M.G. Siegler
3 min readAug 2, 2023

Matthew Belloni:

Bob Iger signaled a lot about Disney’s future in that CNBC interview from Sun Valley, including that he’s open to selling linear TV networks and that he’s hunting for a strategic partner for ESPN. What Iger didn’t mention is that he’s enlisted two of his former right-hand men to help in that endeavor. I’m told that Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs have both been engaged individually by Disney to consult with Iger, ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro, and others on the future of the linear properties and how they intersect with Disney’s streaming strategy. Disney and a rep for Mayer and Staggs declined to comment.

This news will no doubt fire up Disney-watchers because Mayer and Staggs were both positioned previously as Iger successors and have been mentioned as possible C.E.O.s when (if?) Iger finally abdicates the Mouse Throne in 2026. Remember, Mayer was an architect of Disney’s big-ticket M&A portfolio and its direct-to-consumer strategy before bolting for TikTok in 2020; Staggs was Iger’s C.F.O., parks chief and C.O.O. before being passed over for the top job and leaving in 2016.

This is big news but not entirely surprising. I sort of guessed this scenario could play out back in November (not as good as my Iger call):

The next question: do they work to bring back Kevin Mayer? But also, why didn’t they go with him in the first place? Acquire Candle Media? And what does Tom Staggs think of any of this?! Seems too messy at this point?

The answer, at least for now, would seemingly be to bring back both of them. Awkward? Maybe? But they’ve been partners outside of Disney now for a while. But would Disney possibly go with co-CEOs to replace Iger? Or would one be CEO and the other President? Of course, they’re not actually back, at least not yet — yes, it’s a bit messy, per Belloni:

It’s also interesting because Candle Media, the Blackstone-backed content roll-up company that Mayer and Staggs launched in 2021 and still run, has been acquiring Disney-friendly content studios, including Moonbug Entertainment, purveyor of YouTube and Netflix kids’ sensation Cocomelon, as well as Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine. Who knows, maybe Iger would even buy Moonbug or all of Candle and bring Mayer and Staggs into the company with it, though Disney doesn’t seem to be in I.P.-acquisition mode these days and Candle’s thesis has come under scrutiny.

It would make sense and be fairly clean to just aquire Candle Media. And Mayer and Staggs have provided some extra rationale in their acquisitions which would seem to fit nicely in the Disney empire — my child, for example, is obsessed with two things: Disney princesses and Cocomelon.

It’s not exactly like Apple acquiring NeXT back in the day to bring back both Steve Jobs and get the software assets that would eventually underpin macOS/iOS (‘NeXTSTEP’ which eventually morphed into ‘OS X’, of course), but it’s not entirely different either. But yes, it’s a hard environment in which to make an acquisition, especially when Disney is trying to offload things left and right. Still… it makes some sense?¹ This may just be some sort of trial run? Co-iCEOs?²

¹ Though another oddity here: why didn’t Iger go with Mayer (or Staggs, for that matter, earlier) back when he chose Chapek (which clearly led to Mayer’s departure)? Just a mistake? Or something else?

² Something else messy: what do Alan Bergman and Dana Walden, the executive co-chairs of Disney, think of this move? They are clearly the current front-runners to step into the CEO role — again, maybe co-CEOs?! — does this signal otherwise? Or is it just a move help bolster such a transition? Or it is really just what it is on the surface: bringing back two old executives to temporarily help right the wayward ship?

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Written by M.G. Siegler

Writer turned investor turned investor who writes. Now writing at: https://spyglass.org

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