Break a few Greggs, Bob Chapek.
After a long tenure at the top as Disney CEO, Bob Iger has stepped down with immediate effect and the news has caused massive waves throughout the movie industry.
In the space of a day's trading, Disney's stock price dropped 3.62% and on Twitter, everyone was making the same 'Succession' joke. If you haven't watched the show, essentially the second season concerned who was going to take over as CEO of WayStar Royco. The season ended with the question still up in the air, but one of the characters in the race was Tom Wambgans, played by Matthew Macfadyen.
Bob Iger's replacement in Disney is none other than Bob Chapek, who previously ran Parks and Resorts - just like Tom Wambgans from 'Succession'. Sure enough, the joke's just wrote themselves from that point once that news got out.
Congratulations to Tom Wambsgans https://t.co/cRwy8s9EVN
— Azure Gilman (@AzureGilman) February 25, 2020
In Succession terms, this is Tom Wambsgans getting the job? https://t.co/77cROKLokr
— Juliet Lapidos (@julietlapidos) February 25, 2020
Big day for all Tom Wambsgans fans with the news of Bob Chapek taking over as CEO of Disney.
— Rick Stella (@RickStella) February 25, 2020
In real terms, Bob Iger is staying on to run the "Company's creative endeavours" and "content creation", which is probably a catch-all term for anything related to the movie studios, Disney+ and anything else. Not only that, Iger is remaining on as Chairman, with Chapek reporting to him as Disney CEO. The other reason that has everyone confused is another part - Kevin Mayer - was expected to take over from Iger.
Mayer had run Disney's streaming services, and with Disney+'s global rollout hitting Ireland next month, everyone expected him in place of Chapek, who ran Disney's park and resorts. What will all this mean is anyone's guess, but one thing's for certain - Disney is going nowhere, and expect some of this to bleed into 'Succession' Season 3.