The Walt Disney Co. Executive Chairman Bob Iger is reclaiming his CEO duties due to the impact the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had on the Mouse House.
"A crisis of this magnitude, and its impact on Disney, would necessarily result in my actively helping Bob [Chapek] and the company contend with it, particularly since I ran the company for 15 years!" Iger told The New York Times.
In February, Iger stepped down as CEO effective immediately and was replaced by veteran Disney executive Bob Chapek. Iger, meanwhile, assumed the position of executive chairman through 2021. However, this was before coronavirus truly began to sink its teeth into Disney, which has since closed all of its theme parks indefinitely, delayed production on all its movie and TV projects, shuffled its film release schedule and furloughed over 40,000 employees worldwide. Iger even opted to forgo his salary to try to soften the financial blow the company is taking, while a number of other top executives had their pay cut from 20-50 percent.
Although Iger is resuming his former responsibilities, Chapek remains CEO, and it's said that "the extraordinary circumstances would be taken into consideration in the board’s evaluation of [his] performance."