Bob Iger was in the midst of handing over the keys to Disney after 15 years - and then the novel coronavirus pandemic rocked the world. Now, he is working as hard as ever before.

The executive told an interviewer that there was 'nothing hidden' about the timing of his succession.

"A crisis of this magnitude, and its impact on Disney, would necessarily result in my actively helping Bob [Chapek] and the company contend with it, particularly since I ran the company for 15 years!" he said in an email to media columnist Ben Smith.

It was announced in late February that Chapek would be the company's next CEO and Iger would remain as executive chairman and will lead the board through his contract's end Dec. 31, 2021. "No surprises...nothing hidden...nothing different or odd to speculate about...," he wrote in an email to Smith about the timing of his decision.

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Bob Iger was in the midst of handing over the keys to Disney after 15 years - and then the novel coronavirus pandemic rocked the world. Now, Iger is working harder than ever. Go inside his plans for the future of the company at the link in bio. Photo: @gettyentertainment

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In March, the novel coronavirus pandemic arrived stateside. Disney closed its North American parks and shopping districts, along with hotels, cruise lines and retail stores. Film and TV production was halted. Iger has still been granting interviews to talk about plans for the future of the company.