Disney is being reorganized quickly under Bob Iger. Iger took over for Bob Chapek as CEO on Sunday and resumed his duties. Iger made the announcement on Monday that the head of media and entertainment, Kareem Daniel, would be leaving the company.
Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution’s reorganization will now be led by Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro, and Christine McCarthy.
Daniel has been employed by Disney since he was an intern at Stanford pursuing an MBA. Over the past two years, Daniel has collaborated closely with Chapek.
He was Walt Disney Studios’ vice president of distribution strategy when the company made the decision to buy Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios simultaneously.
Under Chapek’s direction, he was promoted to head of media and entertainment, where he assisted the former CEO with Disney+ streaming. Daniel was in charge of the studios, domestic television networks, and streaming services.
Iger took the place of Chapek on Sunday. The astonishing development comes just two weeks after Disney’s rare quarterly financial crisis resulted in a 12% drop in share price as profit and revenue far exceeded Wall Street expectations.
Iger’s appointment, which takes effect immediately, caused the stock of the company to rise by more than 6% on Monday. This year, the stock is still down 37%.
During one of the most challenging periods in Disney’s history, which began with a pandemic and ended, at least under Chapek’s leadership, with spiraling inflation, Chapek was in charge.
But his time as CEO was also marked by what many people thought were unforced mistakes for a company that seemed to be invincible under Iger.
Iger was Disney’s public face for a very long time as CEO prior to giving the occupation off to Chapek in 2020.