CLASH OF THE TITANS

King of Disneyland

BOB Iger, 73, is a business titan with a pay packet and lifestyle to match.

Estimates of his wealth vary, but it runs at least into the hundreds of millions of dollars. His pay last year alone from Disney was nearly $32million.

He and his second wife, former journalist Willow Bay, have a seven bedroom, nine-bathroom mansion in LA that cost them $19.5million and is now worth $33million. A few years ago, they sold a luxury flat in New York’s Fifth Avenue for $18.75million.

Iger’s gilded life contrasts with his modest upbringing in Oceanside, a small, largely working class town on Long Island.

His father was a navy veteran who suffered from manic depression. As a young man, Iger believed his father was disappointed in life and vowed not to share that fate.

He is a workaholic, rising almost every day at 4.15am to think, read and work out.

Tellingly, one of his heroes is a 98-year-old sushi chef called Jiro Ono, whom he describes as the ‘living embodiment of the Japanese word shokunin, the endless pursuit of perfection’.

Iger began his career doing ‘menial jobs’ at US broadcaster ABC and after a dizzying ascent, became boss of Disney for the first time in 2005. His initial stint as ruler of the Magic Kingdom was hailed as one of the most successful reigns ever in the history of American business.

He presided over a string of deals, including the $7.4billion takeover of Pixar, the animation studio behind Toy Story, and the purchase of Marvel Entertainment for $4billion. In 2012 he outbid Rupert Murdoch for Lucasfilm, the makers of Star Wars. Then, in 2019, he bought most of Murdoch’s 20th Century Fox for $71billion.

Iger embraced streaming, which allows subscribers to watch TV shows or films over the internet, with the launch of Disney+ in 2019.

Having postponed his retirement four times, he actually stepped down in 2020, making way for a hand-picked successor, Bob Chapek.

During his time out, Iger bought a private jet and commissioned a bigger yacht. According to Bloomberg, he toyed with running for president and was said to be ‘open to’ serving Joe Biden, ‘maybe as ambassador to China’.

The Chapek interlude turned out to be brief and unhappy. By late 2022, Iger had made a stunning comeback. Now he has met his potential nemesis in the menacing form of Nelson Peltz.