Bob Iger Addresses Firing Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter

Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed the firing of Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter. TIME talked to the executive about the move that inspired the ousted task master to seek out a rare public interview about his departure. When the topic of Nelson Peltz’s activist push and trying to get onto the Disney board came up, Iger was quick to disagree that the two were connected. The CEO argues that the redundancy of having multiple presidents at the Marvel division caused the move. Famously, the board member and the current CEO disagreed about some personnel decisions surrounding Marvel Studios years ago. Iger argues that this was a part of tightening the belt overall and sometimes hard choices happen.

“This was a necessary step in the direction of us creating a more efficient company. There was redundancy specific to the way Marvel was being managed,” Iger replied when asked about Perlmutter’s departure. The CEO also said that “this decision would have been made regardless of that,” when the idea of Peltz’s intrusion came into question.

Perlmutter’s Rift With Disney and Marvel Studios Explained

In an interview with CNBC, Iger explained the dustup with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige back in 2015. “Our filings indicate that both Ike and Nelson were working together to try to encourage the board or convince the board to put Nelson on the board,” he explained. “They have a relationship that dates back quite some time. We bought Marvel in 2009. I promised Ike the job that he would continue to run Marvel after that. Not forever, necessarily. But after that.”

Iger continued, “And in 2015 he was intent on firing Kevin Feige who was running Marvel’s studio, the movie making [operation] at the time, and I thought that was a mistake and stepped in to prevent that from happening. I think Kevin is an incredibly, incredibly talented executive that you know, the Marvel track record speaks for itself. And so I moved the moviemaking operation of Marvel out from under Ike into the movie studio under Alan Horn”

CNBC’s David Faber asked the possibility of ill wback then. Iger had a quick answer to that speculation. “You’d have to ask Ike about that. But let’s put it this way. He was not happy about it. And I think that unhappiness exists today,” the CEO said. “And you know, what the link is between that and Nelson, his relationship. I think that’s something that you can speculate about. I won’t.”

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