Peter Rice has one of the longer resumes in the entertainment industry, but when his time at Walt Disney Co. came to an end it was over in seven minutes.
That’s how long it took Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek to fire the 55-year-old head of his TV division on Wednesday in what insiders said was a clash of styles at the world’s largest entertainment company.
The news of Rice’s departure, which came as a surprise to him and many others in Hollywood, underscores the unique culture at Disney, which is heavily reliant on group thinking and collaborative decision-making.
That style has been taken to an even higher degree by Chapek, who has reorganized the company so that major decisions such as whether to produce a new TV show or on which channel to air it, are made not by the chairman of the TV business, but another group of managers in charge of distribution.
Rice’s firing also shows that Chapek, 61, is still firmly in control of the business even in a year that has seen Disney’s share price tumble 33% and the company become a punching bag for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other conservatives because of its opposition to a bill limiting discussion of sexual orientation in schools.
Disney’s chairman, Susan Arnold, put out a statement Thursday, as Rice’s departure was announced, saying Chapek and his leadership team “have the support and confidence of the board.”
Industry Veteran
Rice came to Disney with the acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets. He got his start in the business as a summer intern at Fox’s film division in 1987. That company, headed by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, always had an entrepreneurial style, where managers ran their businesses more or less autonomously.
Rice rose to lead its Fox Searchlight art-house film unit, and ultimately a TV business that included cable networks, Fox broadcasting and National Geographic. His track record included backing hit films and TV shows from Oscar-winner “Slumdog Millionaire” to “Glee” and “This is Us.”
When the $71 billion acquisition by Disney was announced, many in Hollywood speculated that the polished UK native could end up replacing CEO Bob Iger. Instead that job went to Chapek, a three-decade Disney veteran.
In October of 2020, Chapek reorganized the company, putting its formerly standalone TV and film businesses into a new division, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, headed by Kareem Daniel, a Chapek protege.
Rice told people privately he still had authority to approve new shows and was fine with the new structure. Many outside Disney, including former executives and talent agents, said the arrangement rankles the company’s creative executives.
No signs of trouble were apparent last month at Disney’s presentations of shows to advertisers, a ritual known as the upfronts. There Rice joked on stage with Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez, the stars of Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.”
Rice’s portfolio, which includes networks like ABC and the Disney Channel as well as the production of shows for its streaming services, Disney+ and Hulu, now passes to Dana Walden, another Fox alum. Chapek made a point of calling her out as a “collaborative leader” in a note to employees Thursday.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
