New lawsuit against former Disney CEO Bob Chapek and others

Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek and other top executives are named in a new lawsuit. Here are the details about how their alleged misleadings.

Chapek Leaves The Walt Disney Company

When Bob Iger retired in February 2020, Bob Chapek took his place as CEO of The Walt Disney Company. He took charge right before the parks closed in March 2020.

Chapek has been in charge for over two years, overseeing the parks, entertainment, and more. During this time, many guests and Cast Members questioned the direction in which he led the Walt Disney Company. 

After recently renewing Chapek’s contract to end in 2025, the Disney Board replaced Bob Chapek as CEO in November 2022 with his predecessor Bob Iger for two years. Discrepancies in Chapek’s budget led to his quick exit. You can check out full details HERE.

New lawsuit

Just because Chapek has been gone for 6 months does not mean his troubles are over. In fact, they are just beginning with this new lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that Chapek, along with executives Christine McCarthy (yes, the lady who said some people cannot afford Genie+ and cutting portion sizes would be good for Guests’ waistlines) and Karem Daniel, misled investors regarding Disney+. In particular, they “repeatedly misled investors about the success of the Disney+ platform by concealing the true costs of the platform, concealing the expense and difficulty of maintaining robust Disney+ subscriber growth, and claiming that the platform was on track to achieve profitability” by the end of fiscal year 2024, the complaint says.

Chapek’s reorganization “represented a dramatic departure from Disney’s historical reporting structure” and caused controversy within the company because it redirected power and control from creative content executives to Chapek’s lieutenant Kareem Daniel, the pension fund alleges.

Christine McCarthy is the current Chief Financial Officer for The Walt Disney Company. However, Daniel was let go shortly after Iger returned.

The lawsuit was filed May 12 in the US District Court for the Central District of California by a pension fund. The pension fund seeks damages and injunctive relief on its securities fraud claims.

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