Robert Iger Biography
Robert Iger (Robert Allen Iger) is an American media executive and businessman who is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company. Before working for Disney, he served as the President of ABC Television from 1994–95, and as President/COO of Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. from 1995 until Disney’s acquisition of the company in 1996.
Iger was named President and COO of Disney in 2000, and later succeeded Michael Eisner as CEO in 2005, after a successful effort by Roy E. Disney to shake up the management of the company. As part of his yearly compensation, Bob earned $44.9 million in 2015. During his tenure, Disney broadened the company’s roster of intellectual properties and its presence in international markets.
He oversaw the acquisitions of Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion, Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.06 billion, Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4 billion, and 21st Century Fox in 2019 for $71.3 billion, as well as the expansion of the company’s theme park resorts in East Asia, with the introduction of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and Shanghai Disney Resort in 2005 and 2016, respectively.
Bob was a driving force behind the reinvigoration of Walt Disney Animation Studios and the branded-release strategy of its film studio’s output. Under Robert, Disney has experienced increases in revenue across its various divisions, with the company’s market capitalization value increasing from $48.4 billion to $257 billion over a period of thirteen years.
In April 2019, Abigail Disney, granddaughter of Walt’s brother Roy, claimed that the increased annual compensation of Disney’s Chief Executive, Bob Iger, “deepened wealth inequality”. He made $65.6 million in 2018 – 1,424 times the median salary of a Disney employee, which included a one-time stock grant for extending his contract to oversee the acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
The Walt Disney Company responded by saying, “Disney has added more than 70,000 jobs during Mr. Bobs’s tenure and has made historic investments to expand the earning potential and upward mobility of our workers,” adding that they had implemented an hourly minimum wage at Disneyland of $15/hour and are spending $150m on an education initiative to provide free college training. Bob announced that he will step down as CEO and Chairman of Disney when his contract expires at the end of 2021.
Robert Iger Education
Iger was raised in Oceanside, where he attended the Fulton Avenue School and graduated from Oceanside High School in 1969. In 1973, Iger graduated magna cum laude from the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Television and Radio.
Robert Iger Age
Iger was born on February 10, 1951 in New York City, New York, United States. He is 68 years old as of 2019.
Robert Iger Family
Bob was born to a Jewish family in New York City. Iger is the son of Mimi (née Tunick) and Arthur L. Iger (b. 1926). His father, Arthur, was a World War II veteran who served as the executive vice president and general manager of the Greenvale Marketing Corporation, and was also a professor of advertising and public relations.
Bob’s mother, Mimi, worked at Boardman Junior High School in Oceanside, New York. His paternal grandfather was cartoonist Jerry Iger’s brother.
Robert Iger Wife
Bob has been married twice. He was first married to Kathleen Susan Iger but they later divorced. They have two daughters.
In 1995, he married journalist Willow Bay in an interfaith Jewish and Roman Catholic service in Bridgehampton, New York. The couple has two children: Robert Maxwell “Max” Iger and William Iger.
Robert Iger Net Worth
Iger has an estimated net worth of $690 million which he has earned from his career as a media executive and businessman.
Robert Iger Salary
In 2018, Iger earned a salary of nearly $2.9 million, up from $2.5 million. He collected options worth $8.3 million and non-equity compensation of $18 million.
Robert Iger Career
Bob started his media career in 1972 as the host of “Campus Probe”, an Ithaca College television show. Iger dreamed of becoming a news anchor while he worked as a weatherman in Ithaca for five months, before shifting his career goals.
American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
In 1974, Robert joined the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). In 1989, he was named head of ABC Entertainment. Bob served as president of the ABC Network Television Group from January 1993 to 1994, and in March 1993 he was appointed as Capital Cities/ABC senior vice president and executive vice president in July 1993. In 1994, he was named president and chief operating officer of ABC’s corporate parent, Capital Cities/ABC.
The Walt Disney Company
In 1996, The Walt Disney Company purchased Capital Cities/ABC and renamed it ABC, Inc., where Bob Iger remained president until 1999.
On February 25, 1999, Disney named Robert Iger the president of Walt Disney International, the business unit that oversees Disney’s international operations, as well as chairman of the ABC Group, removing him from day-to-day authority at ABC. Disney called the change a promotion for Iger.
On January 24, 2000, Disney named Iger the president and chief operating officer (COO), making him Disney’s No. 2 executive under chairman and CEO, Michael Eisner. Disney had been without a separate president since Eisner assumed the role following the departure of Michael Ovitz in 1997, after sixteen months at Disney.
As a result of a successful effort by Roy E. Disney to shake up the management of the company, Disney began a search for the next CEO to replace Eisner. On March 13, 2005, Disney announced that Bob Iger would succeed Michael Eisner as CEO, and Iger was placed in charge of day-to-day operations, though Eisner held the title of CEO until he resigned on September 30, 2005.
One of Iger’s first major decisions as CEO was to reassign Disney’s chief strategic officer, Peter Murphy, and disband the company’s Strategic Planning division. Before Iger being named CEO, board members Stanley Gold and Roy E. Disney began a campaign called “save Disney” against Eisner. In July 2005, Disney and Gold dropped the campaign and agreed to work with Iger.
On January 24, 2006, under Bob Iger’s leadership, Disney announced it would acquire Pixar for $7.4 billion in an all-stock transaction. In the same year, Robert also re-acquired the rights to Walt Disney’s first star, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, from NBCUniversal by releasing sportscaster Al Michaels from ABC Sports to NBC Sports.
Also in 2006, Roy E. Disney issued this statement regarding Iger:
Animation has always been the heart and soul of The Walt Disney Company, and it is wonderful to see Bob Iger and the company embraces that heritage by bringing the outstanding animation talent of the Pixar team back into the fold. This clearly solidifies The Walt Disney Company’s position as the dominant leader in motion picture animation and we applaud and support Bob Iger’s vision.
In July 2018, under Iger’s leadership, Disney and 21st Century Fox shareholders approved a deal to allow Disney to purchase Fox assets. The deal was finalized in March 2019.
In April 2019, it was announced that Bob Iger will depart from his position as CEO and chairman of Disney when his contract expires in 2021.
Robert Iger Trump
Bob Iger co-chaired a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign on August 22, 2016. On December 2, 2016, he was named to President-elect Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum. Iger resigned from Trump’s Advisory Council on June 1, 2017 after Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement.
In 2016, he switched his party registration from Democratic to independent (no party affiliation).
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