The Mouse's media darling: How Bob Iger went from local weatherman to Disney's repeat CEO
Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for Vanity Fair
- Bob Iger is Disney's CEO, having returned to the post in 2022 after a short-lived retirement.
- He's spearheaded some of Disney's most profitable acquisitions since taking the helm in 2005.
- Here's a look at the decades of work that propelled him to become the Mouse's media darling.
Robert Iger, Disney's on-again-off-again CEO — better known as Bob — has led the House of Mouse to new heights over the course of his time at the helm, spearheading massive acquisitions for the company and driving record revenue at its beloved theme parks.
"One of the most important qualities of a good leader is optimism, a pragmatic enthusiasm for what can be achieved," the now 73-year-old Iger wrote in his 2019 autobiography "The Ride of a Lifetime," released just before he announced plans to retire — plans that he'd later go back on.
"Even in the face of difficult choices and less than ideal outcomes, an optimistic leader does not yield to pessimism," Iger wrote, "Simply put, people are not motivated or energized by pessimists."
Here's a look back at Iger's career, from the host of a college television show to the multimillionaire leader of one of America's most beloved brands.
Representatives for Iger did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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Iger was born in New York on February 10, 1951. His father, Arthur, served in WWII and later majored in marketing before becoming a professor of advertising at the New York Institute of Technology, Long Island. His mother, Miriam "Mimi" (née Tunick), was a stay-at-home mom until Bob entered high school, at which point she took a job at a local junior high school library.
A graduate of Ithica College, Iger had early dreams of being a newscaster. He briefly hosted a TV show at school called "Campus Probe" and had an early job as a weatherman that The New York Times reported he "wasn't very good at."
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Iger's early entry into a media career began in 1974 when, upon a referral from his uncle who had a contact at ABC, he began working on sets at the network for $150 a week, he wrote in his memoir. Shortly after that, he was hired as a studio supervisor.
"I got to know all of the people who made a TV show work," Iger's memoir reads. "Maybe most important, I learned to tolerate the demanding hours and the extreme workload of television production, and that work ethic has stayed with me ever since."
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Iger became a fixture at ABC, rising through the ranks to become a senior program executive and, by 1989, head of ABC Entertainment. As head of the network, he greenlighted iconic shows including "Doogie Houser," "Twin Peaks," and "America's Funniest Home Videos."
He continued his meteoric rise through the early 1990s, becoming president and chief operating officer of ABC's parent company, Capital Cities/ABC, in 1994.
When Disney bought ABC in 1995, Iger thrived. He stayed on as chairman of the company until he was promoted to running Walt Disney International, which oversaw Disney's international entertainment division, in 1999.
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The circumstances of their meeting and marriage are unclear, but Iger was married to his first wife, Kathleen Susan Iger, until they separated in 1992. The pair had two daughters, Amanda and Kathleen.
He married his second wife, Willow Bay, a former correspondent for NBC's "Today Show" and later the dean of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Journalism, in 1995. The pair remain married and have two sons together, Robert and William.
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Beginning in early 2000, Iger served as president and Chief Operating Officer of Disney under then-CEO Michael Eisner, who had held the position since 1984.
Iger was second-in-command at Disney until the company's board launched a campaign called "Save Disney" to oust Eisner in 2005.
Reports at the time indicate Eisner, despite his bitter ending at Disney, was a fan of Iger's, being recorded by The Hollywood Reporter as saying: "I would not have agreed to [leave] if it hadn't been Bob," Eisner insists. "Because of governance, they wanted a big search and everything. … And by the end of the search, it was clear that I was able to convince the board — our newly constructed board — that Bob was great.
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Iger became Disney's chief executive in September of 2005, launching the company into a new golden era with the massive acquisitions of Pixar for $7.4 billion in January 2006, Marvel for $4 billion in August 2009, and Lucasfilm for $4 billion in October 2012.
He also expanded Disney's theme parks to China, opening up a lucrative new market for the company with the 2016 creation of the Shanghai Disneyland park.
Disney's board extended Iger's contract several times, pushing back his anticipated resignation date from June 2018 to 2021.
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Iger became more publicly involved in politics later in his career, supporting candidates across the spectrum as both a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's campaign for president and briefly as a member of then-President Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum.
Originally registered as a Democrat, Iger changed his affiliation to Independent in 2016. He briefly considered a run for president himself, though ultimately decided against it.
With his massive business success and relatively minor controversies over the course of his career, Iger's political sway has continued to grow. In recent years, he has gotten into public spats with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his anti-LGBTQ+ policy positions and the state government's treatment of Disney's special tax district, which houses Disney World.
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Iger announced in 2020 his plans to retire at the end of his contract term in 2021, though the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately derailed his plans.
After the announcement, Disney's board named Bob Chapek — the then-chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products — to succeed him, making Iger the company's executive chairman while overseeing the transition.
The board later extended Iger's term as chairman to the end of 2021. He stepped down on December 31 that year, and Susan Arnold took his place as chairman.
Before his departure, Iger was consistently one of Hollywood's highest-paid CEOs, Business Insider previously reported, earning a $3 million salary in 2019, plus a $21.8 million bonus, $10 million worth of stock awards, and $9.6 million worth of stock options.
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After a tumultuous tenure, Chapek was ousted as Disney's CEO in November 2022. After leaving the company, Iger reportedly undermined his successor's time in the role, taking meetings with Chapek's staff without inviting him and fighting to maintain access to his cushy office with a private shower.
Iger was reinstated as the company's chief executive, with his contract originally set to expire in 2024 — long enough to identify a new successor.
However, Disney's board in 2023 voted to extend his contract to the end of 2026, increasing his compensation package by several million dollars.
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Since returning to serve as Disney's CEO, 73-year-old Iger has been "overwhelmed and exhausted," Bloomberg reported, with the company in worse shape than he'd expected to come back to.
The company's floundering stock performance in recent years made shareholders skeptical that Iger could bring the magic back to the entertainment giant after a series of big-budget flops.
Ahead of Disney's annual meeting in April, Iger faced a contentious battle to maintain control of two seats on the company's board, facing attacks from activist investors who have criticized his leadership and Disney's "years of seemingly poor choices and failed strategies."
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Despite challenges from activist investors, including billionaire hedge fund founder Nelson Peltz, who sought to replace two seats on Disney's management board, Iger prevailed on Wednesday after shareholders agreed that he remains the best man to control the House of Mouse.
The proxy fight between Disney and activist investors is estimated to have cost all parties an estimated $70 million.
"Now that this distracting proxy process is behind us, we're here to focus 100 percent of our attention on our most important priorities, growth and value creation for our shareholders and creative excellence for our consumers," Iger said after the Wednesday vote, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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