Disney Ousts CEO Bob Chapek and Brings Back Bob Iger

From CNET: Disney's CEO is Bob Iger once again.

In a surprise move late Sunday, Walt Disney Co.'s board of directors said it had installed the company's former chief Iger to replace Bob Chapek, effective immediately. Iger will fill the role for two years, the board said, to "set the strategic direction for renewed growth" and to work with the board, once again, in finding his successor to take over in late 2024.

Iger, who spent nearly his entire career at the company and served as its CEO for 15 years, handed the reins to Chapek in February 2020 -- just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic upended the entertainment industry. Iger continued to advise the company as its executive chairman through the end of last year. But in appointing Chapek as CEO, Disney picked the head of its Parks division to lead the company -- oblivious that just three weeks later, all its parks would shutter, its cruises would halt, cinemas that once welcomed its blockbuster movies would go dark and Disney Plus, its streaming service launched only four months earlier, would be thrust into even greater prominence.

(The Disney executive who spearheaded the development and launch of Disney Plus, which one analyst called "one of the greatest product launches of all time," quit the company after Chapek was chosen as successor.)

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