Iger’s Fire Sale Stream of Consciousness

No one anticipated that Bob Iger was going to go on national television and effectively hang a “For Sale” sign on ABC’s door.
No one anticipated that Bob Iger was going to go on national television and effectively hang a “For Sale” sign on ABC’s door. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Dylan Byers
July 14, 2023

On Thursday morning, at 6 a.m. Mountain Time, I turned on CNBC’s Squawk Box to watch an interview that, for many of the moguls gathered here in Sun Valley, was must-see, appointment television: Bob Iger, fresh off the heels of signing yet another incentive-rich two-year contract extension. Seated outside, against the backdrop of the sunrise-lit Sawtooth Mountains, Iger spoke to David Faber in his characteristically calm and measured tone about this pivotal moment in the history of The Walt Disney Company, and the myriad challenges—“greater than I had anticipated,” Iger said—that the board had once again deemed him alone capable of addressing.