Bob Iger Comments on Rumors of His Return as Disney’s CEO

Lots of changes have been taking place in the Disney Company.

Magic Kingdom

We’ve seen a number of individuals leave, others change positions, the restructuring of divisions take place, and most recently the departure of former Disney CEO and executive chairman, Bob Iger. There have been rumors swirling, however, that Iger could return to the company in a BIG way. But just what does Iger himself have to say about it?

Recently, former Disney CEO and executive chairman Bob Iger spoke with Kara Swisher from The New York Times. During their interview, they discussed a number of topics including the future of the movie industry, NFTs, the metaverse, and more.

One of the topics they discussed was the rumors that had been swirling that Iger would come back as CEO of Disney at some point in the future. In fact we had previously shared that one media executive thought Iger could return to this role.

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But Iger seemingly shut down those rumors in this interview. When Swisher noted that there have been rumors about Iger returning as CEO of Disney his response was short and to the point — “Well, that’s ridiculous.”

Iger shared that he had been CEO for a long time and said “you can’t go home again. I’m gone.” Swisher noted, however, that situations like these have happened before, where individuals have returned to their CEO positions. In response, Iger noted that he gave up his I.D., his name tag, his office, and his email address — “it’s all gone.” So that seems pretty…final.

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Swisher asked whether Iger would want to be CEO of another company or would think about doing that. In response Iger said that if he wanted to run a company, he’d still be running Disney. “No,” he noted, “I did that.”

So it seems like Iger has shut down the idea of returning as Disney’s CEO (for now anyway). Note that Bob Chapek continues to serve as Disney’s CEO, and Bob Iger has officially now left the Disney Company (his last role there being Executive Chairman). Where could the Disney head in the future? What individuals might take the lead in the next 5-10 years? Only time will tell, but we’ll be sure to share any updates with you.