# Bob Iger **Bob Iger** (b. 1951) was chief executive of The Walt Disney Company twice: 2005–2020, and again from November 2022 until **March 18, 2026**, when parks chief Josh D'Amaro succeeded him. He came up through ABC, which Disney bought in 1996, and his first run was an acquisition machine: Pixar (2006), Marvel (2009), Lucasfilm (2012) and most of [[21st Century Fox]] (2019, $71.3 billion; see [[Disney - 21st Century Fox Deal]]). That last deal made Disney the largest entertainment company in the world and set the terms of the streaming war. ## The culture-war CEO Iger's second term made Disney the right's favorite corporate villain and, at the same time, a case study in how that pressure is applied. - **DeSantis.** Disney's 2022 opposition to Florida's so-called "Don't Say Gay" law, which came under his predecessor and which Iger inherited, led Governor [[Ron DeSantis]] to strip the company of its Reedy Creek self-governing district. The fight became the template for the "woke capital" attack. It ended in a March 2024 settlement. - **The ABC settlement.** In December 2024 [[ABC News]] paid $15 million toward the [[Donald J. Trump Presidential Library]], plus an apology, to settle his defamation suit over George Stephanopoulos's on-air statements. - **Kimmel.** In September 2025, after FCC chair [[Brendan Carr]] threatened ABC affiliates' licenses over [[Jimmy Kimmel]]'s remarks following [[Charlie Kirk]]'s killing, Disney suspended *Jimmy Kimmel Live!*. It restored the show days later. That is the pattern in [[Disney Timeline]]: the right brands Disney "woke" while the FCC and Trump's litigation push it toward compliance. Iger's tenure shows both halves. ## Succession Disney announced D'Amaro as CEO on February 3, 2026, effective at the March 18 shareholder meeting, ending a succession fight that had run since the failed Bob Chapek handoff of 2020. ## Related - [[The Walt Disney Company]] · [[Disney Timeline]] · [[ABC News]] - [[Ron DeSantis]] · [[Jimmy Kimmel]] · [[Brendan Carr]] - [[Disney - 21st Century Fox Deal]] · [[Media Consolidation]]