Disney CEO Opens Up About His Decision to Fire Ike Perlmutter

A few weeks ago, we learned that Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter was fired from Disney as part of the company's layoffs and plan to restructure to fold the division's operations into the Disney proper. The news was talked about by many fans due to the controversial decisions that he made in the past several years.

In case you forgot, during the earlier years of Marvel under Disney's ownership, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and Perlmutter have several creative disagreements over the direction of the MCU and the characters that he wants to use in the franchise. As a result, Iger stopped Perlmutter's involvement by having Feige report to Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn instead.

Earlier this year, reports also revealed that Perlmutter supported activist shareholder Nelson Peltz's bid to join the board at Disney during his proxy war with the company. There are speculations that this might have factored into the former Marvel CEO's firing.

In an interview with TIME, Disney CEO Bob Iger was asked about his decision regarding the firing of Perlmutter and the way he handled his layoff. He contended that his exit was a "necessary step" for the direction of the company.

"There are times I handle it personally and there are times that I don’t. I’d rather not get into details about this one. This was a necessary step in the direction of us creating a more efficient company. There was redundancy specific to the way Marvel was being managed," he explained.

When asked whether Perlmutter's support for Peltz factored into the decision, Iger simply said, "This decision would have been made regardless of that."

Based on his response, it sounds like Perlmutter's firing was inevitable and now is a perfect time as Disney is currently restructuring and laying off thousands of employees as a result of the company's recent financial situation that requires them to do a cutback.

Now, it is interesting to see what the results will look like in the aftermath of the latest moves that Iger is doing at the company and how it will change Marvel Entertainment's operations.

Also Read: James Gunn Recalls His Traumatic Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Firing