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It’s no small task to be the CEO of one of the world’s largest entertainment giants. Disney CEO Bob Iger certainly has his work cut out for him. Whether it’s managing new acquisitions like 20th Century Fox, Marvel, or Lucasfilm that have certainly defined a lot of the Disney business model recently, or his work to clean up the mess that the Walt Disney Company found itself in, which lead to the ousting of former Disney CEO Bob Chapek last November. However, when asked about anything to do with Bob Chapek or the person who could then step into his big shoes, Bob Iger has only ever said finding the right successor is a priority for him and that he doesn’t want to talk about Mr. Chapek.
Disney CEOÂ Bob Iger / Credit: CNN
But in the midst of this, an unexpected contender has made her presence known. Cori Borgstadt, an 18-year-old super fan from the suburbs of Phoenix, has thrown a metaphorical hat in the ring.
Borgstadt has become a regular at the Walt Disney Company shareholder meetings and has “attended every annual Disney shareholder confab since 2008,” i.e. she’s been to everyone since she was 3 years old. Borgstadt has asked Iger a question at practically every meeting (she only missed three) and she’s even asked Disney CEO Bob Iger what advice he’d give to a kid who wanted his job.
Per The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Iger responded, “Well, one thing you can do is keep coming to our shareholders’ meeting.”
Cori Borgstadt, 18, at home in Peoria, Arizona / Caitlin O’Hara/The Wall Street Journal
Borgstadt also has strong feelings about what characteristics the person who succeeds Iger and heads the Mouse House should have.
She shares, “If you don’t love the company or care to know about it, then I feel like you’re kind of not going to be effective in your job,” Ms. Borgstadt said, in an interview at her home here in Peoria. “You have to share that same interest, from your shareholders to your fans to the employees.”
Disney characters at Magic Kingdom Park in Walt Disney World Resort / Credit: Disney
Borgstadt makes regular enough appearances that Bob Iger even remembered her when she posed a question to him in Chicago in 2016. (They had a conversation about why Disney doesn’t offer summer camps—Iger says camps might be hard to run as a business.)
WSJ reached out to Mr. Iger, and he shared about fans like Cori Borgstadt, “One of the things that makes Disney unique is the deep connection and passion so many of our individual shareholders have for our company, and that’s certainly true for Cori. We couldn’t be more appreciative to have investors who love Disney as much as she does.”
