ORLANDO, Fla. – Bob’s staying.
The Walt Disney Company voted unanimously Wednesday to extend CEO Robert Iger’s contract, meaning he will serve as chief executive officer through 2026.
Iger, who was CEO of Disney from 2005 to 2020, returned to the position in 2022 after his successor Robert Chapek was ousted.
Since then Iger has led a restructuring of the company that involved reworking who divisions answer to, as well as finding about $5 billion in cost savings, which included laying off thousands of workers around the world.
Disney said Iger’s contract extension will give him time to position the company for future growth, while also allowing more time for the search for his successor.
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Iger retired in 2020, in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which saw tremendous upheaval across industries and within Disney’s divisions, including the temporary closure of the theme parks and the cruise line, while the closure of movie theaters worldwide affected box office revenues.
Iger served as executive chairman and chairman of the board in 2020 and 2021 to help Chapek transition amid the pandemic.
This means Iger will remain CEO as the company sues Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in federal court over actions the state took against Disney for its criticism of the Parental Rights in Education Law, known by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Those actions included dissolving the special taxing district that oversaw Walt Disney World property and putting the property under the control of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, whose board members are appointed by the governor.
State lawmakers also passed a law dissolving a contract the former district had with Disney that transferred control to the company, and also tried to increase state oversight of the parks and resorts.
Iger has said he would be willing to sit down with DeSantis and come to an understanding. But that was before Disney filed the lawsuit in April. He has also publicly criticized the state’s actions, telling shareholders in April: “Any action that supports those efforts simply to retaliate for a position (Disney) took sounds not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida, and I’ll just leave it at that.”
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