Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - October 2nd, 2026

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This is Bloomberg Businessweek Daily, reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders stay ahead with insight on the people, companies and trends shaping today's complex economy, plus global business, finance and tech news as it happens. The Bloomberg Businessweek Daily Podcast with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. On Bloomberg Radio.

Carol Massar (0:31)

Hi everyone. Welcome to the weekend edition of Bloomberg Businessweek. It was a week full of artificial intelligence headlines. A lot of things coming at us in that regard. US economic data too. We also kept a watchful eye on geopolitics, most notably of course, about the US war in Iran. That all was at play in the financial markets this week. As for consumers, confidence fell in the month of September to the lowest level since 2014, as views about the economy and the labor market deteriorated.

Tim Stenovec (1:02)

We mentioned AI. It did take center stage for a lot of reasons, including a White House meeting this past week where President Trump hosted Silicon Valley's top AI leaders to chart the future of regulation, power demand and global innovation dominance. All the key stories and deep dive analysis driving the markets this week can be found right now on the Bloomberg terminal and at bloomberg.com.

Carol Massar (1:22)

This hour, we catch up with the individual who has handed the keys to the happiest place on earth, an iconic and storied company and brand right before the world shut down because of the global pandemic. Then led it through streaming wars and political crossfire. And then he was shown the door, fired as CEO nearly three years after taking the top job at the Walt Disney Company.

Tim Stenovec (1:43)

Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek breaks his silence on his tenure at Disney and takes us inside the House of Mouths with his new book Behind the Castle Walls, our deep dive with him in just a moment. Plus, speaking of the COVID shutdown, that was part of the story with Bob Chapek, of course, as you mentioned, Carol.

The pandemic darling Peloton. Remember that one during the pandemic?

Carol Massar (2:05)

I do, big time.

Tim Stenovec (2:06)

Wow. It's working on a comeback by ramping up on treadmills. The company CEO Peter Stern joins us a bit later this hour.

Carol Massar (2:12)

We begin with Bob Chapek, who started at the Walt Disney Company in 1993, spending nearly 30 years there. From director of home video marketing to lead home video, film distribution, consumer products and theme parks, and eventually CEO.

He took over as CEO of Disney in February of 2020, as the world would soon shut down because of COVID. And then Tim, in June 2022, Disney's board unanimously voted to extend his contract for three years.

Tim Stenovec (2:41)

That November, he was out, months after the contract extension and less than three years after being named CEO. Bob Chapek has written about that time and his entire career at Disney. It's all in his new book, out this past week, Behind the Castle Walls, My 30 Years at the Happiest Place on Earth.

Bob Chapek (2:58)

I never imagined in any of my 30 years that I would write a book, let alone a book that, at least the back third of the book, tracking my final three years. I see my achievement as being named the seventh CEO of the Disney company, a huge achievement, but it certainly didn't end the way that I thought it should.

Carol Massar (3:17)

Well, having said that, is it hard to hear ousted, or fired, or let go, next to your name in conjunction with that?

Bob Chapek (3:24)

They're trigger words. Every one of those is trigger words, and I think I've spent the majority of the last four years trying to essentially heal from the impact of those words. But that's part of why I had to write this book. I really remained silent for the first three, four years, and that void was filled with a lot of rhetoric and fiction. So I figured I had to set the record straight.

Tim Stenovec (3:48)

Did you remain silent because you had to because your contract was extended by three years and part of the terms of that were you couldn't tell your story?

Bob Chapek (3:57)

That's partially the reason. Part of it was just good common sense. And the other thing was I didn't want whatever I wrote to be filled with emotion.

I wanted it to be objective and from a distance, and I thought with time comes a bit of distance. So it's a little bit of both.

Tim Stenovec (4:16)

Did it feel like you were able to write this removed from it? Because it does seem like reading this, it seems like this still stings a lot.