(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

 

NEW YORK - Walt Disney’s changing of the guard could use some extra animation. Chairman Bob Iger is due to leave at the end of 2021, but with that deadline just six weeks away, the media giant has yet to name a replacement. Other companies have moved faster and more transparently, and as Disney pursues its streaming-driven strategy, it has good reason to show the board is fully switched on.

The U.S. media giant isn’t known for frequent transitions at the top. Iger was chief executive for 15 years, though extended his stay four times before he finally stepped down in 2020, keeping his role as executive chair on an interim basis. Bob Chapek, the long-time Disney executive who replaced him, is only the company’s seventh CEO in almost a century.

Keeping the CEO on as a chair for a while seems logical, but it’s also atypical. Only 15% of board chairs at companies in the S&P 500 Index hold the “executive” title, and only 4% are chief executives who moved upstairs, according to a Spencer Stuart survey.

Moreover, other companies who have followed the interim CEO-as-chair path have moved faster. Former AT&T chief Randall Stephenson stayed on as chair at the U.S. telecommunications firm, but eight months later, a replacement was announced. Payments giant Mastercard announced a CEO switch the same day Disney did, but by September this year had already named a successor to Ajay Banga, who stayed on as chair.

Both of those firms recruited from within their existing roster of independent directors. Disney will probably do the same. But the Mouse House has only 10 of those to choose from – and five including General Motors’ Mary Barra and Oracle’s Safra Catz, run large listed companies already. It’s not clear why the selection would take nearly two years.

Disney will no doubt name Iger’s replacement soon, and shareholders aren’t openly complaining. But it would have stood to gain from at least matching other firms in comparable changeovers. While the stock has done well under Iger, it has lagged the S&P 500 Index over the last year, suggesting life isn’t getting easier. Transparency and nimbleness are good offense, in case Disney later has to play defense.

 

CONTEXT NEWS

- Walt Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger’s contract ends on Dec. 31, 2021. As of Nov. 19, the U.S. media company’s board had not announced a successor.

- Iger was replaced as chief executive by Bob Chapek in February 2020. Chapek had previously chaired the division that oversees Disney’s theme parks and merchandise.

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

(Editing by John Foley and Amanda Gomez) ((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on SABA/ SIGN UP FOR BREAKINGVIEWS EMAIL ALERTS https://bit.ly/BVsubscribe | jennifer.saba@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: jennifer.saba.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))