Former Disney chief executive Bob Iger repeatedly complained about his pay during his time leading the company, claiming it was “inadequate relative to others in the industry,” according to allegations by his ousted successor.
Bob Chapek, 66, makes the claim about Iger, 75, in his highly anticipated memoir, which is scheduled for publication Tuesday.
The book portrays Iger as preoccupied with status and offers Chapek’s first detailed account of the events surrounding his November 2022 departure from Disney.
Chapek describes his dismissal as the culmination of a “relentless” campaign by Iger to undermine him. Iger returned as Disney’s CEO after Chapek was forced out.
Details of Iger’s $45 million compensation in his final year as CEO emerged earlier this year, when he stepped down, through the company’s latest proxy statement.
The filing showed that Iger received a $1 million base salary, $21 million in stock awards, $14 million in options, $7.2 million in non-equity incentives and $2.5 million in other compensation. That last category included a $568,000 bill for a company-funded private jet.
His compensation was similarly substantial in previous years: $41.1 million in 2024, $31.6 million in 2023, $47.5 million in 2019 and $65.6 million in 2018, according to SEC filings.
Despite those figures, Chapek says Iger believed he was being paid too little compared with his peers.
Former Disney chief Bob Iger allegedly spent his CEO tenures complaining about his compensation because he viewed it as inadequate compared with pay elsewhere in the industry, according to his short-lived successor’s forthcoming memoir
Bob Chapek, 66, makes the claim about Iger, 75, in his highly anticipated memoir, “Behind the Castle Walls: My Thirty Years at the Happiest Place on Earth”
Former CBS chief executive Les Moonves’s compensation reportedly irritated Iger in particular. Moonves earned nearly $70 million in both 2016 and 2017, unnamed Disney executives previously told Puck.
Matthew Belloni, founder of the publication, wrote in his “What I’m Hearing” newsletter that Iger objected to Moonves earning more while “managing fewer assets.”
In what became his last full year running The Walt Disney Company, Chapek earned $24.2 million in 2022 and received a $20.4 million severance package.
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Proxy filings showed Chapek had been paid $32 million in 2021, while Iger, then Disney’s executive chairman, received $46 million. Iger retired for the first time at the end of that year.
Chapek’s memoir focuses largely on the three years that followed. According to the author, Iger acted manipulatively and in his own interests as he sought to maintain his status at Disney before reclaiming the top job.
“I didn’t get a chance to finish what I started,” Chapek wrote. “In truth, it pisses me off.”
At the time of Chapek’s abrupt 2022 dismissal, Disney said only that it had “exercised its right to terminate” his contract. He was fired “without cause” after spending three decades with the company.
In the months leading up to his removal, reports indicated that Chapek believed Iger was undermining him during his retirement.
Former CBS chief executive Les Moonves’s annual compensation—nearly $70 million in 2016 and 2017—was reportedly a particular source of frustration for Iger, according to Puck
Iger’s $45 million compensation in his final year as CEO was disclosed earlier this year when he stepped down in the company’s latest proxy statement. He is pictured with Owen Wilson at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles last week
In ‘Behind the Castle Walls: My Thirty Years at the Happiest Place on Earth,’ Chapek claims that Iger, frustrated with Chapek’s leadership, engaged in a smear campaign against his old protege, telling power brokers and staffers still loyal to him in the Disney ranks to shut him out.
At the time, Chapek was receiving heat for the low early profitability of Disney+, the failed Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel, and a political fight against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that led to Disney losing control over its special taxing district.
Iger played ‘an intentional and preconceived role in abruptly ending my ride as Disney CEO,’ Chapek maintains in the book.
Another portion claims that ‘several high-ranking people both in government and private business’ told him that Iger’s initial retirement, ‘in their opinions, stemmed from ‘his anticipation of the arrival of Covid.’
Disney has denied that the pandemic had anything to do with Iger’s decision to retire.
He’s set to retire again at the end of this year, after stepping into an advisory role in February following the appointment of his second-ever successor, former Chairman of Disney Experiences, Josh D’Amaro.
