Chapek Turns to Private Equity After Disney Ouster

Four years after being ousted as Disney's CEO, Bob Chapek is building a new career in private equity. He's advising several startups and real estate firms, and has been nominated for a board seat at Vail Resorts MTN by an activist shareholder. Chapek told Bloomberg that he's open to raising a private equity fund to acquire new companies.

Chapek described the private equity industry as 'wholly owned or majority owned by one company,' which means there's less politics involved compared to managing big boards and companies. This is a departure from his experience at Disney, where he was CEO for 15 years before being replaced by Bob Iger.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Chapek blamed Iger for his ouster, citing that Iger may have known about the looming Covid-19 crisis as early as November 2019. This could have hastened Iger's decision to step down as CEO after 15 years under Chapek.

Chapek said that Disney's share price reached a record high under his leadership, but fell sharply after the company disclosed disappointing earnings and larger-than-expected losses in the streaming division. However, he noted that the unit that includes the Disney+ streaming platform eventually turned a profit in the exact quarter that Disney had forecast it would when Chapek was running the company.

Chapek has divested almost all his Disney stock, with the company's shares up 15.6% since he left compared to a 95% gain in the S&P 500 Index.