Is This Disney’s Next CEO?

29 Oct 2019

Streaming head Kevin Mayer (MBA 1990) is in position as successor to Bob Iger

Re: Kevin Mayer (MBA 1990); David J. Collis (Adjunct Professor)

Topics: Management-Management Succession Career-Career Changes Entertainment-Television Leadership-Leadership Style

Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

A recent article in Bloomberg notes that Disney strategy chief Kevin Mayer (MBA 1990) might be positioned to succeed longtime Disney CEO Bob Iger.

The article highlights Mayer’s recent initiatives at Disney, including a 2015 strategic review conducted with Bain that found, among other things, that the company should focus on franchises. “After that, Mayer began working on acquisition candidates, including comic-book publisher Marvel and Lucasfilm, the home of ‘Star Wars’,” the article notes, also mentioning Iger’s previous $7.4 billion purchase of Pixar. “Those deals, worth $15 billion in all, turned Disney’s film business into the envy of the industry. Last year, the division earned a record $3 billion profit, the most ever for a Hollywood studio.”

The piece opens with a mention of Mayer’s habit of returning to HBS to speak in the first-year strategy course. “The students are always impressed by his honesty,” Adjunct Professor David Collis told Bloomberg.

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