Bob Iger, recently returned CEO of The Walt Disney Company, has been named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2023. The Disney CEO sat down with TIME for an an interview that covered the future of Disney, the current challenges, creativity, and the feud between Disney and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Through the course of the interview, Iger talked bout returning to The Walt Disney Company and the approach that he had with it. Part of this was inspired by Steve Jobs. His return included a restructuring that refocused the company on creativity. Iger shared about his through process behind that and the accountability that comes with it.
He also addressed the layoffs that recently started at Disney as part of the $5.5 billion in cost cuts. He said that they were “necessary” for the success of the company. He also shared that ” it does force a discipline and a focus, and maybe a sense of urgency.”
Iger continued on cost cutting saying, “If you look at the reductions that we’re making, they’re designed to invest the right amount of money in great creativity. The more efficient you are at running a company, the more you can spend on what is the most necessary. In this case, it’s quality and creativity.” The conversation continued on about what Disney would be creating in the future. IN short, it’s not necessarily fewer and bigger, it’s “Fewer, better.”
The conversation also talked about the 100-years of both Disney and Time at which point Iger realized he had been with the company for half of that. He reminisced about making $150 a week when he first started and getting paid every other week. Half of his monthly pay would go to his rent and the rest he would use to just get by and live.
The conversation also covered the feud between The Walt Disney Company and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. “Disney World opened just over 50 years ago. It was the vision and the dream of Walt Disney, probably the most ambitious thing he ever did—turning swampland in Central Florida into a business that employs over 75,000 people, that is visited by tens of millions of people every year, that is a major tourist destination in the United States, and for the state of Florida, that creates huge value for our company and its employees, and for the state of Florida itself. Our sole goal in Florida is to continue creating that value for all those constituencies. All we want is a relationship with the state that enables us to continue to do that. We have the wherewithal and we have the desire to continue to invest there to grow that business so that we can hire more people so that we can increase our attendance, and so that we can basically increase more value for the Walt Disney Company and for the state of Florida. It’s that simple.”
When asked if he would sit down with Governor DeSantis, Iger said, “I do not view this as a going-to-mattresses situation for us. If the governor of Florida wants to meet with me to discuss all of this, of course, I would be glad to do that. You know, I’m one that typically has respected our elected officials and the responsibility that they have, and there would be no reason why I wouldn’t do that.”
The conversation also talked about the CEO Succession process and priority for Disney, ESPN’s investment in DraftKings, and the firing of Ike Perlmutter. The full interview can be read here.
