While Disney positioning its streaming arm as central to its business strategy wasn’t altogether surprising, the restructure reportedly led to internal power struggles among long-employed executives, CNBC reported last month. Many of Chapek’s leadership moves appear at odds with those of former Disney boss Bob Iger “Our creative teams will concentrate on what they do best - making world-class, franchise-based content - while our newly centralized global distribution team will focus on delivering and monetizing that content in the most optimal way across all platforms, including Disney Plus, Hulu, ESPN Plus, and the coming Star international streaming service.” “Managing content creation distinct from distribution will allow us to be more effective and nimble in making the content consumers want most, delivered in the way they prefer to consume it,” Chapek said at the time.
Among the goals of this reorganization, the company said at the time, Disney’s “creative engines will focus on developing and producing original content for the Company’s streaming services.”
Later the same year that Chapek took over the company, Disney’s entertainment and media divisions underwent a massive reorganization that positioned Disney Plus as a key revenue driver for the future of the company. Chapek made it clear straight out of the gate that accelerating Disney’s direct-to-consumer business was core to his vision for the company moving into its second century.īut the shift in leadership style has seemingly been felt at every level of Disney, from parks employees to staff and even talent.
With Disney Plus’ launch in 2019, Disney tapped its vault of decades’ worth of content to take on the streaming giants.
Chapek’s reimagined DisneyĬhapek’s promotion to chief of Disney coincided with a pivotal time for the company. It’s also made Disney the target of right-wing protesters who have called for a Disney boycott.ĭisney employees who spoke with The Verge say there’s little chance the chaos surrounding the company’s “Don’t Say Gay” response, in particular, would have happened on the watch of Iger. It’s one of many business decisions that deviate heavily from the way the company was run under Chapek’s predecessor, and it’s led to continued tension inside the company. Most recently, Disney has faced upheaval over its handling of the bill in Florida, culminating in company walkouts as well as criticism of Chapek by Disney employees and creators and various advocacy groups, including GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign. And he reportedly aggravated staff with a corporate restructure that snowballed into an internal power struggle. Chapek angered both theaters and talent with Disney Plus hybrid and straight-to-streaming releases, which led to a messy and very public lawsuit by Black Widow star Scarlett Johansson. Amid pandemic closures, Parks employees protested over Disneyland Resort’s reopening plans. Under Chapek, a longtime Disney executive, problems emerged almost immediately.
The ensuing chaos is just the latest in a series of public missteps that threaten to overshadow Chapek’s tenure leading one of the most powerful entertainment companies in the world.Ĭhapek replaced beloved Disney boss Bob Iger as the company’s CEO in 2020 - just before the pandemic would shut down Disney’s parks and theaters. But when Chapek finally did condemn the legislation, he provoked politicians and set off a weeks-long bad-faith crusade against Disney by right-wing media. His silence angered employees and advocacy groups to such an extent that he eventually backpedaled. Weeks ago, facing pressure internally to speak out against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Disney CEO Bob Chapek took a surprising approach: he did nothing.