The extraordinary inside story of the battle for control of Disney – a tale of power, out-of-control egos and corporate blood sport.

THE TALE DISNEY NEVER WANTED TOLD

Over fifteen years as CEO, Bob Iger transformed Disney into the world’s most powerful entertainment empire. Through a series of bold, high-stakes acquisitions – including Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox – he reshaped not only Disney, but the global entertainment industry.

But the long-reigning monarch struggled to relinquish control of the palace.

When Iger finally handed the CEO crown to his chosen successor, Bob Chapek, what followed was an extraordinary struggle for power. A dramatic coup ousted Chapek and returned Iger to the throne, exposing the strengths, vulnerabilities and dysfunction at the heart of one of the world’s most famous companies.

What happens when one man becomes so inseparable from a company that he comes to believe only he can run it?

Drawing on hundreds of exclusive interviews and thousands of pages of documentary evidence, veteran Wall Street Journal business reporter Robbie Whelan takes readers inside the decades-long, Machiavellian power struggle that brought Disney to the brink.

A front-row seat to the battle for the soul – and control – of a global entertainment juggernaut, The House of Mouse is the gripping inside story of Bob Iger, Disney and a succession war like no other.

‘Sure to become a classic of corporate non-fiction... Richly reported, sharply observed and full of astonishing scenes’
McKay Coppins, author of Romney: A Reckoning

‘We’ll be talking about Bob Iger, and this book, for a very long time’
Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store

‘A richly reported, delightfully gossipy study of the complicated man behind the public performance... one of the great American business stories’
Bethany McLean, co-author of The Smartest Guys in the Room

‘A portrait of a man who came to see a uniquely American entertainment behemoth as inseparable from himself, and who struggled to find a successor he wouldn’t want to destroy’
Jeff Horwitz, author of Broken Code

© Robbie Whelan 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026