Bob Chapek’s Funny Math on Streaming

Bob Chapek
Disney C.E.O. Bob Chapek. Photo: Gerardo Mora/Getty Images
Julia Alexander
August 16, 2022

It’s been a rocky road for Disney C.E.O. Bob Chapek, but he got a real victory lap moment last week after Disney reported that streaming subscriptions totalled 221.7 million, beating Netflix for the first time, exceeding Wall Street’s expectations, and causing Disney stock to jump nearly 10 percent. That milestone would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Bob Iger, despite his legendary business acumen and M&A masterstrokes, was late to the streaming game, only launching Disney+ in November 2019. Since then, however, Disney+ has grown at a startling rate of 22.1 million subscribers per quarter. That stat is a big reason why Chapek earned a new three-year contract from the Disney board.