Bob Chapek says he shouldn't have taken the Disney CEO job — and has some advice for Josh D'Amaro

Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek (left) supports current boss Josh D'Amaro (middle) but takes aim at Bob Iger (right). Steven Ferdman/Getty Images; The Walt Disney Company/The Associated Press; Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Bob Chapek says he shouldn't have taken the Disney CEO job and that he "fell victim" to a plot by Bob Iger. Chapek backs current top exec Josh D'Amaro, saying his promotion was "appropriate." Chapek offered D'Amaro advice, including avoiding the culture wars. Bob Chapek says if he could go back in time, he'd have a simple answer to being offered the role of Disney CEO: "No." Chapek's short, turbulent time in the top job was marked by his clash with Bob Iger, his predecessor-turned-successor. Chapek said he felt like he'd been left with a "tattoo of a legacy" of Iger, who was Disney's top exec from 2005 until Chapek took over in February 2020, and served again from November 2022 to March of this year. "I feel that's tremendously unfair, not only given the circumstances upon which I took the job, but the fact that the board had a very quick trigger — and frankly, sided with a guy who wanted his job back," Chapek said in an interview with Business Insider. Nearly four years after Chapek's firing, he has set out to rehabilitate his reputation with a new book detailing his rise inside the Mouse House and his dramatic departure from Disney. The book's rollout has involved a whole lot of Iger bashing and far less soul-searching from Chapek. Under Chapek, Disney had PR stumbles, including fights with star actor Scarlett Johansson and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Wall Street was initially pleased with Chapek, and the stock more than doubled in less than a year, soaring from its pandemic low of $79 to $197 in March 2021. Disney+ grew to over 150 million subscribers in under three years. Riding high, Chapek set an ambitious goal: 230 million to 260 million subscribers by the end of 2024. Shares tumbled back to pandemic lows, however, after Disney's streaming business lost nearly $1.5 billion in a single quarter. In late 2022, Disney's board dismissed Chapek and reinstated Iger as CEO. Chapek's take: He "fell victim" to a plot by his former boss to undermine him from the start. Representatives for Disney, where Iger is a board member, didn't respond to requests for comment. Iger hasn't publicly responded to Chapek's recent criticisms, though he said in a Harvard Business Review interview published last week that when Disney chose Chapek as his successor, the search "wasn't as thorough as we thought." Disney "thought we knew the person extremely well," Iger said, adding that leadership "needs to be capable of managing an environment in perpetual crisis." Iger has previously referred to Disney's Chapek era as "a period of considerable challenges and disruption." Chapek had kind words for current Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro, who took over in March, saying he "was appropriate to be promoted to CEO." Chapek then quickly noted that he's promoted D'Amaro "myself about a half dozen times." Like Chapek, D'Amaro ran Disney's lucrative Experiences division before taking the top job. Chapek didn't opine on Disney's waves of layoffs — three so far under D'Amaro — other than to say that "it's interesting that all these tough calls are being made after Bob left," referring to Iger. D'Amaro must "develop a healthy, vibrant, long-term growth vehicle" to jump-start Disney's stock, Chapek said, though he didn't get into specifics on what that could be. "If you don't have a long-term commitment to a growth vehicle, then you're going to have a bunch of mature businesses that aren't growing, and the stock's going to become stuck," Chapek said. Disney shares have lagged US stocks broadly, rising about 13% in the last 10 years while the S&P 500 has soared 255%. Disney has driven revenue growth by regularly hiking prices for its parks and streaming services. The price of Disney+ has now risen for six straight years. Chapek attributed that to increased content production costs and said the streamer was initially underpriced. "When Disney+ came out, it was offered at a very, very low introductory price," Chapek said. "It was a price that was not sustainable for the long term." Other major streamers have also consistently raised prices. Chapek says political advocacy is 'where the danger starts' Chapek's top piece of advice for D'Amaro was to avoid cultural land mines. "Disney has to be very careful in picking something that takes a side," Chapek said, adding that "the danger starts" when Disney gets into advocacy or aligns itself with political groups. Chapek said he saw this danger firsthand after Disney initially didn't speak out against Florida's so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill, and drew criticism from progressives and Iger himself. Disney then reversed course, apologizing for its earlier statement and offering $5 million to LGBTQ+ advocacy groups — angering some conservatives who decried Disney as "woke." At the time, Chapek said Dis