Variety: Disney CEO Bob Iger Sells $42.7 Million Worth of Company Stock

Story from Variety:

Bob Iger, chief executive of Disney, cashed out a chunk of his stock options worth $42.7 million, according to a regulatory filing.

Iger sold 372,412 shares of Disney on Nov. 22, with an aggregate market value of $42,667,125.16, according to an SEC filing. Those shares were vested stock options Iger was granted in 2014 that were set to expire in December; he exercised the options under a trading plan adopted last week.

Note that Iger is not pocketing $42.7 million. The options granted in 2014 have an exercise price (aka “strike price”) of $92.24/share, which is the price at which he could buy the shares. Any gain Iger makes on a stock sale would be the difference between the strike price and the share price at the time of a sale (minus taxes).

Disney’s stock closed at $115.65/share Friday, up 0.8%. Year to date, the stock has increased more than 27%. 

Shares of Disney bounced up after the Mouse House on Nov. 14 reported solid earnings for the September quarter, beating Wall Street estimates and boosting the profitability of its streaming business — and also projecting roughly $1 billion in operating profit from Disney+ and Hulu for fiscal 2025. Disney provided financial guidance of high-single digit earnings per share growth for fiscal 2025 — and, unusually, forecast double-digit EPS growth for 2026 and 2027, saying the company is “confident in the long-term prospects for the business and believe we are well positioned for growth.”

Iger, 73, has a contract with Disney that runs through the end of 2026. He had stepped down as CEO in early 2020 and was succeeded by Bob Chapek, formerly head of Disney’s parks division. In November 2022 the board ousted Chapek and brought Iger back on as chief exec.

Last month, Disney said its board expects to announce a CEO successor to Iger in early 2026 and named James Gorman as chairman effective January 2025. Gorman, the former CEO of Morgan Stanley, heads the Disney board’s succession committee.