Walt Disney shares up as Iger signs extended contract

He had a successful 15 years as CEO at the company from 2005, during which it bought Pixar Studios, Marvel, and Lucasfilms to acquire the Star Wars franchise. Iger returned to Disney in November, retaking the job from Bob Chapek, who was appointed CEO in early 2020. Iger planned to prepare his next successor during his new stint as CEO.

(Video Transcript)

Walt Disney

Walt Disney shares were up late on the platform last night or in sessions after the bell. Walt Disney Group said it will extend CEO Bob Iger’s deal as leader of the company for an extra two years, taking his tenure through 2026. Now, Iger told CNBC in February that he had no intention to stay longer than two years in his post, which would have taken him through 2024.

Bob Iger

Iger had a successful 15 years at the company as CEO from 2005, during which the company expanded in many directions, including the acquisition of Pixar, the $7.4 billion Marvel acquisition for $4 billion, and possibly the most lucrative deal in the purchase of Lucasfilm for $4 billion from George Lucas to acquire the Star Wars multimedia franchise and the Indiana Jones series.

Walt Disney share price

Looking at what's happening with the Walt Disney share price chart, you can see it's been bumping along the bottom. This vertical dotted line is when I came back into the fold. Bob Chapek saw shares rise from the highs we had back in March 2021 to a drop to levels not seen in several years.

And Chapek, who was appointed CEO in early 2020, has seen this pullback in shares. It's to be explained in some part by increased competition within streaming. But his successor came in in November last year. Bob Iger returned to business. Since then, shares really haven't performed that well, but the stock was up more than 1.8% late in the session on the platform as a result of this news that his tenure has been extended by two years.