It looks like Disney will promote from within once more. Christine McCarthy is tipped to follow Bob Iger as CEO of Disney. As everyone already knows, very recently Bob Iger was brought back as CEO. Iger took over from Bob Chapek, his supposed replacement. However Iger was always going to be a temporary fix. Now Deadline reports that next up could be McCarthy who was instrumental in taking down Chapek. Here is what the trade reports.
With the unexpected return of Bob Iger last month for a new stint as Disney CEO, the entertainment giant’s veteran chief financial officer Christine McCarthy has emerged as a leading contender to take over the top job.
“Christine has always been a force to be reckoned with, but you have to put her on a list of top five possibilities after the last few weeks,” a Disney insider said of the now prominent CFO. If McCarthy was handed the keys to the Magic Kingdom in the next 23 months, the exec would occupy a historic position as the first female CEO in Disney’s soon to be more than 100 year existence.
As for what happened between McCarthy and Chapel, here is Deadline‘s take.
Yet, on November 20, the CFO became the public face of the Disney coup d’état. Distraught by the company’s dire bottom line and missteps by Chapek over the last 18 months, McCarthy is the executive whose name is now in the history books for going to the board and its chair Susan Arnold to orchestrate a revolt in the executive suite that brought Iger back after less than a year of official retirement.
Going to Arnold in mid-November, McCarthy, one of the highest-ranking women in the entertainment industry, threatened to resign if Chapek was not cut loose immediately.
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So has Disney found the eventual successor to Bob Iger in current CFO Christine McCarthy? I guess we will have to wait and see. For now, it’s a Bob Iger run Disney and it’s likely that state will remain for another 2 years minimum.
What do you think of this news as Christine McCarthy tipped to follow Bob Iger as CEO of Disney. Will Iger get the ship back on course? Is McCarthy the right choice to take over? Thoughts below as always.