Seven Indians feature in BBC 100 Women 2015 list

New York, Feb 26: Disney CEO Bob Iger, who steered the company’s absorption of Star Wars, Pixar, Marvel and Fox’s entertainment businesses and the launch of a Netflix challenger, is stepping down immediately, the company said in a surprise announcement Tuesday.

The Walt Disney Co. named as his replacement Bob Chapek, most recently chairman of Disney’s parks, experiences and products business.

“Did not see this coming -- Wowza,” tweeted LightShed media analyst Rich Greenfield.

Iger will remain executive chairman through the end of his contract on Dec. 31, 2021. Besides leading the board, Iger said he will spend more time on Disney’s creative endeavors, including the ESPN sports network, the newly acquired Fox studios and the Hulu and Disney Plus streaming services. He said he could not do that while running Disney on a day-to-day basis.

“It was not accelerated for any particular reason other than I felt the need was now to make this change,” Iger said on a conference call with reporters and analysts.

Iger steered Disney through the successful purchases of Lucasfilms, Marvel, Pixar and other brands that became big moneymakers for Disney. Last year, the top five movies in U.S. and Canada theaters were all Disney movies, including two from Marvel and one from Pixar. With the Dec. 20 release of the latest “Star Wars” movie, Disney had seven movies that each sold at least $1 billion in tickets worldwide last year.

Iger’s most recent coup was orchestrating a $71 billion purchase of Fox’s entertainment business in March and launching the Disney Plus streaming service in November. That service got nearly 29 million paid subscribers in less than three months. In a statement, Iger said it was the “optimal time” for a transition.

Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak said Iger had implied he would stay until his contract ended in 2021.

“On the other hand, they just successfully closed the Fox deal and had an unquestionably successful launch of Disney Plus so maybe he felt earlier was better to hand off the reins,” he said.

Colin Gillis, director of research at Chatham Road Partners, said the choice of Chapek seems solid because his parks division has had success.

Chapek said that while he has not led television networks or streaming services, his background in consumer-oriented businesses should help. Chapek and Iger both stressed that Disney would continue on the direction it had already been taking.

Disney is facing challenges to its traditional media business as cord-cutting picks up, meaning less fees from cable and satellite companies to carry Disney networks such as ABC, ESPN and Freeform. Disney’s own streaming services require the company to forgo money in licensing revenue, although the company is betting that money from subscriptions will eventually make up for that.

In the short term, Disney parks in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China, remain closed because of the coronavirus outbreak. In a CNBC interview, Chapek said the outbreak may be a “bump in the road,” but he said the company could weather it given “affinity for the brand.”

Iger told CNBC he had no plans to stay with Disney beyond next year.

Iger’s appointment as CEO in 2005 had been accompanied by controversy and protest from dissident shareholders Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold. But he has come to be seen as a golden-boy top executive, and even someone who could run for president.

Iger told Vogue in 2018 that he had started seriously exploring a run for president because he is “horrified at the state of politics in America today,” but the Fox deal stopped his plans. Oprah Winfrey told Vogue that she “really, really pushed him to run.”

Iger, a former weatherman, joined ABC in 1974, 22 years before Disney bought the network.

At ABC, Iger developed such successful programs as “Home Improvement,” “The Drew Carey Show,” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and was instrumental in launching the quiz show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” He was also criticized for cancelling well-regarded but expensive shows such as “Twin Peaks” and “thirtysomething.”

Since Iger became CEO, Disney’s stock price has risen fivefold. Its stock fell more than 2% in extended trading following the announcement, on top of a broader market selloff on virus fears during regular trading.

Iger, 69, was the second-highest paid CEO in 2018, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm. He earned $65.6 million. The top earner was Discovery’s David Zaslav who earned $129.5 million.

Susan Arnold, the independent lead director of the Disney board, said succession planning had been ongoing for several years.

Chapek, 60, is only the seventh CEO in Disney history. Chapek was head of the parks, experiences and products division since it was created in 2018. He was previously head of parks and resorts and before that president of consumer products.

Jul 6: Tony Award-nominated actor Nick Cordero, who specialized in playing tough guys on Broadway in such shows as Waitress, A Bronx Tale and Bullets Over Broadway, has died in Los Angeles after suffering severe medical complications after contracting the coronavirus. He was 41.

Cordero died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai hospital after more than 90 days in the hospital, according to his wife Amanda Kloots. “God has another angel in heaven now,” she posted on Instagram. “Nick was such a bright light. He was everyone’s friend, loved to listen, help and especially talk. He was an incredible actor and musician. He loved his family and loved being a father and husband.”

Nick Cordero entered the emergency room on March 30 and had a succession of health setbacks, including mini-strokes, blood clots, septis infections, a tracheostomy and a temporary pacemaker implanted. He had been on a ventilator and unconscious and had his right leg amputated. A double lung transplant was being explored.

Kloots, sent him daily videos of her and their 1-year-old son Elvis, so he could see them if he woke up, and urged friends and fans to join a daily sing-a-long. A GoFundMe page to pay for medical expenses has raised over $600,000.

“I tell him, I say, ‘You’re gonna walk out of this hospital, honey. I believe it. I know you can,’” she told “CBS This Morning” over the summer. ”‘We’re gonna dance again. You’re gonna hold your son again.’ My line is, ‘Don’t get lost. Get focused.’”

The lanky Cordero originated the menacing role of husband Earl opposite his estranged wife, played by Jessie Mueller, in Waitress as well as the role of Sonny in Chazz Palminteri’s A Bronx Tale. It was at Bullets Over Broadway where Cordero met his wife. The two married in 2017.

Cast members from “Waitress” — Jessie Mueller, Keala Settle, Kimik Glenn and songwriter Sara Bareilles — helped raise money for Cordero by covering his song “Live Your Life.” Sylvester Stallone sent a video with best wishes.

Kloots had said that it was difficult to tell whether Cordero understood what happened to him, but said he could respond to commands by looking up and down when he was alert.

Her husband played a mob soldier with a flare for the dramatic in Broadway’s Woody Allen 1994 film adaptation of Bullets Over Broadway, for which he received a Tony nomination for best-featured actor in a musical. He moved to Los Angeles to star in Rock of Ages.

On the small screen, Nick Cordero appeared in several episodes of Blue Bloods and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and he had a role in the film Going in Style.

Actor and guitarist for Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Van Zandt offered Cordero his first TV acting gig in the final episode of Lilyhammer. After he was hospitalized, Van Zandt teamed up with Constantine Maroulis and Vincent Pastore to make a video performing “Live Your Life.”

Cordero was last onstage in a Kennedy Center presentation of Littler Shop of Horrors. His off-Broadway credits include The Toxic Avenger and Brooklynite.

The coronavirus has sickened other Broadway veterans, including the actors Danny Burstein, Tony Shalhoub, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Gavin Creel, Aaron Tveit and Laura Bell Bundy as well as composer David Bryan. It has also claimed the life of Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally.

A gang has been spreading rumours about me in the Hindi film industry that is preventing him from getting work, says Academy award-winning music director A R Rahman.

Collaborations between him and the Hindi film industry have reduced as a result, he adds

The maestro had composed music for Sushant Singh Rajput's Dil Bechara said that the reason he is not doing a lot of work is that a gang has been spreading rumours about him which resulted in him getting fewer projects.

Rahman's comments come amidst a raging insider versus outsider debate in Bollywood following actor Sushant Singh Rajput's untimely demise last month.

During an interview with Radio Mirchi, the Oscar-winning music director was asked the reason for doing less Hindi films.

Rahman said there has been "misunderstanding" between him and filmmakers as some people have been spreading "false rumours" about him in the industry.

"See, I don’t say no to good movies, but I think there is a gang, which, due to misunderstandings, is spreading some false rumours. So when Mukesh Chhabra came to me, I gave him four songs in two days. He said, 'Sir, how many people said don’t go, don’t go (to him). They told me stories after stories'," he said.

"I heard that, and I said, 'yeah okay, now I understand why I am doing less (work) and why the good movies are not coming to me.' I am doing dark movies, because there is a whole gang working against me, without them knowing that they are doing harm," the composer added.

Rahman has composed the music for Rajput's last movie "Dil Bechara", which premiered on Disney+ Hotstar on Friday. The film, directed by Mukesh Chhabra, also features Sanjana Sanghi and Saif Ali Khan.

The composer further said that he is aware of people's expectations from him but the "gang" is getting in his way.

"People are expecting me to do stuff, but there is another gang of people preventing that from happening. It is fine because I believe in destiny. I believe that everything comes from God.

"So, I am taking my own movies and doing my other stuff. But all of you are welcome to come to me. You make beautiful movies, and you are welcome to come to me," Rahman added.

Dubbed ‘Mozart of Madras’, A R Rahman has composed soundtracks for movies like Swades, Dil Se, Guru, Rockstar and more recently Sushant Singh Rajput’s Dil Bechara. 

The composer won two Academy Awards in 2009 for his songs in the popular Hollywood movie, Slumdog Millionaire. The composer also received a Golden Globes Award for his work in this movie.