For Iger the best success is The Walt Disney Company.In 1996, The Walt Disney Company purchased Capital Cities/ABC and renamed it ABC, Inc., where Iger remained President until 1999.On February 25, 1999, Disney named Iger the President of Walt Disney International, the business unit that oversees Disney's international operations, as well as Chairman of the ABC Group. Disney called the change a promotion for Iger; however, the company's insistence was initially viewed with skepticism, as some thought Iger was being removed from day-to-day authority at ABC, since ABC had been struggling.Iger was named President of Disney in 2000, and later succeeded Michael Eisner as the CEO in 2005, after a successful effort by Roy E. Disney to shake up the management of the company.
Disney named Iger the President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) on January 24, 2000, making him Disney's #2 executive under Chairman and CEO, Michael Eisner. Disney had been without a separate president since Eisner assumed the role following the departure of Michael Ovitz in 1997, after sixteen months at Disney.[35]
On March 13, 2005, Disney announced that Bob Iger would succeed Michael Eisner as CEO. On March 26, Iger reassigned Peter Murphy, Disney's Chief Strategic Officer, and pledged to disband the company's Strategic Planning division. Iger also vowed to restore much of the decision-making authority that the division had assumed to the company's individual business units.
Disney reconciled with former board members Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold, who in July 2005 dropped their "Save Disney" campaign and agreed to work with Iger. In the process, Roy E. Disney was named a Director Emeritus and Consultant.