Bob Iger served as the CEO of The Walt Disney Company from 2005 to 2020, when he stepped down from his role with plans to retire. After a rocky road with Iger’s replacement Bob Chapek, not to mention the devastation that came with the global pandemic, Chapek stepped down, and until they find a replacement, Iger is CEO once again. With that being said, let us look at the years Iger was at the helm of The Walt Disney Company and unpack some of the biggest deals he made during his time as CEO.
The Pixar acquisition
The first monumental deal to occur under Iger’s leadership was Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, the now subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios. The deal was struck in 2006, only one year after Iger took the top job at The Walt Disney Company. The Walt Disney Company paid $7.4 billion in stocks to acquire the computer animation studio, which at the time had a total of six feature films under its belt. With the release of Elemental, Pixar will have released 20 feature films under Disney’s banner. It is the second-highest largest acquisition in terms of cost on this list.
The Marvel acquisition
The next monumental acquisition came only a few years later, in 2009. By this time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was only just beginning to form and The Walt Disney Company announced that they would be acquiring Marvel Entertainment. The acquisition was only for $4 billion, which in hindsight seems quite low for the superhero juggernaut that now seemingly reaches $1 billion at the box office every other movie. In fact, the MCU has currently made around $28 billion at the box office and Disney has more than made its investment back. Of course, it is not like Disney just bought Marvel’s film rights, among other things they integrated Marvel heroes into their theme parks.
The Lucasfilm acquisition
In 2012, we saw The Walt Disney Company’s next acquisition breathe new life into the Star Wars franchise when they announced they would be acquiring Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion. The deal made it possible for Disney to make Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens along with more recent projects like the Disney Plus series Andor. The new Indiana Jones film by James Mangold, which will see Harrison Ford don his fedora and whip once again as the titular character, has also been made under the Disney banner.
The 21st Century Fox acquisition
The Walt Disney Company’s biggest acquisition on this list was the acquisition of Fox. Unlike all the other acquisitions which would purchase a single studio or branch of intellectual property, the 21st Century Fox acquisition covers multiple assets including studios, intellectual property, and all of their news channels. The deal cost a staggering $71 billion for The Walt Disney Company, more than all the other deals on this list combined. Disney now owns The Simpsons, Avatar, X-Men, Alien, and Predator, among many other prolific franchises as a result of this deal. The deal was officially completed in 2019.
The Sony Spider-Man deal
This is the only deal on the list that was not an all-out acquisition, but more of a partnership deal between the two film companies. The deal came after Sony threatened to take Spider-Man out of the MCU, as Sony owns the rights to everybody’s favorite web-slinger. The deal, which both parties call a “content licensing agreement,” sees that Disney, and by extension, Marvel, can use Spider-Man in their films. The deal has been altered, and new agreements have been come to over the years multiple times, but it did start in 2015 with an agreement between Sony Pictures and Disney to include Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War. A streaming deal has also been struck as of 2021.
These are some of the biggest deals Iger has made during his time at The Walt Disney Company. There is currently no word on how much longer he will be taking up the position, or who Chapek’s replacement will turn out to be. And just how influential Iger will be during his renewed tenure at Disney is also up for debate. He might close another deal of this caliber, but we will have to wait and see.