Bob Iger, CEO of Walt Disney Co., recently joined actress and TV host Kelly Ripa on an episode of her podcast “Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa.” In the episode, he discussed the ongoing search for Disney’s next CEO, a potential presidential bid and some of his regrets.
During the nearly hour-long episode, Iger said that finding Disney’s next CEO is “constantly on his mind.”
“I think it would be safe to assume that I think about [CEO succession] all the time. I could say that I’m obsessed with it would be probably an understatement and actually, the board and I established when I returned that that would be among our biggest [priorities], if not our biggest priority,” Iger said.
“It’s actually something that I’m obviously very focused on, not just because of the past, but because I’d like to retire again and I’d like to leave the company in great hands, and that is my intention and I’m now confident that not only will we do that, but we’ll do so on a timely basis that works for the company and hopefully works for me as well, but yes. It’s a huge priority.”
Iger previously held the top position at Disney from 2005 to 2020. He retired in 2021, leaving Bob Chapek as his successor, but once Chapek was fired in 2022, Iger returned as CEO.
Iger is slated to keep the top position until the end of 2026. Some internal candidates who could be up for the job include Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro and Josh D’Amaro, head of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.
Disney’s top executive also touched on reports that he was “bored” during his retirement.
“It’s been exaggerated by many that I was bored,” he said. “I was not bored at all. I loved the fact that I did not have a to-do list that was a mile long, that I didn’t wake up in the middle of the night feeling that I was late for my next meeting, which often happened, or that I was missing a plane, that I could read the paper and not keep looking at my watch in the morning because I had to get someplace.”
Ripa also discussed with Iger the possibility of a presidential run. During the episode, Iger recalled when an influential leader in the Democratic party, who remained unnamed, talked to him about the possibility.
“He said to me, ‘You should run for president,’ and I said, ‘Tell me why?’” the Disney chief said during Tuesday’s episode. “And his first words out of his mouth were, ‘Well, you really look the part.’ I said, ‘Give me a break. That’s not enough.’”
Rumors about Iger potentially running for president aren’t new, with even Oprah Winfrey backing a potential run in 2020. While the person who talked to Iger about the possibility remained nameless, Iger did confirm that former President Bill Clinton wasn’t the one who had approached him about a run for office after Ripa asked.
Even so, Iger said he seriously considered running for office in 2015 and 2017.
During the podcast episode, Iger also discussed some of his regrets, including saying that linear TV assets “may not be core” to the Disney company.
“I wasn’t wrong about my observation, but it wasn’t necessary for me to utter those words publicly because it caused an incredible amount of anxiety,” Iger said during an interview. “I should have been more sensitive to how those words would be not just interpreted, but how they would be felt by people who are really important to me, who are even Disney legends.”
He also discussed his mindset before the July 2023 appearance on CNBC, as the company faced major cost cuts, reorganization and strategic planning.
“I was intent on communicating to Wall Street an open-mindedness in general about our business in the future, and I wanted them to know – this was after I came back to Disney – that my head was not in the sand,” he said. He recalled that his decision to say “everything was on the table” was a mistake.
The conversation between Ripa and Iger also touched on less intense topics like Iger’s favorite cheese, which is mozzarella, artists on his personal playlists, which include country artist Zach Bryan, and whether his appearance at 73 was “medically induced.”
“No medically induced” procedures, Iger replied, apart from replacing two hips and a knee. “A lot of it is genes and a lot of it is taking care of myself.
The whole episode can be listened to here.