Bob Iger’s tallest order at Disney: preparing his own replacement as chief executive
Disney’s Bob Iger is preparing to hand over the chief executive’s role at the company to his friend and former chairman of Comcast, Brian Roberts when he steps down to concentrate on his nonprofit foundation.
Iger plans to leave his position at Disney in May and hand over the CEO’s reins to Brian Roberts, who will be the only director of the company’s Board of Trustees.
But Iger has told people with direct knowledge of his decision to step down that he does not intend to hand over the CEO’s position to anyone other than Roberts and that he plans to stay on the job for at least two more years.
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Disney said that Iger will relinquish day-to-day control over the company and his successor will be chosen by the Board of Trustees in May.
Iger’s departure from the company comes almost a year after Disney fired him as CEO and chairman of the board, replacing him with Jeffrey D. Skilling, who was then the chief executive at General Electric.
Iger, 68, stepped down in 2000 as chairman of the board, where he had been for 33 years, and was later named chairman emeritus.
Disney said that he would continue as chairman emeritus for the next year and has taken up a position as the chairman of the board of the Disney Foundation.
Disney said that the board will meet today to receive Iger’s successor.
Iger met with a group of Disney executives last week to plan his retirement.
The company said that the meeting was held at a time when the company is “at a strategic crossroads” and Iger’s departure is the company’s “third chapter” and that he intends to give the CEO’s job to a trusted, dedicated friend and colleague.
Iger, who was considered a potential successor in his role at GE, is seen as a perfect fit at the company that has become a major source of strength for the company in the last decade by being a huge entertainment studio that has become an economic powerhouse in its own right, which includes the Disney-ABC television networks,