Disney’s (now former) CEO Bob Iger planned to retire within the next few years, or so we all thought. We did not think it would be so soon, seemingly random, and abrupt. While The Walt Disney Company seems to be sort of downplaying the haphazardness of this announcement, all Disney fans were still, mostly, caught by surprise. After Iger’s announcement, the price of stocks in the company dropped dramatically. Let’s talk about Bob Iger’s resignation and the possible reasons behind it.

It was announced this morning, the 27th of February, that effective immediately, Bob Iger is stepping down from his position as President and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. However, for now, he is still the Executive Chairman. He will retire from the chairman position around December 2021, if things continue to go as planned.

Everybody knew that Iger planned to retire soon. He had previously announced that he wanted to stay until 2021. So why did he suddenly decide to resign? Why now? Well, there is a lot of speculation. Let’s discuss all of it and the validity of some of these rumours.

He wants to focus on Disney’s Creative Strategy.

This is the official statement given by Bob Iger as to the reason for his resignation. While there may be a bit more to the story, we think there is some validity to this since he is staying on as Executive Chairman, and since it was his official reason, we can trust it, at least a little bit.

He wants to jump into Politics.

The year 2020 is a Presidential Election year in the United States of America. With how crazy and heated the 2016 election became, we are not surprised to see some celebrities and influential people publicly commit to one side or the other. Bob Iger might be thinking it is time to focus on what he feels is important for the country by using his influence to educate and persuade voters.

There is a secret health issue.

You probably couldn’t tell by looking at him, but he is sixty-nine years old. He has always seemed in good health but there could have been a recent health problem which prohibits him from dedicating everything he wants to his CEO position. We would imagine, too, that he would like to keep this issue private. So we won’t speculate further, but we know it is a possibility.

He was fired.

There are some rumours going around the internet that Iger was fired. Of course, anybody can be fired…but Bob Iger?! The man who has brought so much money to the company since 2005 that Disney stocks were at an all-time high? While we do not think this is extremely likely, if he was sacked, it would have to be something not related to the job. Many think, if he was let go, that it was the result of him lacking the “Disney-feel,” or because he focused on growing and purchasing IPs instead of creating new properties. Some even think that it could be related to the “Me Too” movement running rampant in the entertainment industry right now. However, we will not accuse somebody of that until somebody else who was directly involved does so. We do not really believe he was actually fired. We think Bob Iger’s resignation was one or all of the aforementioned reasons.

Iger’s Replacement: Bob Chapek

Bob Chapek has been with The Walt Disney Company for 27 years. He has been a Disney fan all his life; as anybody would hope for the CEO of such a large company. As a child, he went on Disney vacations with his family. Chapek is around 60 years old and also seems to be in good health.

Bob Chapek’s background in The Walt Disney Company is largely over Disney Parks. He has helped expand and create many popular parks and projects. He was the man who announced and described the new Rise of the Resistance ride at D23. He has also overseen the addition of the new Shanghai Disney Resort, expanding the Disney Cruise Line fleet by almost 200%, and improvements to Walt Disney World’s MagicBands. We are genuinely huge fans of all of those changes and additions. It is going to be very cool to see the man behind it all and watch what he will do next. Obviously, since we created and dedicated an entire site to theme parks, we are so pumped to see what the future has in store for Disney Parks with new CEO Bob Chapek.