So today on the podcast, we begin to work through our monthly set of news stories, in which we look at how the Disney company is changing, and also how it will likely evolve in the near future.

Today, an unusual episode. So six years ago, longtime CEO Bob Eiger retired and passed off the reins to the company to Bob Chapic.

Admittedly, Chapic was not a great executive.

But also he was handed a terrible hand to play, a set of unforeseen circumstances that would

be difficult for anyone to navigate.

Let's call this set of difficult circumstances the Eiger Retirement Curse. Just as Eiger was retiring and Cheypec was coming into power in February

2020, the world was about to move toward a very large set of problems. The following month,

due to the pandemic, all Disney parks closed, the cruise line shut down, and nearly all theaters

worldwide closed their doors. This sent nearly every division of the Disney company into

crisis mode for a pandemic that would reshape

the entertainment industry. Eventually, Bob Chapic was removed as CEO and Bob Eiger was brought

back, hopefully to help redirect the company and then to pick a new successor. Earlier this year, the company announced that Josh DeMorrow would be Iger's next successor and the next CEO.

He was an executive with deep experience in the management of parks, resorts, cruises, and other experiences.

Initially, this looked like it would be a reasonably smooth transition.

Tomorrow's one big week spot, which we've talked about before,

was that he had no meaningful experience with film production,

the TV and cable channels and streaming.

But some of those areas would be supported

by Dana Walden, who was given a new role as the company's president and chief creative

officer. She had experience in TV content creation as well as streaming and talent relations,

which would shore up a lot of the perceived weaknesses

in DeMorrow's skill set.

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