In shocking news on Sunday night, Disney announced a change in CEO.
The Walt Disney Co. announced on Sunday night that CEO Bob Chapek is stepping down, while Bob Iger will return to lead the company.
Iger had stepped down in a massive move roughly two years ago. Now, he’s back.
“We thank Bob Chapek for his service to Disney over his long career, including navigating the company through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic,” said Susan Arnold, Chairman of the Board. “The Board has concluded that as Disney embarks on an increasingly complex period of industry transformation, Bob Iger is uniquely situated to lead the Company through this pivotal period.”
It will be interesting to see what this means for the sports world. Disney, of course, owns ESPN and ABC, which broadcast some of the biggest sporting events in the world.
There had been some talk in recent years about Disney cutting off ESPN, with the company perhaps spinning the network off, but that hasn’t happened.
“Massive news in the entertainment space and, with ESPN, in the sports world. Fun to see the reactions from industry luminaries in the old Twitter timeline. (I also enjoyed Bob Iger’s autobiography),” one fan wrote.
Now, those ESPN decisions will be up to Iger.
Disney fans appear to be excited, at least.
“BOB IGER WILL RETURN AND REPLACE BOB CHAPEK AS DISNEY’S CEO!!!” one fan wrote.
“Bob Iger made Disney, an already massive company, into a juggernaut. His contributions to the company are just as important as the contributions Walt Disney himself made. The future of Disney is extremely bright,” one fan added.
It’ll be interesting to see how the sports world is shaped by Iger’s return.