Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Aug 21, 2026

Bob Iger

Bob Iger was on a $10 million consultancy deal at Disney - to advise the CEO he eventually replaced

Before his return to Disney, Bob Iger reportedly had a $10 million deal to advise his successor Bob Chapek, despite the two executives barely speaking 

Before Bob Iger returned to the helm of Disney, the entertainment giant signed him to a $10 million deal to advise his successor Bob Chapek—even though the two executives were hardly speaking.  

Iger, who rejoined the company as CEO last week after Chapek’s ousting, was on a $2 million a year contract until 2026 to advise “on such matters as his successor as chief executive officer may request from time to time,” according to terms disclosed in Disney corporate filings reported by the Financial Times. The agreement came into force when Iger left his role as executive chairman at the end of 2021.

The much-loved Iger had hand-picked Chapek to take over the House of Mouse after he had led the company for 15 years. But once Chapek took over as CEO of Disney in February 2020, his relationship with Iger soured rapidly, and the ballooning losses of Disney’s streaming Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) division, which includedDisney+, Hulu and ESPN+, eventually led to calls for Chapek’s head.

According to Disney’s SEC filing, the five-year consulting deal enabled the company and Chapek “to have access to Mr. Iger’s unique skills, knowledge and experience with regard to the media and entertainment business” and included monthly and yearly “maximum time commitments” of unspecified length. Disney was also paying Iger’s security costs as an ex-employee which totaled around $750,000 a year, the FT reported.

Iger’s return rocked Hollywood and sent shares in Disney surging more than 6% after the announcement was made. Disney did not respond to Fortune‘s request for comment.


How the relationship between the Bobs fell apart

Iger and Chapek’s relationship began to deteriorate soon after Chapek took the top position at Disney. According to a CNBC report, the relationship between the outgoing and incoming Disney leaders soured after Iger announced he wasn’t going to fully depart from the company in March 2020, in order to help it weather the pandemic.

Chapek was said to be “furious” with Iger sticking around. Having expressed little desire for help, Chapek felt that Iger was postponing his retirement once again and reducing him to second-in-command.

Tensions within Disney were further exacerbated in Marck 2022 when Chapek stayed quiet over Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill — the legislation that would prohibit classroom discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in primary schools in the state where Chapek had just ordered 2,000 of its Disney employees to move to take advantage of lucrative tax credits.

Chapek later apologized for his muted response on the bill, but it marked a strong deviation away from Iger’s style, where most of Disney’s stances on political and social issues would come directly from him.

Chapek then decided to strategically reorganize the company’s media and entertainment businesses by stripping budget power from content creators and instead centralizing it under his right-hand man, former Goldman Sachs banker Kareem Daniel. This move took away the profit-and-loss power from many of Disney’s veteran division leaders and consolidated that control under Daniel, a shift that was met with strong backlash from longtime Disney employees.

Another nail in Chapek’s coffin came when he abruptly fired Peter Rice — the head of the company’s TV division — for being an ill fit with Disney’s corporate culture. While Disney’s board threw its support behind Chapek and his ousting of Rice, staffers inside Disney said the move tanked morale and further divided the CEO from Disney veterans and Iger.

As the tensions surrounding Chapek increased, the relationship between the Bobs got worse, the FT reported, with Iger reportedly complaining to friends that his advice was not sought by his successor at key moments.

“Iger never forgave Chapek for the way Chapek distanced himself and took control of the company,” a Disney executive told the FT. “In some ways, Iger thought he would still be the coach. Chapek was not willing.”



Iger’s return after a little time off

Faith in Chapek’s leadership collapsed when the CEO announced earlier this month that “tough and uncomfortable decisions”, including staff cuts, were coming to the company after its Direct-To-Consumer division reported that losses more than doubled to $4 billion for the fiscal year ending Oct. 1.

Iger then received a call on Nov. 18 from board chair Susan Arnold and two days later agreed to return to Disney for another two years to steer the ship back on course.

Iger is returning to Disney on a slimmed-down pay package, which includes a $1 million base salary, a $1 million target bonus, and stock awards valued at $25 million. This compares to an average pay package of around $47 million during his last five years as chief executive, the FT reported.

“Essentially he’s taken a pay cut of 40%. . . to come back,” Tom Gosling, an executive fellow at the London Business School who established PwC’s executive pay practice, told the FT. “He must love the job, love the company, or see a lot of upside in the share price. Maybe all three.”

The first moves taken by Iger after being reinstated as CEO this week were to walk back Chapek’s strategy, return profit and loss power to content creators, and fire Kareem Daniel.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez Sign Prenup Protecting Their Separate Fortunes
Google Launches Pixel 11 With Gemini AI at the Center of Its Hardware Strategy
Turkish Parliament Passes Landmark Bill Granting Conditional Amnesty to Disarmed PKK Members
Jorge Messi, Lionel Messi’s Father and Longtime Agent, Dies at 68
AI’s Next Bottleneck Is Power, Not Just Nvidia Chips
Meta Raises AI Spending Target to as Much as $145bn Despite Pressure Over Returns
Joe Biden’s Cancer Has Spread Beyond His Bones, Hunter Biden Says
Why 2027 Could Be a Strong Year for Stocks—and Why the Forecast Is Fragile
Why Markets May Look Quiet in August After Big Tech Earnings
Trump’s Top General Seeks an Exit Strategy From Iran War, Report Says
Brock Lesnar Retires From Wrestling, Closing a Career of Rare Athletic Range and Lasting Controversy
UFO: Pentagon Releases Video of Unidentified Object Tracked Over Middle East
Ukraine Tells Senate Republicans Its Drone War Offers a Blueprint for America
Weight-Loss Drug Boom Tests the Limits of Prescription Advertising Rules
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan Sign Mutual-Defence Pact
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
A SpaceX Rocket Is About to Crash Into the Moon — and Scientists Hope to Watch
Modern Slavery Decisions Broaden the Al Fayed Inquiry’s Frame
FIFA’s Retreat Leaves a Larger Question Over Who Guards the Game
Finland Deploys Commercial-Scale Thermal Batteries Using Crushed Rock to Store Renewable Grid Energy
Valued at $109 Million: F-35B Fighter Jet Crashes in Southern California
US Says It Has Carried Out Heavy Strikes on Iran After Attempted Attacks on Its Forces
Over 24 Hours in the Air: Qantas Airbus Completes Record-Breaking Test Flight
Arrest Warrant Issued in Lebanon for Tycoon Spotted Meeting Netanyahu in Washington
Trump says Israel ‘would not survive’ without US
Nvidia Reportedly Takes Vast Texas Data-Centre Lease to Underwrite AI Expansion
FIFA’s Private-Investment Plan for World Cup Rights Draws European Revolt
Following OpenAI's Cyberattack: 'Most Companies Still Do Not Understand What Is Coming'
OpenAI Sued After ChatGPT Allegedly Discouraged Emergency Care Before Near-Fatal Embolism
Miliband Sets Climate and International Law at Centre of UK Diplomacy
Pentagon Discloses Nearly 100 US Troop Injuries During Renewed Iran Fighting
Trump Readies New Tariffs as Temporary Global Levy Nears Expiry
High Prices Push Coffee Drinkers Toward Whole Beans and Home Brewing
Trump Draws Boos and Podium Scrutiny at Spain’s World Cup Triumph
Spain Defeats Argentina in Extra Time to Win Second World Cup
Turkey Explores S-400 Transfer to UAE in Bid to Rejoin F-35 Program
US Retaliates Against Iran After Two American Troops Killed in Jordan
Proposed U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Pact Could Permit Limited Uranium Enrichment Under International Safeguards
Why Kentucky Fried Chicken Became KFC—and Why the False Explanations Persist
Iran Claims It Destroyed Bahrain’s Main Artificial Intelligence Center in Missile and Drone Strike
Ukrainian Drones Strike Wildberries Warehouses Deep Inside Russia
Reported CIA Mission Helped Clear the UAE’s Path to Advanced US AI Chips
Artificial Intelligence Capital Fuels Markets While Governments and Regulators Face Mounting Strategic Tests
China’s Moonshot’s Kimi K3 Narrows the Gap With Anthropic Through Scale, Openness and Lower Cost
Gold and Cash Seizure Puts Indonesia’s Senior Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Under Investigation
The Ledger Will Not Trust on Faith
Passenger Bound for Germany Refused to Sit Beside a Woman on a Plane — Then Slapped a Flight Attendant
Ukraine’s Leadership Rift Spills Into the Streets as Protesters Target Army Chief
The Ten World Cup Finals That Defined Football History
Smartphones Are Getting More Expensive, Sales Are Collapsing, and Even Apple Admits: "Prices Will Rise"
×