Disney is counting on Bob Iger to make hard decisions about its streaming and TV assets – or find someone who will - CNBC

Nov 22, 2022

For nearly three years, Bob Chapek had a plan at Disney: Bob Iger's plan.

"We are all-in [on streaming]," Iger said in April 2019, when he unveiled Disney+, the company's flagship streaming service, which now has more than 164 million subscribers worldwide.

Of course, while Iger said Disney was all-in on streaming, the reality was it wasn't, and it still isn't.

Now, the Disney board has turned to Iger to come up with a new plan — or at least to choose a new leader who has one — over at least the next two years.

Iger's biggest challenge will be choosing which Disney assets should be sold or spun off in the coming years, said Rich Greenfield, an analyst at LightShed partners.

"Bob Iger should sit down this weekend and make a list of the assets he wants Disney to keep and the ones he wants to get rid of," Greenfield said?

If he decides his role is purely a transition CEO, he could focus on finding the next leader of Disney and allow that person to make the big calls in the next two years.

"The old plan can't be the new plan," Greenfield said.

Iger is going to have to make some hard decisions."