By Michelle Chapman, Business Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Morgan Stanley Executive Chairman James Gorman will lead Disney’s search for a successor to Bob Iger, two years after the company’s longtime leader came out of retirement following a rocky transition to his hand-picked replacement.
Iger returned in 2022 after a period of clashes, missteps and a weakening financial performance at Disney under his chosen successor, Bob Chapek.
Iger was Disney’s public face for 15 years, compiling a string of victories lauded in the entertainment industry and by Disney fans, before he retired in 2020.
On his return, Iger initially agreed to a two year contract in order to redirect Disney’s trajectory and help find a new chief executive. But in July 2023 Iger agreed to a two-year contract extension that will keep him at Disney through the end of 2026.
There have been some notable successes under Iger since his return, including the first profit for the Disney’s streaming service. Yet Disney has struggled to bring stability back to its parks division. The company cautioned this month that it has seen some moderation in demand at its Experiences division that includes six global theme parks, and that the trend may linger for the next few quarters.
Gorman, who joined Disney’s board earlier this year, has previous succession planning experience, as he oversaw the process at Morgan Stanley. Gorman currently serves as Morgan Stanley’s executive chairman after several years as its chairman and CEO.
“James is a highly respected leader, and we’ve asked him to serve as the new chair of the succession planning committee given his deep succession planning experience and long-term strategic mentality,” Disney Chairman Mark Parker, who most recently served as the committee’s chair, said in a statement.
Aside from Gorman and Parker, board members Mary Barra and Calvin McDonald will continue to serve on the succession planning committee.
Disney, which formed the succession planning committee in January 2023, said that the committee has met six times so far in fiscal 2024. The committee, along with the company’s board, are considering internal and external candidates. Disney said that internal candidates are going through a preparation process that includes mentorship from Iger, external coaching, and engagement with all board members.
Review: Director Anand Tucker’s “The Critic” Starring Ian McKellen
The arts rarely have anything good to say about critics. That they're not generally the hero of many stories is, at the very least, understandable. More often they're portrayed as joyless, cruel and a little pathetic; themselves failed artists who live to take down others, or, worse, sycophants in search of a famous friend.
Without getting into any sort of philosophical, or even factual debate about the nature of the kind of person drawn to criticism (besides perhaps a staunch antipathy to either job security or amassing wealth), it is safe to say that the drama critic of "The Critic" takes all the worst stereotypes to hysterical heights.
Set in the 1930s in London, Ian McKellen is Jimmy Erskine, a veteran theater critic whose reviews can make or break a play or a performer. He has a monastic devotion to telling the truth, as entertainingly as he can, and knows what he must sacrifice to do so.
"The drama critic is feared and reviled for the judgement he must bring," McKellen says in an ominous voiceover. "(He) must be cold and perfectly alone."
When one woman dares to chat him up after a play, offering her take on the material and performances, he swiftly tries to have her removed from the restaurant claiming he must be protected from the general public. When an actress, Nina Land (Gemma Arterton), confronts him about his wildly inconsistent criticisms of her (how can she be both plump and emaciated, she wonders), he refuses to apologize. And he scoffs when the new boss at the newspaper, David Brooke (Mark Strong), implores him to tone it down: "Be kinder," he says. "More beauty, less beast."
But what starts as satire spirals into a wildly messy tragedy with contrivance upon contrivance. This is a film that could have listened to... Read More