We’re products of our friendships.
And Steve Jobs (SJ) is no exception.
Sure, yeah - he did the whole “Apple” thing.
But we’re here to talk about Disney. And Bob Iger (BI) - his friend.
The year is 2005.
And BI is Disney’s new CEO after a decade of mixed movie reviews.
Which brings him to a boardroom.
To talk about his iPod and Disney’s collective future with Pixar.
It's a touchy subject considering Disney's previous CEO botched the whole Disney-Pixar partnership (Jobs didn’t like the guy).
But BI is determined.
He needs Pixar for its content. And because our-recent-content-sucks.*
So he makes a pitch about movies on iPods and calls it “iTV.”
Yes - a cold call.
To Steve Jobs.
And yeah - the future of animation is something Steve Jobs’ been working towards too.
He flies to BI’s boardroom with an early version of the iPod Video. No NDA (gasp).
It’s important.
Because -
BI doesn’t run Disney like a normal corporation. And neither does SJ.
That’s them.
In the picture above. Making Disney the first digital content available on iTunes.
So yeah, they’re fast friends. And fast business partners.
Which brings us to SJ. His cancer. And a Disney-Pixar acquisition. (BFD!!! - that BI convinced both SJ and the Disney board to approve the $7B deal). Months after meeting!!!!
That’s because -
Boards don’t like risk.
And Jobs doesn’t like boards.
But hey!!!
He likes his friend.
Bob Iger.
The first guy to know about SJ’s cancer (aside from Laurene - his wife - and docs).
So yeah. Emotions, baby! They’re business critical too.
Which brings us to Part Two:
And Mr. Steve-Apple-Pixar...
-Disney.
Now its largest shareholder and board member. Okay.
Disney’s go-to-market.
It has a lot to do with Mr. Steve-A-P-D’s friendship.
They do everything together. Vacations. Beach walks. Playlists. You name it.
But most importantly. They bounce big ideas.
The year is 2009.
And BI wants to buy Marvel.
SJ doesn’t give a s*** about comics.
But he’s friends with the Marvel CEO. And the Marvel CEO is a super private guy. Who doesn’t meet just anybody.
Including the CEO of Disney.
Who’s like Hi I’m Bob Iger. And I have a content problem.
And the Disney board? They have a problem with me.
They don’t want Marvel.
It’s “too” saturated.
Sony owns Spider-Man. Universal owns The Incredible Hulk.
And BI wants the rest.
The entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Somewhere between 5,000 and 8,000 characters. IP, baby!*
So SJ makes an intro.
And Disney buys Marvel. (Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s CEO, attributes the sell to Steve’s call).
It’s a big win.
That brings us to a big loss.
Steve Jobs’ death.
On October 5, 2011.
The two men shared wins. Vision. Risk. And now. They share loss.
Bob is devastated. His success is an extension of their friendship.
At the funeral, Laurene pulls Bob aside. She needs him to know.
That Steve told her he “loved the guy.” After a convo (or debate) about whether or not the family could trust Bob with the news about Steve’s cancer.
So take one from Bob Iger. And find your people. You are who you hang out with!
And that’s the skinny.
Disney was in the dumps when Bob Iger took over!!! In the nineties, nobody made content like Disney (Cinderella, The Lion King, Belle). Then Pixar introduced CGI and raised the bar with hits like Toy Story. The two companies had an agreement - Pixar made content that Disney coproduced. But ego got in the way and severed the relationship between Michael Eisner (Iger’s predecessor) and SJ. It was very public and very ugly. Nobody thought Bob could fix it. Plus - the Disney board didn’t really want Pixar Animation. But hey, buying Pixar made Disney Animation great again. (With hits like Ratatouille, Cars, and Up).
Buy great content! And let them do their thing. Before Disney, Marvel wasn’t managed as a brand. Sure. We had Spiderman. We had X-Men. What we didn’t have was any real character vision. Now - Marvel characters make appearances in each other’s movies!!!!! It’s so cool. Think - Iron Man. The Avengers. Shield!
Excellent! This is my favorite.