Valuetainment - Ex-Disney CEO REVEALS Rumor Bob Iger Knew COVID Was Coming

00:00:00.040 Okay, when I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice.

00:00:04.800 I want to help my kids, and I want to give back to the community.

00:00:07.940 Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime.

00:00:12.200 I wonder if my out-of-office has a forever setting.

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00:00:30.000 So February 25th, 2020, you take over.

00:00:32.760 Then the CNBC interview happens.

00:00:34.780 Weeks after that, it's COVID.

00:00:36.340 Now, it's already in COVID, but it gets pretty nasty, COVID.

00:00:39.620 You've got shutting down the park.

00:00:40.780 I'm in L.A., actually, at the Beverly Hills Hilton.

00:00:43.000 When Disney shut down, it could have been March 12th, 13th, 14th,

00:00:45.600 some date like that because we were going to take the family there.

00:00:49.060 June 28th, 2022, Disney unanimously extends Chapek's contract, right,

00:00:54.300 saying, hey, you're the guy.

00:00:55.380 She talks to you.

00:00:56.680 You're ours.

00:00:57.400 We like you.

00:00:58.500 We're picking you.

00:01:00.000 And then board says, you know, you don't talk to Bob Iger enough.

00:01:02.980 This is the whole session that they're going back and forth.

00:01:04.660 You should call him more often.

00:01:05.740 You said, I talk to him 30 minutes to 45 minutes every day.

00:01:08.780 Then on November 20th, 2022, the board announced Chapek was out. 0.94

00:01:14.240 Iger was back.

00:01:15.660 They blocked your email.

00:01:17.280 You couldn't even send one last email to the people you were working with.

00:01:20.540 One of your generals, Kareem Daniel, which I mentioned earlier, chief of staff,

00:01:24.920 Arthur Bachner and assistant Jackie Hart, they're out.

00:01:29.520 Iger was back, and you were done.

00:01:32.760 This timeline that the average person sees,

00:01:35.860 how fast did this timeline go by for you?

00:01:40.360 That timeline between the time that I got the extension,

00:01:43.820 another three-year extension, seemed like an eternity.

00:01:47.320 It didn't go by fast because not only was I dealing with trying

00:01:51.260 to bring the company back from the pandemic,

00:01:54.540 where we have almost all of our revenue streams shut down,

00:01:57.860 But I'm also trying to launch a brand new growth business for the company, which is streaming, which is, you know, we're only a decade behind Netflix.

00:02:07.340 But it's going very well.

00:02:09.860 But taking sniper fire, friendly sniper fire, at the same time, which was not helpful.

00:02:18.020 So, you know, you might think I would say, well, the time between the extension and the fateful November day was quick.

00:02:26.640 it wasn't it felt like it was an eternity it felt like an eternity it felt like an eternity so you

00:02:33.280 you said something in the book which was very interesting you said some people told you and

00:02:39.380 I'm curious who these people are that Bob knew COVID was coming and he was setting you up he

00:02:46.020 was almost setting you up for you to fall what did you mean by that well I didn't exactly say

00:02:51.400 it that way. What I said was people volunteered to me that he likely knew in their opinion that

00:03:01.820 he likely knew more than the average Joe did about a pandemic being around the corner. I don't know

00:03:09.080 if that's true or not because you'd have to ask him. He denied that COVID was ever an element in

00:03:14.600 his resignation when he resigned but I heard it one time and I completely disregarded it I heard

00:03:21.840 it a second time and I was like god that's funny I heard that again heard about five times from

00:03:27.120 credible heavyweights credible heavyweights credible heavyweights from Disney or even outside

00:03:33.580 outside Disney outside Disney I don't want to go any further with it but suffice to say that like

00:03:40.540 wow. And by the way, it may not be true. I don't know. It may not be true.

00:03:45.020 But this is what outsiders told me, is that there was some awareness

00:03:48.600 there. And if Bob's one thing, he's a great executive,

00:03:52.400 a lot of success, very excellent leader,

00:03:56.780 very excellent executive. But he also

00:04:00.240 really protects his image very carefully.

00:04:04.540 And I'm sure if he had

00:04:08.500 awareness that, you know, what I eventually had to do was lay off 110,000 people out of 200,000

00:04:16.440 would not be high on this list. Now, again, that may be circumstantial. I'm just saying there was

00:04:22.860 enough people. My dad used to say where there's smoke, there's fire and a lot of smoke. But again,

00:04:31.060 I don't know if that's true. And he's denied it. But the timing is curious because it was so fast.

00:04:36.900 Bob's Bob's you know after all this toying around where I'm going to resign

00:04:41.980 very methodical right no I'm not yes I am no I'm not then all of a sudden one day it's real

00:04:47.160 and it's not a matter of as Susan said weeks not months and it just was weird that I get the job

00:04:54.860 and a couple weeks later I find out there's a global pandemic which of course I had no idea

00:04:59.580 of and again maybe maybe he didn't maybe he didn't maybe it was just pure random circumstance

00:05:06.300 Well, one part which was kind of interesting, Bob, is when you became CEO, he had a CEO office.

00:05:16.600 If he's not going to be the executive chairman and he has a CEO office with a shower and everything,

00:05:22.780 he didn't let you go into that office as the new CEO.

00:05:26.800 That's kind of weird.

00:05:27.900 Or was it like when Michael Eisner stepped away as a CEO, was his office given to the next CEO?

00:05:35.700 I believe it was.

00:05:37.260 But, you know, frankly, I've never been one caught up with the trappings.

00:05:41.340 You know, I just kind of keep my head down.

00:05:43.420 That's weird, though, Bob.

00:05:43.940 It was weird.

00:05:45.920 But, frankly, I knew that Bob sort of celebrated these kind of things.

00:05:50.560 These were things that were important to him.

00:05:52.280 And he said to me, he says, having a shower in your office is not important to you.

00:05:56.220 You don't go out, you know, on the town and do power dinners like I do.

00:06:01.560 You know, you won't miss it.

00:06:03.300 It's important to me.

00:06:04.860 I'm like, great.

00:06:06.680 That was his reason?

00:06:07.780 Yeah.

00:06:08.620 That was his reason.

00:06:09.720 And, you know, a lot's been made out of the media.

00:06:12.120 Somehow this story's gotten out.

00:06:14.100 To me, it wasn't really a big deal.

00:06:16.840 Maybe it should have been.

00:06:17.780 But you wrote about it in the book.

00:06:19.200 Well, I wrote about it in the book because now in hindsight, it was meaningful.

00:06:22.520 But I'm saying at the time, I'm like, well, because remember, I knew there was going to be some trouble in paradise.

00:06:29.620 As soon as the CNBC interview, which you showed us, you know, a still from shoot as a CNBC interview play.

00:06:37.760 Very awkward. Right. It was very awkward. So I knew there was going to be a problem.

00:06:40.760 And then, you know, you wanted to keep the office. So these things are just kind of piling up.

00:06:43.940 I think the main thing is that 34 seconds. So played from 25 seconds.

00:06:47.180 I watched this thing four or five times last night. Played from right there. Press play.

00:06:50.280 He's going to go in the short term over time, though, as we all both recognize,

00:06:54.640 disruption and transformation are just inevitable in this business and it hits each one of our

00:06:59.520 businesses a little bit differently but it's inevitable that those businesses will be

00:07:03.880 disrupted and it's recognizing at that time when we'll need to shift and that's i think the art

00:07:09.400 it's important for the audience to know what question was asked if you can pause that she

00:07:12.620 asked the question in what way will you lead differently than him and you gave that answer

00:07:17.840 right and so if you watch the whole thing did you watch the interview that he did with josh

00:07:22.880 tomorrow no you haven't seen that interview no okay well i saw it and if you haven't seen it

00:07:28.600 the body language is very different so i watched it multiple times last night just to see the body

00:07:35.860 language here if you go that's the one right there okay and if you fast forward a little bit you can

00:07:40.940 go to the point where they're together keep going keep going keep okay right there press play from

00:07:45.800 right there in life for years going forward okay when i sell my business i want the best tax and

00:07:54.460 investment advice i want to help my kids and i want to give back to the community oh then it's

00:08:00.420 the vacation of a lifetime i wonder if my head of office has a forever setting an ig private wealth

00:08:07.700 advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business your family and your

00:08:13.420 dreams. Get financial advice that puts you at the center. Find your advisor at IGPrivateWealth.com.

00:08:21.060 Well, I think you touch upon something that is critical in terms of what the next CEO appreciates

00:08:29.600 and what the next CEO is capable of doing. And that is truly, truly appreciating Disney's position

00:08:36.240 in the world and to people.

00:08:39.520 Disney's not just another company.

00:08:41.800 Disney really is a cultural institution

00:08:43.700 that has touched hundreds of millions of people

00:08:47.680 for now over 100 years.

00:08:49.520 I've been working with Bob for all of those years,

00:08:53.720 first from a distance and now much more up close and personal,

00:08:58.200 and I've watched probably the best of the best

00:09:00.960 balance those two things.

00:09:02.440 He smiled the entire time,

00:09:03.040 and he wasn't smiling in the interview with you.

00:09:05.000 So I thought about it two different ways.

00:09:06.240 And I want you to break it down and maybe give your thoughts.

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Valuetainment - October 01, 2026

Ex-Disney CEO REVEALS Rumor Bob Iger Knew COVID Was Coming

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