Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS), on Monday, renamed Bob Iger as its Chief Executive, replacing Bob Chapek after less than three years in that role. Shares opened nearly 10% up.
Cramer sees it as a positive for Disney
The announcement came as a bit of a surprise; not entirely because Chapek is being replaced, but because Iger is returning – considering he had made it clear earlier this year that he had not intent of returning to Disney.
Much of the reason why Chapek is being replaced was Disney’s performance in its fourth financial quarter, which was, well, “horrible” as Jim Cramer likes to put it.
Naturally, therefore, he’s welcoming the management change. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, Cramer said:
Iger is just a steady hand. I think that’s what the company needs. He can figure out what to do to fix things and then give it up to somebody. So, it’s absolutely good. The story to me is that Iger is back and will do a good job.
Cramer on what Bob Iger has to do
Remember that Bob Iger was approached by the Board to take the helm again; he didn’t ask for it. This is to say that he’s not coming in with a laid-out strategy.
In terms of what “needs” to be done, though, Cramer, who’s Charitable Trust owns Disney stock, said:
I think the most important thing is the balance sheet. It has to be fixed. It used to be an unbelievable balance sheet. They’ve got to reinstate the dividend.
Last week, the outgoing CEO Bob Chapek already announced a hiring freeze and revealed plans of layoffs. For the year, shares of the multinational are still down more than 35%.
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