Disney’s wildest ride: Iger, Chapek and the making of an epic succession mess

After pushing back his retirement four times, Bob Iger finally made the leap. On Feb. 25, 2020, he announced he would step down as Disney's CEO.?Iger's hand-picked successor, Bob Chapek, took over the day-to-day job of running the company, while Iger would stay on as executive chairman for 22 months.

What followed was a case study in corporate dysfunction and succession gone wrong.

Just two and a half years later, Iger came out of retirement to become Disney's CEO once again. The board had fired Chapek. In July, Iger extended his contract through 2026, the fifth time he has pushed back his departure as CEO.

Chapek has confided to friends that his tenure at Disney was "about three years of hell," defined by one overriding theme: his unrelenting fear that Iger wanted his job back.

Iger, meanwhile, has told peers and colleagues he returned to Disney to correct what he sees as one of the biggest mistakes of his career — choosing Chapek.

CNBC reporter Alex Sherman spoke with more than 25 people who worked closely with Iger and Chapek at Disney between 2020 and 2022. They declined to be named, as the events and conversations were private. Many of the details have never been reported.?

So, what did a private bathroom, Oogie Boogie and a hippo have to do with the behind-the-scenes chaos between Bob Iger and Bob Chapek at Disney?

Here’s the inside story of a CEO succession plan gone awry — a cautionary tale about ego and hubris at the highest levels of corporate America.