Iger saw it as a distribution platform with global reach. In the summer of 2016, Disney came close to buying Twitter. “Instead of toasting what had been a momentous day in my early days as CEO, we cried together over the news,” Iger writes.ģ. Iger didn’t waver on the deal, but the news hit Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, hard on a personal level. Jobs took him on a walk to confide in Iger that his pancreatic cancer had returned and because of that, Jobs wanted to give Iger an eleventh-hour chance to back out of the deal, which made Jobs the single-largest individual shareholder in Disney.

After getting over the board’s squeamishness, Iger got another surprise just 30 minutes before he and Apple and Pixar chief Steve Jobs were to announce the Pixar acquisition from the company’s Emeryville, Calif. “Which was gracious of him,” Iger writes.Ģ. But he notes that Eisner later acknowledged he was wrong. The move offended Iger, and he was none too happy with then-board chairman George Mitchell for letting it happen. Eisner, who had a public battle with Steve Jobs toward the end of his tenure at Disney, had been gone from the company for four months at the time. In January 2006, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner made his case to the Disney board of directors why they should not support Iger’s bid to buy Pixar for $7.4 billion. Here are 10 takeaways of particular interest to industryites from “Ride of a Lifetime”:ġ. “I am certain I’d be less productive and less creative in my work if I didn’t also spend those first hours away from the emails and text messages and phone calls that require so much attention as the day goes on.” “It’s vital to create space in each day to let your thoughts wander beyond your immediate job responsibilities,” Iger writes.

The ride of a lifetime bob iger