36 Facts About Bob Iger

Robert Alan Iger is an American media executive who is chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Company.

Bob Iger was named president of Disney in 2000 and succeeded Michael Eisner as CEO in 2005, until his contract expired in 2020.

Bob Iger then was executive chairman until his formal retirement from the company on December 31,2021.

Bob Iger's 2023 pay package included a base salary of $865,385, stock awards of $16.1 million, $10 million in stock option awards, $2.1 million in performance-based compensation and $2.48 million in other compensation, leading to a total pay award of $31.6 million, according to Disney's annual proxy statement.

Bob Iger led the major acquisitions of Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion, Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4 billion, Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.06 billion, and the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox in 2019 for $71.3 billion.

Bob Iger expanded the company's theme park resorts presence in East Asia, with the introduction of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and Shanghai Disney Resort in 2005 and 2016, respectively.

Robert Alan Bob Iger was born to a Jewish family in New York City.

Bob Iger is the oldest son of Miriam "Mimi" and Arthur L Iger.

Bob Iger's father was a World War II Navy veteran who was the executive vice president and general manager of the Greenvale Marketing Corporation, and was a professor of advertising and public relations.

Bob Iger's mother worked at Boardman Junior High School in Oceanside, New York.

Bob Iger was raised in Oceanside, where he attended the Fulton Avenue School and graduated from Oceanside High School in 1969.

Bob Iger began his media career in 1972 as the host of Campus Probe, an Ithaca College television show.

Bob Iger dreamed of becoming a news anchor while he worked as a weatherman in Ithaca for five months, before shifting his career goals.

In 1988, Bob Iger was the senior program executive for the Calgary Winter Olympics.

On March 13,2005, Disney announced that Bob Iger would succeed Michael Eisner as CEO, and Bob Iger was placed in charge of day-to-day operations, though Eisner held the title of CEO until he resigned on September 30,2005.

On October 7,2011, Disney announced that Bob Iger would become chairman of the board, following John Pepper's retirement from the board in March 2012.

In October 2012, Bob Iger signed a deal with filmmaker George Lucas to purchase Lucasfilm for $4 billion.

In March 2016, Bob Iger announced the opening of the $5.5 billion Shanghai Disney Resort later that year.

Bob Iger resigned from Apple's board of directors on September 10,2019, in order to avoid a conflict of interest as Disney and Apple prepared to launch competing streaming services Disney+ and Apple TV+.

In September 2019, Bob Iger released his memoir The Ride of a Lifetime.

On December 31,2021, Bob Iger stepped down and was succeeded by Susan Arnold as chair of the board.

However, on November 20,2022, Chapek was ousted by the Disney board with Bob Iger reinstated as CEO.

At the time of his rejoining Disney, Bob Iger initially agreed to hold the post for two years while looking for a successor.

Bob Iger was reportedly responsible for making Steve Jobs Disney's largest shareholder after its all-stock acquisition of Jobs' Pixar.

In September 2019, Bob Iger resigned from his position on the board after Apple announced the pricing and release date of Apple TV+, a subscription streaming service which would compete with Disney+ upon its launch in November 2021.

Bob Iger joined the board of Genies, Inc in March 2022.

In 1995, Bob Iger married journalist Willow Bay in an interfaith Jewish and Roman Catholic service in Bridgehampton, New York.

In 2016, Bob Iger switched his party registration from Democratic to independent.

In May 2016, during a dispute over Disney Resort's low wages, Bob Iger wrote in a Facebook post claiming that Disney had hired 11,000 new employees in the past decade at Disneyland, and 18,000 in the past 5 years in the US.

Bob Iger specifically targeted Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders, who had been outspoken on the issue.

Bob Iger co-chaired a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign on August 22,2016.

Bob Iger was named to President-elect Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum on December 2,2016.

Bob Iger resigned from the Forum on June 1,2017, out of protest after President Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Bob Iger had considered running for president before and after the 2016 election as a Democrat, but ultimately decided against it.

In December 2019, Bob Iger was named by Time as their Businessperson of the Year.

In November 2017, Variety reported that Bob Iger knew about a 2010 Oscar party where Pixar chief John Lasseter was seen "making out with a junior staffer", seeming to confirm anonymous allegations that Lasseter's inappropriate interactions with young women had been known to company leadership since the 1990s.