Those weren't his literal words, but I trust you get my point: in most cases, this sort of transition is handled with something like "Joe Foobar will step down as FoobarCo's CEO at the end of next month, transitioning to [insert obviously ceremonial position]." This is an immediate transition to a position which isn't obviously ceremonial at all.

I'm not suggesting anything tragic like a fatal illness, a #MeToo event, or a presidential run, but only suggesting that this is an unusually-handled event. Look at his predecessor Michael Eisner, who was forced to resign after losing a boardroom battle -- Iger was announced as the next CEO in March 2005, but Eisner didn't actually leave until the end of September 2005, over six months later.

It's hard to tell from outside of any place. I felt once that I was a victim of attempted "constructive discharge", but I was not (and never have been) immediately marched out after giving my two week notice. Conversely, I had a boss that I never heard anything bad about or a scandal, who was escorted out with his stuff mailed to him after like a decade of service. Nobody admitted to knowing why, except for the usual generic reasons for a layoff.