"... one earnings call gets Chapek booted, huh? That was it. Just that one call."
It's never one thing that leads to a move like this. News came out last night that he was trying to paper over Disney+ losses by shifting some of the costly originals that were underperforming over to Disney Channel. That's likely why Kareem Daniel got the axe as well, even if he may have just being doing as Chapek wanted.
THAT was likely the catalyst. But it's that, the earnings call, the poor public reception, the way he handled moving Imagineering to Florida, and arguably the worst offense ... damage to the brand. What's he's been doing in Parks is both highly public and creating long-term problems while trying to secure short-term gains. If it had worked, he MAY have stayed on. But it didn't, and the earnings report he took no responsibility for proved it.
It's clear the earnings call was the straw that broke the camels back. I mean there was that THR article this summer about how hated Chapek was in Hollywood cause he isn't a good schmoozer. And let's be real, when running a media company in TV & Movies you have to be able to schmooze. He had that whole scandal with Scarlett Johansson which never would have made it to that point under Iger or Eisner - 2 of the best Hollywood schmoozers out there. Iger was always going to be a tough act to follow, and I'm not sure he's gonna be able to pick a successor with this second chance. But Chapek just was never right for this role, from the Hollywood issues to losing the hard core fans over pricing issues. Chapek just never seemed to understand that with a company like Disney you HAVE to add that "pixie dust" to announcements because it's part of the brand. He wanted to run it like any other company and while yes it is a company out here to make profit, in the larger cultural sense its not just another company.
Thank you for this Josh. I was really waiting for your perspective on the shakeup and you overdelivered. Great piece
"... one earnings call gets Chapek booted, huh? That was it. Just that one call."
It's never one thing that leads to a move like this. News came out last night that he was trying to paper over Disney+ losses by shifting some of the costly originals that were underperforming over to Disney Channel. That's likely why Kareem Daniel got the axe as well, even if he may have just being doing as Chapek wanted.
THAT was likely the catalyst. But it's that, the earnings call, the poor public reception, the way he handled moving Imagineering to Florida, and arguably the worst offense ... damage to the brand. What's he's been doing in Parks is both highly public and creating long-term problems while trying to secure short-term gains. If it had worked, he MAY have stayed on. But it didn't, and the earnings report he took no responsibility for proved it.
It's clear the earnings call was the straw that broke the camels back. I mean there was that THR article this summer about how hated Chapek was in Hollywood cause he isn't a good schmoozer. And let's be real, when running a media company in TV & Movies you have to be able to schmooze. He had that whole scandal with Scarlett Johansson which never would have made it to that point under Iger or Eisner - 2 of the best Hollywood schmoozers out there. Iger was always going to be a tough act to follow, and I'm not sure he's gonna be able to pick a successor with this second chance. But Chapek just was never right for this role, from the Hollywood issues to losing the hard core fans over pricing issues. Chapek just never seemed to understand that with a company like Disney you HAVE to add that "pixie dust" to announcements because it's part of the brand. He wanted to run it like any other company and while yes it is a company out here to make profit, in the larger cultural sense its not just another company.