Bob Iger’s tenure as CEO of Disney got here to an finish a number of months in the past, after 20 years of main the leisure large by means of a few of its most pivotal transformations and acquisitions. Iger, in an exit interview with The Financial Timeshas now confirmed some important efforts that didn’t pan out, comparable to strolling away from shopping for Twitter, being snubbed by Apple, and shedding out on the James Bond franchise.
Based on Iger, Disney came close to buying Twitter from co-founder Jack Dorsey “at a really enticing value,” someday previous to Elon Musk shopping for the social media platform in 2022 and changing its name to X. Iger had plans to show Twitter into a worldwide distribution platform for Disney, however walked away on the morning of the deal over considerations that it might be “a horrible distraction.”
Disney was additionally at one level concerned in early conversations concerning a possible merger with Apple, one thing Iger thinks would have been “really transformational.” Ultimately, Iger says these conversations “by no means went anyplace,” and that “Apple didn’t present that a lot curiosity.” The 2 corporations have a blended historical past — Iger was an Apple board member from 2011 to 2019, and notably a driving pressure behind Disney buying Pixar in 2006, which was led by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs on the time. Based on Iger, his first name with Jobs resulted in an nearly rapid deal to place Disney content material on the primary video iPod.
“Rapidly, I’m now somebody Steve likes and respects,” Iger informed The Monetary Occasions. “The outdated Disney that he knew was lumbering when it comes to paperwork. And so he thought, it is a new day.”
The Pixar acquisition spurred Iger to seek out extra corporations to deliver below Disney’s wing, although not each try was profitable. “We felt unstoppable. We put collectively an inventory of acquisition targets,” stated Iger. “Marvel was one, Star Wars was one other, James Bond was one. We had an inventory and I figured let’s simply tick them off and purchase all of them.” Iger supplies no particulars about Disney’s try to purchase the James Bond franchise, however we all know it clearly failed — Amazon purchased the 007 distribution rights when it acquired MGM in 2022, and later paid greater than $1 billion to take full creative control of the franchise in February 2025.
Iger stepped down from his second tenure as Disney CEO on March 18th, with former Disney Experiences chairman Josh D’Amaro now main the corporate. Whereas Iger stays on the Disney board of administrators, he’s additionally anticipated to go away that position in December.
