Walt Disney Co. is facing a “very rushed succession process” as it searches for a candidate to replace Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger, former News Corp. executive Peter Chernin said Tuesday at the Qatar Economic Forum.
(Bloomberg) — Walt Disney Co. is facing a “very rushed succession process” as it searches for a candidate to replace Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger, former News Corp. executive Peter Chernin said Tuesday at the Qatar Economic Forum.
“It’s a slightly weird thing to say within two years I’m out again,” said Chernin, co-founder and partner of the investment firm TCG. “On some level, this time next year they should know who his successor is.”
Iger, Disney’s CEO for 15 years, returned to run the company in November under a two-year contract and a mandate to help find his replacement.
Another of Disney’s biggest decisions will be figuring out when to offer the ESPN cable channel directly to consumers online. That will be “a pretty challenging transition,” Chernin said, adding that the advertising revenue and fees from cable providers that ESPN gets would be “pretty hard to replace.”
“There’s no scenario in life where an ESPN streaming platform is immediately as successful as the cable platform,” he said.
Twitter Inc., meanwhile, has yet to prove that it can build a successful subscription platform, said Chernin, who previously served on the social media company’s board. Celebrities who create shows on Twitter, such as one proposed by recently-fired Fox News star Tucker Carlson, are making a trade-off, he said.
“Could Tucker get 4 or 5 million paid subscribers? I’m not sure,” Chernin said. “You certainly don’t have anything near the reach you used to have. You’re getting paid, but you have less influence.”
The government of the State of Qatar is the underwriter of the Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg.
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