Marvel Entertainment Chairman Isaac Perlmutter is Marvel Entertainment's Chairman no more. The New York Times reveals that the 80-year-old executive was notified by phone on Wednesday that the division - which primarily focuses on consumer products these days - is now redundant and will be folded into Disney's larger business units.
Ironically, this comes as part of the House of Mouse's attempts to cut costs. On Monday, over 7000 jobs were eliminated in an effort to save as much as $5.5 billion.
Perlmutter was known for being incredibly frugal, with tales of his suggestion to serve potato chips at a film premiere to save catering costs the stuff of legend in Hollywood. He's also alleged to have said no one would notice when Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard as War Machine in Iron Man 2 and once attempted to fire Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige.
In 2015, Marvel Studios was finally allowed to break free of Marvel Entertainment, giving Feige autonomy over the projects they produced. It also meant they no longer had to bow to the whims of a Creative Committee formed by Perlmutter.
You may also recall that he was the executive who spearheaded campaigns such as the one which saw Marvel Comics sideline the X-Men and Fantastic Four in preference of the Inhumans.
Disney has laid off Rob Steffens, co-president of Marvel Entertainment, and John Turitzin, chief counsel for the division. Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Entertainment, will now report solely to Feige.
As for the impact his departure will have, it's likely to be minimal. This part of the company primarily deals with comic book publishing, a business that draws between $40 million - $60 million a year, a drop in the ocean when Disney's revenue was a massive $83 billion in 2022.
Perlmutter remains a key Disney shareholder and was responsible for selling Marvel to the company for $4 billion in 2012.