THE former Disney CEO Bob Iger has returned to the media giant less than a year after he retired.
The 71-year-old who retired after 15 years as chief executive in February 2020, has agreed to serve as CEO for two more years, replacing Bob Chapek.
What is Bob Iger’s net worth?
The New York businessman started life making “$150 a week” at ABC back in 1974 as a studio supervisor aged 23.
He has come a long way since then and now has a reported net worth of $350 million.
Iger served as Disney’s CEO for 15 years, leading the media company through massive acquisitions, and the launch of Disney+, before stepping down in 2020.
But on November 20, 2022, Disney announced his return in a statement.
The board of directors decided that as the conglomerate “embarks on an increasingly complex period of industry transformation, Bob Iger is uniquely situated to lead.”
“I am deeply honored to be asked to again lead this remarkable team… through unrivaled, bold storytelling,” Iger said.
How did he make his money?
Iger rose through the ranks at ABC in New York through sports, then he took a job as head of ABC Entertainment in 1986 according to Business Insider.
In 1993 he became head of the Capital Cities/ABC network, which was then bought by Disney for $19 billion in 1996.
Three years later he became president of Disney International, then chief operating officer under CEO Michael Eisner.
When Eisner stepped down following tensions with Roy E Disney in 2005, Iger took the top spot.
Under Iger’s leadership Disney’s stock has risen five fold in 15 years.
It went from $24 a share and has grown to up to $144 per share (July 2019).
He repaired relationships with Pixar, then acquired them in 2006 and linking them with Steve Jobs, who had the majority sharehold in Pixar.
Iger was on the board of Apple between 2011 and 2019.
Disney has been smashing the box office too, with acquisition and production of movie franchises like The Avengers (Marvel) and Star Wars (Lucasfilm).
The company acquired 21st Century Fox in March 2019, gaining the controlling stake in Hulu at the same time.
The company has grown too, creating more than 70,000 jobs.
His personal fortune has grown alongside that of Disney’s.
What was his salary as CEO of Disney?
Upon becoming the top dog at Disney in 2005 Iger made $22million along with an additional $2.9million in stock.
His wage has come a long way since then.
As CEO of Disney, Iger made $65.6million in 2018 – $39.3m in salary and $26.3m in stock – according to Forbes.
This was boosted by his closure of the $71.3billion Fox merger in March 2019.
This made him the third highest-paid CEO in 2019, with combined earnings at 1,424 times that of the average Disney employee.
Disney is replacing “King of Hollywood” Iger with Bob Chapek, who runs its parks and products.
Why did Bob Iger step down as CEO of The Disney Company?
Bob Iger was CEO of The Walt Disney Company from 2005 to 2020, he relinquished the position to Bob Chapek.
Despite stepping down as CEO in February 2020, Iger remained chairperson until December 31, 2021.
While speaking with CNBC, he detailed his reasons for giving up the position.
Iger told the outlet, “Over time, I started listening less and maybe with a little less tolerance of other people’s opinions, maybe because of getting a little bit more overconfident in my own, which is sometimes what happens when you get built up.”
He continued: “I became a little bit more dismissive of other people’s opinions than I should have been.”
“That was an early sign that it was time. It wasn’t the reason I left, but it was a contributing factor,” Iger concluded.
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