Bob Chapek, Disney’s CEO who is under siege, hope you don’t watch too much TV. If he does, he’ll see the legacy of fellow CEOs who seem to be prone to self-destruction – Adam Newman of WeWork, Travis Callahan of Uber, Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, etc. – featured in the busy TV series. Looking back on these shows, one can wonder whether the CEO is extinct as a folk hero.
To be sure, the CEOs portrayed in this cycle of the Streamer series are equally greedy and misleading, though gifted with the hype of “Technospic”. Inside We crashedNewman, starring Jared Leto, re-imagines the workplace as a business that will “improve the consciousness of the world.” Inside Super pumpedKalanik (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has redefined Uber as the “higher form of life.”
The cycle is easy to dismiss, but the headlines tell us that an astonishing number of working CEOs seem to be falling on their swords. Even Chepek, who inherited his Disney gig from Bob Iger, finds himself in a political fire.
After retiring, Igar was announced with a devotional tribute. He was a master of integration who could gain the trust of existentially tough CEOs like Steve Jobs and Marvel’s Ike Pearlmutter. He can avoid traps like the Florida “Don’t Say Gay” law that now embraces Chapek. Even in terms of pay, Igar’s “take” did not draw attention to Tim Cook’s $ 99 million 2021 package or David Jaslav’s $ 246 million compensation bundle recently unveiled by regulators.
Iger’s Legendary Legacy is taking a few hits in a highly reported new book Bing Times, By Dead Hayes and Don Chamilewski, with the subtitle “Inside Hollywood’s Furious Billion Dollar Battle to Take Down Netflix.” Written by a current and former deadline reporter who has studied well in both tech and TV, the book investigates the hits and misses of key players who tried to stay ahead of the whirlwind of change.
According to BingeThe work environment under Eger was fiercely competitive, with Disney executives preparing for one day of promotions, then effectively canceling the latter (exemplified by Tom Stags and Kevin Mayer.) “When I worked there, the culture was like an endless rugby match. Meg Whitman, who was the CEO of Hewlett-Packard and unfortunately a partner of Jeffrey Katzenberg in Quebec.
The book argues that “Disney was able to waste $ 1.6 billion on acquisitions because it chased fads from social gaming to viral video.” Igar contacted Steve Jobs in 2005 and put iPod TV shows and movies in front of the pack, apparently step-by-step with Netflix and Amazon – they were able to launch in 2007. Iger then overturned the licensing show instead of controlling it Rights with the purpose of formulating a streaming strategy. He finally reversed the course again, launching a decade later.
To be sure, Disney was not alone in making a mistake in the competition. Former Time Warner Tsar Jeff Beaux initially slammed Netflix as “a two-hundred-pound chimp, not an eight-hundred-pound gorilla.”
A decade later, another Time Warner regime has made a huge mistake, deciding to put the slate on the HBO Max in 2021 when it will be released in theaters simultaneously. The decision puts a strain on the talent relationship and costs $ 200 million in compensation to cover the loss of talent.
None of this, to be sure, measures up to the color and plot created by the current TV cycle.
Like the series We crashedThe game is like, based on WeWork’s wobbly trajectory Social media Before the crash on the acid, the technology company reached a valuation of 47 billion, but one major investor still complained that its boss was “not crazy enough.” External investment teams in a regular park Super pumpedA Las Vegas bachelor pays āĻĢ 25 million in fees and damages.
Across the board, fundraisers were true believers in their surreal ambitions. Inside Dropout, Amanda Seyfried played the hypnotist Elizabeth Holmes who attracted board directors such as Theranos Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State George Schultz and Rupert Murdoch. Problem: Her blood-testing product didn’t work. He is waiting for punishment.
To be sure, these sociopathic adventurers have in no way invented the corporate rush. They may consult with buy-out barons for strategic background Barbarian at the gate In the 1990s or the imperialist bankers Lehman Trilogy A decade later. Steve Jobs is featured in Danny Boyle’s 2015 film, Steve Jobs, And several other biopics were cruel and inhumane, but he also provided products unlike Holmes or Adam Newman. Hidden “con” talent behind.
Bob Chapek and his brothers aren’t paying much attention to the new corporate crooks, but they probably should. Their work is clearly intensely political and their constituencies have become more complex. They must answer not only to their board or bankers, but also to their customers.
To the Economist, a magazine that protects the free market is an event-like lesson We crashed That is, “the pressures of capitalism embrace the power of self-correction.” In the end, “arrogance is punished.” Meanwhile, it also makes for good television.
