to extend his contract for two years, to June 30, 2018. I am pleased to report that Mr. Iger has accepted.”

“I’ve had the privilege of being the CEO of this great company for nine years and am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue through June 2018,” Iger said. “I’m very excited about what lies ahead, including the release of our Star Wars films and the launch of Shanghai Disneyland, and I’m honored to continue working with our talented management team and the 175,000 dedicated people who make this company what it is today.”

Since Iger became CEO in 2005, total shareholder return has increased to 311%, compared to just 92% for the S&P 500, and Disney’s market capitalization has risen to $150 billion from $48.4 billion"

https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/blog/disney-board-extends-bob-igers-term-chairman-and-ceo-through-june-30-2018

Benji Banjo a écrit:

Une excellente nouvelle selon moi

T'es fou ou quoi
C'est au contraire une très mauvaise nouvelle... tout du moins pour Disneyland Paris. On est partie pour 4 nouvelles années de léthargie complète, avec une maison mère à la marge (mais toujours aux commandes), qui encaisse la monnaie sans aider sa filiale:evil:

Jake Sully a écrit:

C'est au contraire une très mauvaise nouvelle... tout du moins pour Disneyland Paris.

C'est bien connu que TWDC se limite à Disneyland Paris... C'est très réducteur et ridicule comme façon de résumer un bilan...

Je regrette mais si l'on regarde l'intégralité des départements de TWDC et des ses différentes filiales, le bilan de Bob Iger est largement positif ! On pourrait citer des dizaines et des dizaines de projets initiés durant son mandat et qui se sont révélés être de francs succès.

De même, concernant Disneyland Paris, bon nombre de projets bénéfiques pour le Resort ont également été initiés sous l'ère Iger. On peut toujours ne pas être d'accord avec certaines décisions et en vouloir toujours plus mais je trouve que faire à Bob Iger le procès de la léthargie est relativement injuste

Rien à carrer de Disneyland Paris pour ma part, je pense qu'à la place d'Iger, je ne m'en préoccuperais pas non plus.
Ce qui m'intéresse surtout et qui est le cœur de la société, c'est le cinéma.
Et, comment dire : MARVEL, LUCASFILM, Toy Story 3, La Reine des Neiges...

Et concernant les Parcs en général, je ne dirais qu'une chose : AVATAR.

Autant le règne Eisner aura été discutable dans sa seconde moitié, autant celui d'Iger me paraît lancé sur une trajectoire ascendante.

Après le rapprochement avec Pixar, il y avait eu quelques décisions qui, personnellement m'ont déplu (le limogeage plutôt injuste de Dick Cook, la vente ratée et à bas prix de Miramax, l'effacement de Touchstone au profit de Dreamworks), mais depuis 2009, c'est quasiment du sans faute.
Les rachats de Marvel et Lucasfilms démontrent une stratégie irréprochable, vu la qualité d'exploitation des licences, et l'excellente santé actuelle des studios Disney (Les plus gros succès de cet été sont quasiment tous issus de Disney, et les performances de Raiponce, Ralph et La reine des Neiges ont définitivement revitalisé la branche WDAS). La firme Disney serait donc idiote de se séparer d'un si bon gestionnaire.

Alors, bien sûr, il reste quelques ombres au tableau (le divorce avec Bruckheimer l'an passé, l'incapacité d'ABC Studios à produire des hits de l'ampleur d'un Lost ou d'un Desperate Housewives, ces dernières années ; les promotions foireuses des pourtant excellents John Carter & Lone Ranger), mais le bilan est assez prodigieux, surtout au vu des difficultés des autres studios (Sony et DreamWorks Animation en tête)

Pour Bloomberg, Tom Staggs & Jay Rasulo sont les deux seuls candidats crédibles dans la course à la succession de Bob Iger. John Skipper, Anne Sweeney et Sheryl Sandberg ne sont plus pris en compte par le spécialiste financier dans cet article faisant suite à l'annonce de la prolongation du mandat de Bob Iger jusqu'à la fin juin 2018 :

Disney Extends Iger Term, Keeps Staggs-Rasulo Race Alive

Walt Disney Co. (DIS)’s board found a way to keep Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger in place until 2018 while maximizing the chances the internal candidates most likely to succeed him stick around.

Disney, based in Burbank, California, yesterday extended Iger’s contract by two years to June 2018. The move keeps in place a manager who has spearheaded high-profile acquisitions like Marvel, turned around the company’s historic animation business and tripled Disney’s stock price.

At the same time, the company has decided to name a chief operating officer next year -- and that executive, most likely coming from within, would be Iger’s heir apparent, according to a person close to the company. Giving a time frame to the internal candidates, Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo and Parks & Resorts Chairman Thomas Staggs, makes them less likely to bolt before a decision is made.

“There’s no doubt Bob Iger has been performing at an outstanding level,” said William Simon, an executive recruiter who heads the entertainment industry practice at Korn Ferry (KFY) in Los Angeles. “Asking a potential successor to wait four years could prove to be difficult.”

The company said in a filing today that Iger could earn a retention bonus of $60 million if Disney’s operating income increases to a cumulative $78.3 billion for the five years ending in September 2018. He will earn a smaller bonus if that number tops $76 billion. For the year that ended in September 2013, the company generated operating income of $10.7 billion.

COO Role

Disney rose 1.9 percent to $88.45 at the close in New York. The shares have advanced 16 percent this year.

Iger, 63, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in August that creating the position of chief operating officer or president was a possibility. Iger served in that role for five years before becoming CEO in 2005. Shareholders approved changes to Disney’s compensation plan last year to allow for additional executive positions.

Rasulo, 58, and Staggs, 53, are the two executives most often cited by analysts as potential successors for Iger. They remain the top candidates, according to the person, who wasn’t authorized to discuss internal matters. The pair switched jobs almost five years ago, giving Staggs more business operations experience while making Rasulo the company’s chief link to Wall Street.

Test Projects

“They should continue to give such key internal candidates as Staggs and Rasulo some trial projects but also let the world know that Bob will step down in enough time for a new generation’s standard bearer to have a good run as well,” said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor of management at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

In his role running the resorts, Staggs has supervised the opening of the Cars Land attraction, which lifted attendance at the company’s long-struggling California Adventure theme park in Anaheim, California. He also spearheaded the company’s MyMagic+ electronic wristband and reservation system in Orlando, Florida as well as construction of Disney’s Shanghai resort, scheduled to open at the end of 2015.

Rasulo, who ran the parks for eight years, has increased Disney’s dividends and stock repurchases, executed a cost-cutting initiative last year and recently took over supervision of Maker Studios, a creator of short-form videos for Youtube.com and other channels.

Disney Bench

“Disney has an incredibly strong senior management team, and the board is confident in the leadership talent available for succession planning,” Orin C. Smith, independent lead director of the board, said in a statement yesterday.

Iger has steered the company through technology shifts in Hollywood, such as the collapse of the DVD market and the rise of video streaming services like Netflix Inc. (NFLX)

He rebuilt Disney’s animation business with the purchase of Pixar and the production of hits such as “Frozen” at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He also bought Marvel, which delivered blockbusters like “The Avengers,” and acquired Lucasfilm, which will release a new “Star Wars” film next year. ESPN, the dominant sports channel, has so far fended off competition from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. and others.

Designating a CEO in waiting was a fairly common practice at companies in the past that is less frequent now, according to David Larcker, director of the Corporate Governance Research Initiative at Stanford University.

In the chief operating officer position, an executive could gain experience across Disney’s businesses, which include film and television production, theme parks and consumer products licensing. At the same time they could assume more and more operational responsibilities from Iger, according to Larcker.

“What’s going on at Disney seems to be an orderly, thoughtful transition,” he said.

Bloomberg - 3 octobre 2014.

Que pensez-vous de l'ami Iger ?

Beaucoup vantent la santé économique qu'il a apporté à la Walt Disney Company, et les acquisitions monstres que tout le monde connait. Mais il m'arrive ici et là de lire des propos négatifs, qui sont en même temps assez vagues, à son encontre.

Bob Iger a été nommé personnalité la plus influente du monde de l'entertainment par The Hollywood Reporter à l'occasion de son top 100 annuel. Il fera d'ailleurs la couverture du prochain numéro :

Citation :

In an exclusive sit-down, the exec who tops the THR 100 also talks 'Indiana Jones,' ESPN and cable's future, what happened with heir apparent Tom Staggs and who will succeed him after he leaves in 2018.

Le lien de l'interview très intéressante, c'est par ici !

Variety a rencontré Bob Iger :

Citation :

Bob Iger on Shanghai Disney, Tom Staggs and His Relentless Pursuit of Perfection

Nothing about Bob Iger’s middle-class upbringing in New York, or his years as a television and radio major at Ithaca College, or his long run up the corporate media ladder at ABC and Disney, suggests that he would find a muse in a Tokyo subway station.

But it is there, in a tiny sushi bar, that the chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Co. finds inspiration, in a wizened nonagenarian who spends most of his waking hours sculpting fine slices of blue fin and eel and combining them with rice that is grown exclusively for the restaurateur.

What captivates Iger about 91-year-old Jiro Ono, reputedly the world’s finest sushi chef, is his unflinching commitment: Never stop striving to improve yourself and your work. The Japanese call such master craftsmen shokunin, and a generation of top Disney executives has now been introduced to the shokunin spirit by Iger. The CEO made Ono a focus at one management retreat, urging the team to watch the 2011 documentary film “Jiro Dreams of Sushi.” The lesson is that work is a calling, requiring a constant drive for betterment — not just for the work’s sake, but for the growth of the self and others.

“I’ll continue to climb, trying to reach the top,” Ono says in the film, “but no one knows where the top is.”

Those who work with Iger — Variety’s 2016 Showman of the Year — say he, too, approaches the advancement of all-things-Disney like a calling. They use words like “relentless,” “intense,” and “focused” to describe him. But is he a shokunin?

Yes, Iger says, without hesitation.

The Jiro film struck the CEO as an epiphany five years ago, when he was already being lauded for Disney’s remarkable turnaround. “There’s a whole notion of ‘[If there are] no more mountains to climb, what’s going to drive you?’” Iger says. “What hit me more than anything was, ‘Well, wait a minute — don’t ever stop wanting to be better — helping others to be better.’ ”

Ceaseless focus and attention to detail have paid off handsomely for Iger, 65, in a career that has made him one of the world’s most acclaimed and recognizable business leaders.

He took the reins at Disney in 2005, after years of internal dissension, a rebellion by two key one-time board members, a shareholder revolt, and a hostile takeover attempt by Comcast. The new Disney boss quickly won over dissidents Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold and repaired a badly frayed relationship with Apple’s Steve Jobs. On his second day on the job, he told Disney’s board he wanted to buy Pixar Animation Studios, which its CEO, Jobs, controlled. About three months later, he inked the blockbuster $7.4 billion purchase of the Emeryville, Calif.-based studio.

It was the first in a series of audacious, big-ticket purchases that have come to define Disney in the Iger era. By buying Marvel Studios in 2009, and Lucasfilm — owner of the “Star Wars” franchise — in 2012, Iger has guaranteed his media company the breadth of name-brand characters and stories that competitors can’t match.

The intellectual properties have created a string of movie mega-hits — four $1 billion-plus blockbusters this year — and the kind of synergies that are easier to talk about than execute. Disney has 11 film franchises that each spin off consumer products generating $1 billion or more in retail sales. The 2013 princess fantasy “Frozen” is featured in five attractions and character presentations at Disney World in Orlando, Fla., alone.

The conglomerate’s signature theme parks and resorts have also expanded immensely under Iger — most dramatically with the June opening of the Shanghai Disney Resort, which has been drawing 1 million visitors a month and could break even as soon as next year. Iger calls the park one of his crowning glories.

Over the course of Iger’s 11-year run, Disney’s operating profit has more than tripled, to $15.7 billion for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. And the company’s stock has more than quadrupled in value, to nearly $100 a share.

Iger’s tenure has not been without its challenges. The dominant sports network ESPN — an earnings engine for most of his term — has seen subscriptions shrink, as younger viewers “cut the cord” with traditional cable, buy lower-cost cable packages, or find content online. More than 10 million subscribers have fled ESPN in the past five years.

No matter how many movie hits or theme park attendance records, Iger routinely gets grilled about how he will stanch the bleeding at ESPN. His answer has been to explore solutions through technology, including the $1 billion acquisition this year of a 33% stake in BAMTech, a spinoff of Major League Baseball’s website, which will collaborate with ESPN on multi-sport subscription streaming services.

With Iger’s planned June 2018 retirement within sight, employees and investors want to know what he and the company will do to sustain their winning streak — most important, by finding the right successor. Chief operating officer Tom Staggs was Iger’s chosen heir, but Staggs was forced to step down last April amid reports that Iger and the Disney board did not think their No. 2 had the creative chops for the top job.

Iger sat with Variety last week to discuss his career, the triumphs like opening Shanghai Disney, the painful parting with Staggs, and his musings on life after Disney, including the possibility of running for political office.

He describes a grueling schedule that has him up every day by 4:15 a.m. and quickly into a merciless 45-minute bout with his vertical climbing machine. A jaunt on a Disney corporate jet often follows — so often that his assistants calculate Iger has spent the equivalent of an entire year in the air. Since 1999, he has made 40 business trips to China, eight this year alone.

Many of his lieutenants, not to mention investors and Wall Street bankers and analysts, suggest that they would be thrilled if Iger — who has extended his contract once before — would re-up again.

But the CEO notes that he will have completed 44 years of service for ABC and Disney by the time June 2018 rolls around. He says he looks forward to having more time to explore other things, to travel when he is not rushed.

“I have this lust for the so-called South Seas. I would like to explore every corner of the Pacific. You know the song: ‘To everything turn, turn, turn, there is a season.’ It’s just time.”

After graduating from Ithaca College in 1973, you didn’t jump right into business. Why ?

Walter Cronkite was at the peak of his power and popularity as an anchor, and I set my sights on being Walter Cronkite. [Laughing] Because why not have lofty goals? I started at the entry level of entry levels, a little cable channel in Ithaca. I was working as a weatherman and a feature reporter. I could tell pretty quickly that, while I might have had the ambition, I didn’t have the confidence on the air. I just didn’t think I was good enough or quick enough or confident enough.

I am kind of curious about my decision now, because my career in many respects has been punctuated by acts of tenacity and perseverance. I don’t know what changed. Well, one thing is, I’m 65 years old now and have been at it for 42 years. I’ve now accumulated enough experience to feel much more confident.

When you happened on the documentary film about the sushi master Jiro Ono about five years ago, his story was compelling to you.

Here was a guy who was 88 years old and had already won Michelin stars and the distinction of running one of the best restaurants in the world. He had achieved brilliance and the success that comes with that. And yet he was striving to do better. It’s the whole notion of the relentless pursuit of perfection. I loved that concept.

As a leader, is it hard to instill that kind of ambition in your executives while acknowledging that they have their own lives and interests outside of work ?

Yes. There is a human side to it that I try to apply and consider. [But] the harder thing is to balance with the reality that not everything is perfect. In the normal course of running a company this big, you’re going to see, every day, things that are not as great as you would have hoped or wanted them to be. You have to figure out how to absorb that without losing your sense of optimism, which is part of leadership — without losing faith, without wanting to go under the covers and not come out, without being down or angry to a counterproductive level, and without demanding something of people that is unfair, inhuman, impossible.

Roone Arledge, your former boss at ABC Sports, was someone you admired. He was known for pushing for more, right until a story or a show went on the air, right ?

He demanded perfection. I both respected and loved him — but there were times when I thought that what he was asking of us was just either not possible or not human. It didn’t matter how much time you had left; it didn’t matter if [people] had to stay up all night. It didn’t matter if it was their birthday, their anniversary, their kid’s bar mitzvah, whatever it was. You went in and you did it. And at some point you did it for him, too, because you appreciated what he was trying to accomplish.

Did that experience teach you to take a different approach ?

If someone comes to you with, “It’s my kid’s graduation,” you don’t tell them, “Sorry, you can’t go to that.” You just don’t do that. You figure out some other way.

But I’m amazed with how many times someone says, “Well, we just can’t make it better” or, “We’re out of time” or whatever. Saying no becomes such a cheap and easy way out. [My response is], “Wait a minute, yes you can.” Or, “How about trying as hard as you can?”

How do you get involved with Disney’s films and TV shows ?

Because I have really a lot of talented people working for me , my role often is to come in as an extra last pair of eyes on a lot of things. “I don’t understand the plot.” Or, “What is driving this character?” Or, “Where is this in the timeline of the story?” You provide a perspective that is often really important to people. Sometimes by coming to something fresh, you see things that they don’t see.

You spent most of the past two decades helping build Shanghai Disney, which opened in June. You even tasted more than 200-plus items on restaurant menus there. Can you give a specific instance of how you applied your critical eye ?

There was stonework on the side of the castle. It was just pure stone. I said, “It’s supposed to look old. It’s an old castle. There’s no moss growing on it. It would look at lot better if there was some green moss on it. It would look more real.”

I am guessing there is moss on that stone.

There is moss on there now…. That’s not a criticism. They’re looking at a thousand things. I’m looking at as much as I can. Now, that sounds like micromanagement. I don’t mean it to sound that way. What it is — it’s just perspective.

You’ve taken dozens of pictures of fans enjoying Shanghai Disney. You said you particularly get a kick out of seeing smiling families crowding around a statue of Walt Disney for snapshots. Were there other moments at the opening when you knew the park was a hit ?

You could go into Pirates of the Caribbean and hear the whole crowd, in moments you desperately wanted them to react, and they’d all go “Aaahhh.” And they’re all taking pictures. They had never seen anything like it.

The thought of ever building Disneyland in China, which we knew growing up as “Red China,” had to be completely out of the realm of possibility for anyone. And here we are in 2016, introducing this glorious product that Walt created to China in ways that are just so unbelievably entertaining, and being appreciated by the people there.

The incredible highs and lows of your job were epitomized that week. The day before the Shanghai ribbon-cutting, a 2-year-old boy was killed by an alligator at a Disney resort in Florida. In the midst of dozens of media interviews at the Shanghai park, you called the Hale family of Nebraska, who lost their son, Lane. What was that like ?

I haven’t disclosed the nature of the conversation. They were very gracious about it. Considering what they were feeling, it was incredible of them just to take the call.

How did you balance out the job you had to do at Shanghai and that new crisis ?

You’re directing the organization to deal with this problem — this horrible tragedy. There is that. And then, at the same time, you’re immersed in what you’ve been feeling, which is one of the biggest triumphs and highs of your career. Not only do you want to feel that, and appreciate it for the accomplishment that it is, but you’ve also got to go out on a stage and put a big smile on your face.

I think that, more than anything in jobs like this, you learn to really be able to separate or compartmentalize, in some ways, what you’re feeling and what you are doing.

Another big challenge for you and the company has been succession. Tom Staggs was your chosen successor, but was told last spring he was no longer the heir apparent. What was it like to tell your right hand he wouldn’t get the top job ?

There is no way around admitting that it was profoundly difficult on a personal level and on a professional level. I worked closely with Tom both before I was CEO and since. He was CFO when I got this job, and we not only worked side by side, but he helped me a lot in not only getting off the ground as the CEO but in accomplishing a lot of the things that I set out to accomplish.

And I was rooting for him. I wanted him to succeed. Nothing would have been better for me than for that, on a lot of levels. It would have given me the freedom to kind of live out my days, my tenure here, with the comfort of knowing that I had someone in place who was going to succeed me that I trusted with this great company. So it was hard. It was just very hard.

He left the company In April. Have you spoken with him lately ?

I called him three, four weeks ago to see how he was and to say, “Let’s catch up and have lunch.” We haven’t done that yet. Completely cordial on the phone. Haven’t spoken with him since. But I ran into him at a restaurant on the westside before that call; there was nothing awkward about it.

The entertainment industry is confronting an existential challenge: How to move content to the internet and mobile devices while still making money. How is Disney responding ?

We know that there is disruption afoot in our business. And what we’re trying to do is figure out how to contend with that disruption. The one thing we’re not trying to do is will it away. It’s not going away. We’re not slowing it down. We’re not stemming the tide. The goal is to ride out the turbulent waters of the disruption and still be afloat.

For the last couple of years, that issue has been particularly pressing at ESPN, which has been losing millions of cable subscribers. How does Disney’s $1 billion investment for a one-third stake in BAMTech — the Major League Baseball web spinoff — bolster one of your most important money-makers ?

We’re investing in BAMTech as a means of having the technological capability to create a user-face and a platform to sell our stuff directly to consumers, because there’s an inevitability to that for this company.

Some people have been thinking this new streaming service will offer a flat rate, roughly the $6 or $7 a month that customers pay on their cable bill to get ESPN. Is that right ?

It’s not going to be that way at all. There will be really variable pricing and multiple packages to consumers. People may just want to subscribe during the football season. Or maybe they want to pay just for a summer, just for a weekend, just for a game. We will have customization and personalization. I think everything ultimately will be on an à la carte basis; a lot of people may subscribe to the whole thing and get a discount for that.

You’ve received acclaim for the businesses you’ve bought, but it’s also important for a CEO to know when to give up on products that don’t work. You got out of the console game publishing business last May when you shut down Disney Infinity. Why ?

One of the problems is when you shut something down that you thought was a great idea or invested a lot of money in, you’re admitting failure, and a lot of people don’t want to do that.… But it’s like pleading guilty — then everybody knows it failed. What I’ve tried to do is create an environment at the company where it’s OK to try something new and fail.

I stole a line from a former boss of mine [former Capital Cities/ABC chief executive Dan Burke], who once said, “You could manufacture the greatest, highest-quality trombone oil in the world and feel really good about that position in the marketplace, but at the end, the world still consumes only a few quarts of it a year.” There are things that are never going to be big.

The Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm acquisitions have been big. You’ve received a lot of praise from the heads of those companies, now subsidiaries, for allowing them to preserve their creative cultures. Was there any key to those acquisitions that has been overlooked ?

If anything, it’s, “Why did we buy those things and no one else did?” I don’t get described as necessarily being aggressive. I don’t know if “laid-back” is the word. I think, if anything, what I would want people to say about me is, “I think he had guts.” You know?

You haven’t said much about your post-Disney incarnation. People have long speculated that you might run for political office. And Donald Trump showed that someone with no political experience can win. Are you interested ?

For a long time, I’ve been thinking about the whole “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” idea. I’m not suggesting that’s what happened last week. But as we saw, Americans have gotten really tired of Washington-based politics, and decided it was time to elect an outsider who had never been in the military or elected office. [For the record, Iger voted for Hillary Clinton and hosted a fundraiser for the Democrat.]

But what about your own aspirations for public office ?

I have been intrigued with politics for a long time, and I have thought a lot about running for office — never for president, but for a variety of other offices. Willow [Bay] is dead against it, and has said, “Not with this wife.” [Laughs] My relationship with her is important enough for me to not challenge her in that regard.

Your group bidding to build an NFL stadium in Carson lost out this year to the proposal for an Inglewood stadium for the Rams. Are you looking for another way in to get into professional sports ?

I’m not pursuing anything. There is no list. I’m not talking to people. There’s a world out there. There’s a life to lead. My life is full of possibilities and satisfying other curiosities and smelling roses and relaxing a bit.… By the way, I am not suggesting [the transition] won’t be hard. It will be hard.
This job is stimulating and gratifying and I adore the company that I work for and the people I work with. It’s been the E-ticket ride of a lifetime.

Bob Iger’s Favorites

Current and recent books on Robert Iger’s reading list:
“Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS,” Joby Warrick
“The Wright Brothers,” David McCullough
“Born to Run,” Bruce Springsteen
“Tenth of December: Stories,” George Saunders
“Between the World and Me,” Ta-Nehisi Coates
“100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative’s Guide to Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation,” Clint Emerson
“Tender Is the Night,” F. Scott Fitzgerald

For his 60th birthday in 2011, Bob Iger made a list of his 60 favorite songs of all time. Here are eight from that list :

“The Times They Are a-Changin’,” Bob Dylan
“Hey Jude,” The Beatles
“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” Crosby, Stills & Nash
“A Day in the Life,” The Beatles
“Desperado,” The Eagles
“Stand By Me,” Ben E. King
“Mr. Tambourine Man,” Dylan
“When a Man Loves a Woman,” Percy Sledge

James Rainey pour Variety - 22 novembre 2016.

http://variety.com/2016/film/features/bob-iger-disney-ceo-shanghai-tom-staggs-1201923645/

Le Président Trump crée un "Strategic & Policy Forum" et nomme Bob Iger parmi les seize membres du groupe de réflexion :

Citation :

Disney's Bob Iger named to Donald Trump's new President’s Strategic and Policy Forum

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger has been named to a new policy forum created by President-elect Donald Trump.

The President’s Strategic and Policy Forum includes several business heavyweights, among them JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, General Motors Chief Executive Mary Barra and IBM Chief Executive Virginia Rometty.

The nonpartisan, 16-person forum will be chaired by Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of private equity firm Blackstone. The group will frequently meet with Trump to directly offer its knowledge and perspective to the president, according to a news release issued by Trump’s transition team on Friday.

“My administration is committed to drawing on private sector expertise and cutting the government red tape that is holding back our businesses from hiring, innovating, and expanding right here in America,” Trump said in a statement.

The forum’s first meeting will be held in February at the White House.

“The forum provides a nonpartisan approach to key economic policy issues, reflecting an array of individual perspectives from a cross-section of industries,” Iger said in a statement. “I welcome the chance to be part of the important discussions about the most effective ways to grow jobs and expand economic opportunity in America.”

Iger, a Democrat who supported Hillary Clinton, won’t be the only Hollywood player offering counsel to Trump. His incoming administration will include executives with deep ties to the entertainment industry.

On Nov. 13, Trump picked Stephen K. Bannon as his chief strategist. Bannon worked in Hollywood in the 1990s, helping to finance films including Sean Penn’s “The Indian Runner.” Bannon also was previously the executive chairman of Breitbart News, and both he and that news organization have been vociferously criticized by groups such as the Anti-Defamation League for promoting white nationalism.

And on Wednesday, Trump selected Hollywood financier and Wall Street executive Steven Mnuchin to be the next Treasury secretary. Mnuchin spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs before starting a hedge fund that invests in films. He has cut large financing deals with 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., leading to his executive producing credits on movies such as the summer hit “Suicide Squad.”

Iger was asked how the Trump administration might affect Burbank-based Disney during a conference call with analysts held two days after the Nov. 8 election.

“I think it’s really too early to speculate about what the changes in Washington are going to mean for our business or for businesses,” he said on the call held to discuss the company’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings.

Iger, however, noted that Disney has made an effort to encourage the federal government to look at tax policy — and has sought the closing of loopholes and also the lowering of the corporate tax rate.

“We are no longer competitive with the rest of the world in that regard and that must be addressed,” he said. “It’s possible that given what’s going on this week that that’s likely to be addressed sooner rather than later.”

He added that it was a “good thing” that the transition of power was off to a “fairly smooth start.”

Iger also said that a bust of Trump was being prepared for the Hall of Presidents attraction at Walt Disney World

The Los Angeles Times - 2 décembre 2016.

Petite baisse de revenus pour Bob Iger l'année dernière (-2,3 %) mais le résident de The Walt Disney Company pourrait recevoir un bonus de 60 millions de dollars en 2018 si il atteint les objectifs de l'entreprise (78,3 milliards de chiffre d'affaires sur une période cinq années s'achevant le 29 septembre 2018) :  

Citation :

Disney CEO Robert Iger's compensation dropped slightly to $43.9 million in 2016

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive and Chairman Robert Iger’s total compensation was $43.9 million during the company’s most recent fiscal year, according to a Securities Exchange Commission filing.

His compensation during fiscal 2016, which ended Oct. 1, was down 2.3% from $44.9 million a year earlier.

Iger, 65, received a base salary of $2.5 million, $8.8 million in stock awards, $8.5 million in option awards and a $20-million performance-based cash bonus. The drop in Iger’s compensation was due to a lower cash bonus; it totaled $22.3 million in the prior year.

Disney said the bonus was lowered slightly because “growth for fiscal 2016 was not quite as strong as the company's growth in fiscal 2015.”

Burbank-based Disney is coming off a strong year at the box office, buoyed by hits including “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “Zootopia,” “Finding Dory” and “The Jungle Book." It finished ahead of all other studios in the domestic box-office race.

In November, Disney reported a fourth-quarter profit of $1.77 billion, up 10% from a year earlier, although it failed to deliver on analysts’ expectations.

Iger is expected to step down from his post after his contract expires in June 2018.

The filing also indicates that Disney’s former chief operating officer, Thomas Staggs, received total compensation of about $15.6 million in 2016. Staggs had been viewed as Iger’s heir apparent, but he said in April that he would step down a month later, throwing Disney’s succession plans into question. He remained with the company in an advisory role through the end of the fiscal year.

In a separate filing Friday, a trust that controls the stake in Disney held by Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, disclosed that it had cut its holdings in the company by roughly half to 4%.

With the divesting, Powell Jobs is no longer Disney’s largest shareholder; now Vanguard Group assumes that position (it holds 5.5%).

A statement released by Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective organization, which works in areas including education and immigration, said that she remains “a significant shareholder” in Disney and that the sale was part of “normal long-term financial planning and portfolio diversification.” It said that such diversification is part of her “philanthropic and impact investing efforts” through Emerson Collective.

The Los Angeles Times - 13 janvier 2017.

Citation :

Disney CEO’s Pay Falls But $60 Million 2018 Bonus in Reach

➞  Iger’s annual incentive dropped on financial results

➞  Will get 2018 bonus if Disney hits operating income target

Walt Disney Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger received $43.9 million in compensation in fiscal 2016, a 2.3 percent decline from the prior year. He’s in line to receive a $60 million bonus in fiscal 2018 if the company hits a certain target.

Iger’s pay included a $20 million cash incentive tied to metrics including operating income and return on invested capital, according to a proxy statement filed Friday. The payout, which makes up about half of his total package, dropped about 10 percent from the previous year. Iger also got equity awards worth $17.3 million, consisting of stock options and restricted shares that vest over three years if certain goals are met.

Disney reported record sales and profit in the fiscal year ended Oct. 1., boosted by film releases including “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and growth in its theme-park and consumer-products businesses. Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy said in November that earnings-per-share growth in fiscal 2017 will be “modest.” The company has only seven films scheduled for release and faces an 8 percent jump in cable TV programming costs due to a new contract with the National Basketball Association.

Failure to extend Disney’s six-year streak of record earnings could hamper Iger’s chances of securing a cash bonus of as much as $60 million. It’ll pay out if he achieves $78.3 billion in operating income over the five years ending Sept. 29, 2018. The company recorded $15.7 billion in fiscal 2016 and must increase operating profit by about 7.2 percent in each of the next two years to reach the hurdle. Iger, 65, will get a smaller payout if Burbank, California-based Disney logs at least $76 billion over the five-year period.

The CEO also received a $2.5 million salary and perks including security services worth $869,476. He’s a recurring figure on the Bloomberg Pay Index, which ranks the 200 top-paid U.S. executives at public companies. The index values all compensation packages, including equity awards, as of each company’s year-end stock price. The figures can therefore differ from those disclosed in regulatory filings.

Like many other companies in media and entertainment, Disney’s executives receive the bulk of their compensation in cash. General Counsel Alan Braverman and CFO McCarthy received pay packages worth $11.1 million and $10.2 million respectively, of which about half came from their cash bonuses. Chief Strategy Officer Kevin Mayer got $10.1 million and Chief Human Resource Officer Jayne Parker was paid $5.6 million. Businesses in other industries tend to rely more on equity awards to pay top bosses.

Thomas Staggs, Iger’s former heir apparent who left his job as chief operating officer in May and remained an adviser through fiscal 2016, received reported compensation of $21.8 million for his final year. The package included a $7 million cash bonus. Due to his resignation, equity awards worth $6.18 million were forfeited, putting his actual pay at $15.6 million.

Bloomberg - 13 janvier 2017.

Citation :

Disney CEO eyes Pulitzer winner to write his memoir

Disney boss Bob Iger is in the midst of talks to hire an author to write his memoirs, On the Money has learned.

Our money is on an unusual candidate, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner David McCullough. He wrote one of Iger’s favorite books, “The Wright Brothers.”

We hear that several well-known business writers were told they were a no-go because Iger wanted to pitch the title to a wider audience, said a source who had hoped to be considered.

According to promotional literature, Iger’s book is on leadership and management and “explores the ideas, values and growth strategies he has developed in his 11 years as CEO of Disney, the world’s largest media company.”

Iger himself is quoted as saying: “It takes a very different kind of leadership to manage a global brand in such a dynamic marketplace, and I look forward to sharing what I’ve learned with readers. The experience of managing a company whose primary business is storytelling is a story unto itself.”

Random House declined comment, as did Disney. Disney stock is up 9.34 percent over the past 12 months, closing Friday at $108.06. But analysts are wondering whether its profit engine, ESPN, can keep churning out the growth that it has been used to. His contract with the company is up in June 2018 — and there’s been no word on his successor yet.

New York Post - 15 janvier 2017.

Vinc a écrit:

Le Président Trump crée un "Strategic & Policy Forum" et nomme Bob Iger parmi les seize membres du groupe de réflexion :

Citation :

Disney's Bob Iger named to Donald Trump's new President’s Strategic and Policy Forum

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger has been named to a new policy forum created by President-elect Donald Trump.

The President’s Strategic and Policy Forum includes several business heavyweights, among them JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, General Motors Chief Executive Mary Barra and IBM Chief Executive Virginia Rometty.

The nonpartisan, 16-person forum will be chaired by Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of private equity firm Blackstone. The group will frequently meet with Trump to directly offer its knowledge and perspective to the president, according to a news release issued by Trump’s transition team on Friday.

“My administration is committed to drawing on private sector expertise and cutting the government red tape that is holding back our businesses from hiring, innovating, and expanding right here in America,” Trump said in a statement.

The forum’s first meeting will be held in February at the White House.

“The forum provides a nonpartisan approach to key economic policy issues, reflecting an array of individual perspectives from a cross-section of industries,” Iger said in a statement. “I welcome the chance to be part of the important discussions about the most effective ways to grow jobs and expand economic opportunity in America.”

Iger, a Democrat who supported Hillary Clinton, won’t be the only Hollywood player offering counsel to Trump. His incoming administration will include executives with deep ties to the entertainment industry.

On Nov. 13, Trump picked Stephen K. Bannon as his chief strategist. Bannon worked in Hollywood in the 1990s, helping to finance films including Sean Penn’s “The Indian Runner.” Bannon also was previously the executive chairman of Breitbart News, and both he and that news organization have been vociferously criticized by groups such as the Anti-Defamation League for promoting white nationalism.

And on Wednesday, Trump selected Hollywood financier and Wall Street executive Steven Mnuchin to be the next Treasury secretary. Mnuchin spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs before starting a hedge fund that invests in films. He has cut large financing deals with 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., leading to his executive producing credits on movies such as the summer hit “Suicide Squad.”

Iger was asked how the Trump administration might affect Burbank-based Disney during a conference call with analysts held two days after the Nov. 8 election.

“I think it’s really too early to speculate about what the changes in Washington are going to mean for our business or for businesses,” he said on the call held to discuss the company’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings.

Iger, however, noted that Disney has made an effort to encourage the federal government to look at tax policy — and has sought the closing of loopholes and also the lowering of the corporate tax rate.

“We are no longer competitive with the rest of the world in that regard and that must be addressed,” he said. “It’s possible that given what’s going on this week that that’s likely to be addressed sooner rather than later.”

He added that it was a “good thing” that the transition of power was off to a “fairly smooth start.”

Iger also said that a bust of Trump was being prepared for the Hall of Presidents attraction at Walt Disney World

The Los Angeles Times - 2 décembre 2016.

Bob Iger n'ira pas :
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bob-iger-wont-attend-trump-white-house-meeting-971437

Couillu de sa part mais ça fait du bien !

Bob Iger prolongera-t-il une nouvelle fois ?

http://fortune.com/2017/02/06/disney-ceo-bob-iger-contract-extension/

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/disney-ceo-bob-iger-may-need-to-stay-at-the-head-longer-than-expected-again-2017-02-06

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/06/disney-ceo-robert-iger-may-extend-tenure-again.html

Je crois que Bob Iger ne connait pas le terme prendre sa retraite. Le voilà qui ne ferme pas la porte à une candidature pour la présidentielle de 2020 :
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/will-disneys-bob-iger-run-president-2020-hollywood-friends-are-nudging-981626

La confirmation vient de tomber :

Bob Iger a été confirmé dans son rôle de Président-Directeur Général de The Walt Disney Company au-delà du 30 juin 2018, son contrat ayant été prolongé jusqu'au 2 juillet 2019.

Le principal intéressé a également ajouté qu'il continuerait volontier ensuite comme consultant pendant trois années supplémentaires.

Le Conseil d'administration de The Walt Disney Company lui cherche toujours un remplaçant.

http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-disney-iger-contract-20170323-story.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-23/disney-s-iger-agrees-to-contract-extension-running-through-2019

https://www.ft.com/content/3130402a-c1d6-3856-bc5e-09de038525f7

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/business/media/robert-iger-disneys-ceo-agrees-to-one-year-extension.html?_r=0

Pour la seconde année consécutive, Bob Iger voit ses revenus baisser :

Citation :

Disney CEO Robert Iger sees compensation decline to $36.3 million in 2017

Robert Iger, the chief executive of Walt Disney Co., saw his total compensation decline 17% in the recently concluded fiscal year to $36.3 million, according to the company’s latest proxy statement filed Friday to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The drop from last year’s $43.9 million was due in part to a smaller cash bonus to Iger that Disney said was the result of an “absence of growth” in the fiscal year.

Iger, who is 66 and has extended his contract with Disney to 2021, received a base salary of $2.5 million, a performance-based bonus of $15.2 million and equity-based compensation (including stock options) valued at $17.3 million. His compensation also includes sums for personal air travel, security and matched charitable contributions.

Last year, Iger’s performance-based cash bonus totaled $20 million.

In November, Burbank-based Disney reported a disappointing fourth quarter, with net income of $1.75 billion, down 1% from the year-ago period. Revenue fell 3% and the company failed to meet analysts’ expectations. Weak results at ESPN were blamed for the miss.

Still, Disney saw another banner year at the box office with hits such as the live-action “Beauty and the Beast” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” The company is once again expected to dominate the annual box office among the major Hollywood studios.

Disney announced last month a blockbuster deal to acquire the majority of the assets of 21st Century Fox, including its film and TV studios. The $52.4-billion deal is the largest in Disney’s history and is expected to better position the entertainment giant as it plans to launch two streaming services in 2019 to compete with Netflix, Apple and other tech giants.

Disney also said Friday that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg will be leaving the board of directors.

“Given our evolving business and the businesses Ms. Sandberg and Mr. Dorsey are in, it has become increasingly difficult for them to avoid conflicts relating to Board matters, and they are not standing for re-election,” said a Disney spokesperson in a statement.

Two other Disney board members will also be stepping down. Robert W. Matschullat and Orin C. Smith will leave the board pursuant to Disney policies that limit board service to 15 years and set the retirement age at 74, respectively. The Disney board has 12 members.

Last month, Disney added two directors with strong technology credentials: Safra Catz, chief executive of Oracle Corp., and Francis A. deSouza, CEO of biotech firm Illumina Inc.

The Los Angeles Times - 12 janvier 2018.

The Hollywood Reporter échange avec Bob Iger sur différents sujets dont sa succession, les différentes "affaires" chez Pixar, Marvel, ESPN et ABC, le nouveau service de streaming, le rachat de la Fox et la situation de la franchise Star Wars :

Citation :

Bob Iger Talks on Disney's Streaming Service, 'Roseanne,' James Gunn and a Coming ‘Star Wars' “Slowdown”

The Disney CEO and most powerful person in entertainment opens up about his plan for a Netflix rival, ESPN’s politics problem and how #MeToo has changed his company

Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger remains the most powerful person in entertainment, only adding to his empire with $71 billion of 21st Century Fox assets. But his dominance is one of the few things that hasn't changed since THR published 2017's list of Hollywood's most influential figures.

Along with Disney-Fox, 2018 saw AT&T win a judge's blessing to acquire Time Warner, spawning a new entity whose chief, John Stankey, arrives at No. 4. There were the milestones: Filmmakers Ryan Coogler (No. 93) and Jon M. Chu (No. 97) brought inclusive movies to the multiplex, smashing records along the way. And there are the movements: #MeToo and Time's Up drove a reckoning. Out of work, and off the THR 100, are John Lasseter, Roy Price, Brett Ratner and, just this month, Leslie Moonves. His spot has gone to Ronan Farrow, whose reporting took the CBS chief down. White men make up 70 percent of this list — but the sands are shifting, more rapidly than ever, as THR takes stock of Hollywood power now.

If Hollywood has become a kill-or-be-killed battleground, Bob Iger is the lead hunter.

Starting with Pixar in 2006, the Walt Disney Co. CEO has bulked up his company into a $160 billion content behemoth with the tools — Marvel heroes, Star Wars droids and, thanks to June's $71.3 billion acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox, a trove of new networks and IP — to take on much larger digital giants like Amazon, Apple and Facebook. Iger, 68, tops the THR 100 for the third year in a row, with Disney revenue up 7 percent to $15.2 billion and operating income up 5 percent to $4.2 billion in the most recent quarter. But he's not without challenges. A risky streaming service, set to launch in 2019 and aimed directly at Netflix, will cost billions, and the erosion of cable TV subscribers drags on the once-untouchable networks business.

At the same time, the integration of Fox assets (and executives) and the scandals that led to the forced exits of John Lasseter at Disney/Pixar (harassment), John Skipper at ESPN (drugs), Roseanne Barr at ABC and James Gunn at Marvel (both over offensive tweets) raise culture questions. And there's the issue of who will replace Iger when (or if?) he finally retires.

In a talk with THR editorial director Matthew Belloni, Iger discussed his plan for Disney "to not only survive but to thrive in a world that doesn't look anything like the world that existed just a few years ago."

Amid all the industry upheaval, from your seat, what is the content industry going to look like in five years ?

You call it upheaval, I guess that's one way to describe it. I believe we have to look at this as opportunity versus threat. Meaning I've tried to manage this company … in a way that enables us to not only survive but to thrive in a world that doesn't look anything like the world that existed just a few years ago.

How, specifically ?

There are three ways to do that. The first is make great content. And this is very relevant to the Fox acquisition. The second is to be incredibly innovative about how you bring that content to market. By the way, there isn't a better example than Netflix. The third is to be truly global in nature.

The streaming service advances the second and third goals.

It’s a direct relationship with customers: the ability to provide more customized, personalized experiences; new ways to monetize; a proximity to a customer that doesn’t have intermediaries. You're going to see growth in direct-to-consumer businesses. You're probably going to see less channel watching; we're already seeing that. You're probably going to see less bundling of channels and more selling of specific brands, programs, etc.

How do you see the recent interest in premium content from the digital giants ?

I'm impressed with what has been accomplished at Netflix and Amazon. But none of them is either Disney or Marvel. Or Pixar. Or Star Wars or National Geographic or FX or Searchlight or Avatar — I could go on. So we enter the business that they're in, in many respects, with an advantage from a content perspective that will enable us to focus on quality rather than just volume.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson recently compared Netflix to Walmart. Do you agree ?

Well, I happen to like Walmart; we do a lot of business with them. So maybe I'd say it a different way. They're a volume play with a lot of quality within their volume. And we're gonna be a quality play with enough volume and enough scale to provide the consumer with a good price-to-value relationship.

That takes investment. Do you anticipate a Netflix-type increase in spending ?

No. First of all, I don't know what Netflix is spending. You may know more than I do. If you really look across all of our businesses and you include ESPN and ABC and ABC News and what we're buying with Fox, we probably spend upwards of what they're spending. It's just that we're distributing differently. So the pivot for us is not necessarily substantially more spending, it's substantially different distribution. But while we're migrating to new distribution models, we have to spend enough [to populate] the new distribution until we can move content on the older ones over.

Ken Ziffren wrote a recent piece for Hollywood Reporter estimating a couple billion dollars of revenue from various windows will go away when you put this content into the new streaming service.

Two things are happening here. We're weaning ourselves off licensing revenue from third parties. That kicks in, really, in 2019, when the movie studio output, which was licensed to Netflix, will cease in terms of new films. At the same time, we are investing more in content to seize these direct-to-consumer businesses before we can move content from the more traditional platforms over. So there's more spend in production and there's less licensing revenue. There will be an impact on our bottom line in fiscal '19 because of what I just described, and it's with the full support of the Disney board because we all believe that the reality of transformation is staring us in the face, and we have to transform with it. In order to transform successfully, it means that you're going to go through a period of time where you've reduced your profitability somewhat. It's the right thing because we're playing the long game and not the short.

The Fox deal has brought a lot of new people into the company. How much does the question of who will succeed you impact the discussion of how to integrate these people ?

Very good question. We’re going to take the best people from both companies and that's who's gonna basically be on the playing field for us. Meaning, talent will prevail. Fox Searchlight is a great example. You look at FX, NatGeo. Yeah, you’re buying libraries and brands, but you're also buying the people. I'm not gonna talk about specific people right now except to say that I've met with virtually the entire senior management team at Fox and I'm not only fully engaged with them on what the possibilities for them might be but I'm excited about the prospects.

Rupert Murdoch will be one of your biggest shareholders, are you prepared for him wanting to get you on the phone at all hours ?

Rupert's been able to get me on the phone whenever he wanted to anyway. (Laughs.) I've had a good relationship with Rupert over the years and it's been one of mutual respect. I'm not in any way talking about politics, but he's impressed me with his guts and his vision. If he's got an idea or two as a shareholder that he wants to give me, that's not necessarily bad news.

He may think ABC News is too liberal.

I'm not worried about that at all. He's smarter than that. Plus he's a competitor in that regard.

You've had shake-ups at the various businesses this past year. How has ESPN changed specifically, if at all ?

I have nothing but praise for the job Jimmy Pitaro has done at ESPN. There's been a big debate about whether ESPN should be focused more on what happens on the field of sport than what happens in terms of where sports is societally or politically. And Jimmy felt that the pendulum may have swung a little bit too far away from the field. And I happen to believe he was right. And it's something, by the way, that I think John Skipper had come to recognize as well. But Jimmy coming in fresh has had the
ability to address it, I think, far more aggressively and effectively. He has brought back some balance.

How involved do you get in decisions to cancel Roseanne at ABC or fire James Gunn at Marvel ?

I would say there is a blend of my helping to make the decision to my supporting the decisions that have been made. Roseanne was completely unanimous. We discussed how it would be communicated and when because there were a number of entities that had to be properly filled in, but the decision was completely unanimous. The James Gunn decision was brought to me as a unanimous decision of a variety of executives at the studio and I supported it.

There was backlash. You still support it ?

I haven't second-guessed their decision.

Has the culture at Pixar changed at all in the past eight months since the exit of John Lasseter ?

Any time that you change leadership there is an inevitable cultural shift. There was a cultural shift at Disney when I took over for Michel Eisner after 21 years. John Lasseter was in his role for a long time, had an enormous influence on both the culture and the creativity of Pixar, and so of course in John leaving there is inevitable and was an inevitable cultural shift. To get into the details, I'd prefer not to.

What has changed within Disney as a whole as a result of the #MeToo movement ?

I don’t want to talk about anybody, specifically, but it's critical for us as leaders in this industry to create safe environments for people who have been victims of abuse to speak up and feel safe about speaking up and for others who have witnessed abuse to do the same. It's critical. As difficult as this time may seem, it's high time that we all woke up to the need to protect the people that work for us and work with us.

How are you doing that ?

First of all, you have to address specific issues with people, but beyond that, you have to make sure that you’re applying one standard to the company for all. There aren't two standards based on title, rank, importance, talent, whatever. Second, you've got to communicate very, very effectively to people that if they are a victim, if they have witnessed this, they must come forward because in not doing so they are only perpetuating an unsafe work environment, and that's not good.

How is Marvel going to absorb Fox’s X-Men franchise? Is Kevin Feige going to oversee everything ?

I think it only makes sense. I want to be careful here because of what's been communicated to the Fox folks, but I think they know. It only makes sense for Marvel to be supervised by one entity. There shouldn't be two Marvels.

So Deadpool could become an Avenger ?

Kevin's got a lot of ideas. I'm not suggesting that's one of them. But who knows?

Many believe Disney should pump the breaks and not put out a Star Wars movie each year.

I made the timing decision, and as I look back, I think the mistake that I made — I take the blame — was a little too much, too fast. You can expect some slowdown, but that doesn't mean we're not gonna make films. J.J. [Abrams] is busy making [Episode] IX. We have creative entities, including [Game of Thrones creators David] Benioff and [D.B.] Weiss, who are developing sagas of their own, which we haven't been specific about. And we are just at the point where we're gonna start making decisions about what comes next after J.J.'s. But I think we're gonna be a little bit more careful about volume and timing. And the buck stops here on that.

Finally, some Disneyland purists are upset that there's going to be booze for sale in Star Wars Land.

We have to be careful we don't let people drink and then go on Autopia. (Laughs.)

Funny. Walt did specifically say no booze at Disneyland.

Yeah, except I think Walt had a nip or two in his apartment at night. (Laughs.) I am a big believer in tradition. This just seemed like one of those traditions that if we changed it the empire wasn't gonna crumble.

The Hollywood Reporter - 20 septembre 2018.

Citation :

Bob Iger’s Bets Are Paying Off Big Time for Disney

Three or four times a year, Disney CEO and chairman Bob Iger crosses from his office on the Burbank, Calif., lot with a couple of fellow execs to Disney Animation Studios, where rooms have been prepared for them. In each, they are pitched a movie. Sometimes the films are no more than an idea, and the room just has some art boards and a director with a 15-minute plot outline. Others are more elaborate—the room for Frozen 2 included a video from a research trip to Norway, Iceland and Finland, a “tone reel” and a wall of index cards detailing themes and emotional threads. Sounds like fun—except that each room represents a $150 million bet on what, in four or five years, audiences will pay to see.

Iger, 67, is good at picking winners. This is, after all, the man who greenlighted America’s Funniest Home Videos. On his watch, Disney has released five of the top 10 grossing global hit movies of all time, selling a cumulative $8.4 billion worth of movie tickets. And not only did he sign off on those movies, he also spearheaded the purchase of the companies that made them, which requires prophetic skills of a whole different order. Apple CEO Tim Cook says Iger operates a lot like a tech-company CEO. “Both are trying to skate to where the puck is going and not where it is. We’re making calls years in advance.”

Of course, figuring out which films to make is a fundamental skill for any media mogul. What really distinguishes Iger from rival Hollywood CEOs—and what has insulated Disney from the vast shifts in viewing patterns that have battered others—is his conviction that an already gigantic company should keep getting bigger. While competitors mostly avoided risks at this scale, Iger spent lavishly to buy Pixar ($7.4 billion), Marvel ($4 billion) and Lucasfilm ($4 billion), giving Disney a lineup of moneymaking franchises that far outdistances competitors’.

Although some critics bemoan the sequelization of Hollywood, no one doubts that Iger’s moves have paid off. Audiences, most of the time, keep buying tickets. And “sequel” doesn’t actually do justice to Iger’s achievement: with the Marvel and Star Wars films, Disney has acquired entire fictional universes that can spawn lucrative new content in all directions. A Marvel movie character can power a new Disney theme-park ride, inspire a TV series and serve as the focus of a video game, all under the Disney tent.

More remarkable, in an industry of big egos, Iger’s relatively hands-off management style has allowed Disney to swallow these companies without masticating the qualities that make them unique. Industry observers say Iger’s collaborative approach has been critical to retaining the creative talent that made the properties worth buying—and in some cases, made those deals possible. (Iger famously took a Disney-Pixar relationship that had frayed under his predecessor and persuaded Steve Jobs to let Disney buy the animation powerhouse outright.)

When TIME set out to identify the most creatively successful companies in the world, candidates ranged from brilliant upstarts to household names. But even in that elite group, the Walt Disney Co. stands out. So far in 2018, Disney has released the top three U.S. box-office hits. And Iger has topped his own bigger-is-better strategy with a $71 billion deal to buy 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets, bringing into the fold everything from Avatar to The Simpsons. Now the studio that began in the back of a real estate office by selling its first cartoon to one distributor in 1923 is poised to launch its own streaming service. By eliminating the middlemen and selling content directly to consumers, Disney will disrupt the disrupters. “I don’t think anybody else could do this but us, frankly,” says Iger.

In 2005, when Iger was named Disney’s sixth CEO, the company was in a rut. The brand felt dated, age-limited and low-quality. The previous CEO, the mercurial Michael Eisner, had some brilliant years and some not so brilliant, during the last five of which Disney stock fell by roughly a third. Iger was a veteran TV executive who had come to the company when it bought Cap Cities/ABC in 1996. Eisner’s deputy since 2000, he was seen by many as his faithful puppet.

Since Iger took control, however, the company’s market cap has grown fourfold, to $175 billion. It has delivered healthy total shareholder returns (488.5% vs. 212.6% for the S&P 500). Disney became the first company to put its shows on iTunes, and applied for over four times as many patents as before. Its theme parks, once reserved for Disney characters only, are full of Marvel, Pixar and Lucas attractions. More than 150 million people visited last year.

The successes have kept Iger bolted to the CEO chair in Burbank years longer than even he expected. Four times he has announced plans to retire, only to remain, outlasting several heirs apparent. He’s currently slated to retire in 2021, dashing (forever, says Iger) the dreams of friends, including Oprah Winfrey, who hoped he’d run for President as a business-friendly Democrat.

Wall Street has been happy to see Iger stay. “His record has been fantastic,” says Tim Nollen, an analyst at Macquarie Capital. “I think what he did right was recognize the company’s strengths and invest in those strengths.” Iger says the key to his strategy has been to put his money where the creators are. “Nothing is more important than the creators, the creative process and the creative output,” he says. “You’re basically making bets on people and ideas vs. anything else.”

He calls them bets, but Iger doesn’t really have a gambler’s style. He prefers to work as part of a syndicate that uses a well-tested system. The pitches at Disney Animation are more like long-running conversations than one-shot deals, an approach that feels relatively organic. “It’s not a big heavy discussion,” says Frozen‘s co-writer-director Jennifer Lee, who also runs the animation division. “By the time we arrive at what we feel is the right film to go next, he’s been on the journey with us the whole time and we’ve had a lot of smaller conversations. He definitely respects the process, that it’s an evolution.”

Iger’s franchise-heavy strategy also purposely leans toward favorites rather than artistic long shots. In a world where content is proliferating, he believes audiences opt for the most recognizable. “When consumers are faced with so much choice, it’s very helpful to them to know going in what something might be,” he says. Rather than creating movie stars, as the Hollywood enterprises of yore did, or elevating auteur-directors, as the Miramax-style studios did, Iger has focused on establishing brands. “He’s refined the business,” says Rupert Murdoch, executive co-chairman of Fox. “He built this thing around reliable franchises, whether it’s with Pixar, with Lucasfilm or with Marvel, which then play right into the theme parks and everything.”

Purchasing creative engines is not the same as dreaming them up—in the way that, say, Walt Disney did—but Iger’s ability to manage such enterprises has made his firm the go-to steward of cultural producers at a time of upheaval, when creators are looking for a safe harbor. How (other than fat checks) does he persuade people to hand over their brainchildren? “The negotiation is the small part of it,” says Apple’s Cook. “The big part is the vision.”

Former superagent Michael Ovitz, who details his short and unhappy tenure as a Disney CEO-in-waiting in his new book Who Is Michael Ovitz?, did deals for clients when Iger was head of ABC. He says Iger was the same kind of negotiator he is a CEO. “He’s quiet and strong and doesn’t pound the table,” Ovitz tells TIME, “but he gets his point across.” And when Iger lays out his vision, most people, from his board to his shareholders to Steve Jobs, assent.

Iger’s vision for Fox—along with some $71 billion—is what helped him land his biggest fish yet. “Rupert believed that where it was at the time, which was August of 2017, that Fox wasn’t necessarily as well set up for long-term success in the businesses that were transforming right before his eyes,” he says. Curiously, Murdoch puts it slightly differently. “Bob called into my place one day and we got talking, and he said, ‘Well, look, perhaps we should put everything together,'” says Murdoch, who was struggling to increase his company’s stake in the U.K.’s Sky at the time. “I thought it was a good idea. He probably hit me at a moment when I was frustrated.” (In the end, Sky went to Comcast, and Fox is selling its portion of the company.)

With the purchase of Fox, Iger is mustering the forces first grounded in creativity to take on the forces first grounded in delivery, such as Netflix and YouTube. In 2019, Disney hopes to launch its streaming service. This is a leap of faith of Summit Plummet proportions. The biggest generator of the company’s revenues is TV. Until recently, Disney sold its programming—especially ESPN—to cable companies for reliably large sums. But those profits are shrinking. ESPN has lost 11 million subscribers since 2013. More viewers abandon cable every month, while Netflix has 125 million customers, Amazon Prime 100 million and YouTube 1.8 billion monthly users. Disney’s hope is to lure people to its stream with content that can’t be found anywhere else. As tech upstarts pour vats of money into creating original programming—Netflix is spending $8 billion this year—Disney is sitting on a mother lode.

Iger thinks he knows how to coax consumers who already pay for one streaming service to either add another or switch to Disney’s. “We’re going to do something different,” he says. “We’re going to give audiences choice.” There are thousands of barely watched movies on Netflix, and Iger figures that people don’t like to pay for what they don’t use. So families can buy only a Disney stream, which will offer Pixar, Marvel, Lucas, Disney-branded programming. Sports lovers can opt just for an ESPN stream. Hulu, of which Disney will own a 60% stake after it buys Fox (and perhaps more if it can persuade Comcast to sell its share), will beef up ABC’s content with Fox Searchlight and FX and other Fox assets. “To fight [Amazon and Netflix], you’ve got to put a lot of product on the table,” says Murdoch. “You take what Disney’s got in sports, in family, in general entertainment—they can put together a pretty great offer.”

While folks stumble over themselves to praise Iger’s vision, and his execution thereof, fewer of them call him a visionary. His focus on brands has made him much less likely to be seen as the kind of artistic guru who gets thanked tearfully from the stage at the Academy Awards. “I think it’s safe to say what he does well is management,” says Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research. “He’s never tried to be the thought leader in any particular sphere. There’s no one thing of which you’d say he was the oracle.”

This is not meant to be an insult. Finding talented people and setting up an organizational structure that allows them to do what they do well requires a particular form of wisdom. “He doesn’t lose anybody he doesn’t want to lose,” Ovitz says of Iger, who is reputed to regard his executives as more expendable than his creatives. “He gives them plenty of rope, and when there isn’t performance, he makes a change.” Adhering to this structure requires discipline, which, along with impeccable grooming, Iger is famous for; he rises at 4:15 a.m. and follows a fitness regimen that sometimes includes working out with his eyes closed as a kind of meditation. The discipline is both innate and acquired, largely by setbacks. “How you process failure at a company that thrives on great creativity is critical,” Iger says. “You can’t wallow. You have to know how to absorb creative disappointments, knowing that there are inevitabilities to that.”

Having a leader who is willing to insulate key creative people from the vicissitudes of business has helped Disney successfully incorporate its prominent acquisitions. They have not been Disneyfied. Marvel movies are not all of a sudden family friendly (at least not by Disney standards). Pixar movies have not been required to add princesses. Most of the people who ran the companies before Disney bought them still run them (with the exception of John Lasseter, who was ousted in June in the wake of #MeToo). “I’ve been watching him with his people and with Fox people; he’s clearly got great leadership qualities,” says Murdoch.”He listens very carefully and he decides something and it’s done. People respect that.”

Given what he’s achieved at Disney, Iger gets graded on a tough curve—and it’s about to get tougher. The animation division has lost its chief in Lasseter, and it remains to be seen how that changes the culture. Many of ESPN’s sports deals will need to be renegotiated within five years, and they’re only getting pricier. There’s evidence of franchise fatigue: the newest Star Wars film, Solo, did not blow the doors off the box office. And Iger still has to find someone to take over his job by 2021. On the plus side, fans will get a chance to fly the Millennium Falcon at the new Star Wars Land at both Disney World and Disneyland next year. Visits to the $5.5 billion Shanghai Disney park exceeded expectations. Over at the studio, director Lasse Hallstrom has taken on The Nutcracker, Tim Burton has taken on Dumbo, and Elsa and Anna have agreed to come back for Frozen 2.

Nobody is more excited by any of these developments than Iger, who has an almost boyish enthusiasm for what he does. He’s a consumer. He’s a fan. Before our interview he was watching the Sophia Loren—Clark Gable movie It Started in Naples in his office. The previous night he was listening to Queen, Nicki Minaj’s new album. (“I’m not prudish,” he says, “but she’s taken explicit to a whole new level.”) Iger insists that he’s not creative, which may be why he is such an adept partner of those who are. “My perfect day is a day where I’m engaged the most in creative processes and with creators,” he says. “Any day that has none of that is a bad day.”

Time - 15 octobre 2018.

http://time.com/5415019/bob-iger-disney/

"Je ne prends pas ma retraite. Je ne peux pas faire ça" déclare Bob Iger qui envisage d'écrire un autre livre après avoir quitté ses fonctions au sein de The Walt Disney Company à la fin de l'année.

Citation :

Bob Iger on Life After Disney: "I'm Not Retiring. I Can't Possibly Do That"

The executive also talked about the backstory behind the surprise succession announcement in an interview with SiriusXM's Alan Fleischmann.

What's next for Walt Disney Co. executive chairman Bob Iger after he leaves the company this year? He isn't entirely sure ... but he has no intention of sitting on the sidelines.

"I'm not retiring. I can't possibly do that," Iger told SiriusXM Business Radio’s Leadership Matters in an interview set to run April 6. "First of all, my wife's still working, my kids are all out of the house. I'm not gonna sit around the house binge-watching television shows. And so I will figure it out, but I am not going to figure it out while I'm still at Disney and I'm not going to over-commit so that by the time I get out, I won't have any freedom either. ... I'd like a little bit more leisure time in my life. And I'd like more adventure, whatever that is."

In the interview, excerpts of which were shared with The Hollywood Reporter, Iger also explained what precipitated his surprise departure as CEO of Disney a year ago, which saw parks chief Bob Chapek elevated, and led to the departure of direct-to-consumer chief Kevin Mayer.

"I did not want to overstay my welcome. I really wanted to leave at a time that felt good, that I had accomplished a lot, that I had not hit too many speed bumps, or suddenly that my luck would run out or all of those things. I wanted the timing to be right, and 15 years felt like enough," Iger said. "And so what I proposed to the board — I know it felt abrupt because we kept this very quiet — but some months before the announcement I proposed to the board that I would stay on through the end of my tenure, which is the end of '21, but in a different role.

"So I thought the best thing I could possibly do for the company would be one, make sure that we succeed at succession, and that my successor is successful," he added. "And then second, leave the company and my successor with the greatest possible hand creatively. A pipeline of movies and television shows and theme park attractions and lands and you-name-it that would power the company for many years to come."

Iger, who says he is thinking about writing another book after he leaves the company (his first book, The Ride of a Lifetime, was released in 2019) also says that he doesn't expect to have a grand exit from the company he led for 15 years, though he does hope to get something of an official farewell.

"I imagine that in these next few months, I'll end up slowly becoming less and less relevant," he said, adding, "There are places I want to go, I hope to get to. I hope COVID allows me to say goodbye to people that have been so important in my career and my Disney life. You mentioned Shanghai at the beginning: We celebrate our fifth anniversary there this spring, and I'm intent on getting back there and seeing it one more time as a non-civilian."

The Hollywood Reporter - 22 mars 2021.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bob-iger-on-life-after-disney-im-not-retiring-i-cant-possibly-do-that