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I wonder how they can say no to Rasulo? He has all the experience you could want and I believe he would be the only board member with any direct Parks experience. Sounds like a win win to me but I'm sure certain egos will get in the way.
There was a reason his contract wasn't renewed in 2015. Likely a difference of opinion on what was or wasn't Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures.
 
There was a reason his contract wasn't renewed in 2015. Likely a difference of opinion on what was or wasn't Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures.
I attributed it more to the usual crappy Disney succession planning and the hard feelings it caused.
 
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-disney-jay-rasulo-20150601-story.html

Disney CFO Jay Rasulo, passed over for No. 2 role, will step down - Los Angeles Times
by Daniel Miller

6/1/2015



Walt Disney Co. Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo, who earlier this year was passed over for the Burbank company’s No. 2 job, will step down from his post at the end of the month.

Rasulo’s impending departure is the latest change in the executive ranks of the entertainment giant. The moves have been triggered by Disney’s elevation of Thomas Staggs — the former head of the company’s parks and resorts division — to the chief operating officer role in February.

Rasulo and Staggs had competed for that coveted job, which is widely seen as a grooming post for the company’s next CEO. Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Iger is expected to retire when his contract expires in 2018.

Now, Staggs’ former rival will move on — perhaps to a top job at another entertainment and media firm, analysts said.
“What I would expect next is for Jay to have several CEO offers, because he was runner-up for the biggest job in the media world,” said Laura Martin, an analyst at Needham & Co. who covers Disney. “I think he is a really capable operator.”

After being passed over, Rasulo, 59, was widely expected to depart the company he’d worked for since 1986 in various roles, including as chairman of the parks and resorts unit.

Disney has made a string of executive appointments since Staggs was named chief operating officer. In May, the company named Leslie Ferraro president of its consumer products division; she took over for Bob Chapek, who was tapped to fill Staggs’ old job as head of the parks and resorts group.

Disney said it would announce a new finance chief at a later date. Rasulo, who became CFO in 2010, will serve as an advisor to Iger after vacating his current position.

Iger and Rasulo were not made available for interviews, but both released statements about the executive’s forthcoming exit. Iger praised Rasulo for being a “valued colleague and friend,” and Rasulo said it was a “true honor” to work at Disney.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Rasulo, who earned $16.2 million in fiscal year 2014, had been working at Disney without a contract since his deal there expired Jan. 31.

Until February, Rasulo and Staggs had been locked in a race to succeed Iger, 64, who twice in recent years had extended his contract with Disney. In 2010, Staggs took over the parks division from Rasulo, who slid into the CFO role that had been previously held by Staggs. The job switch was seen as a way for the company to broaden the executives’ experience and to see how they would perform in different roles.

Both Staggs and Rasulo had staunch supporters within Disney, which took care to not let the race become a messy, public matter. Succession at the company has become a highly managed process since the awkward handoff from former Chief Executive Michael Eisner to Iger in 2005.

Although Disney’s recent succession face-off lingered — and will now result in the departure of a key executive — the company avoided the drama of another recent, high-profile Hollywood executive bake-off. At Warner Bros., an ugly battle for the company’s top job became a distracting process before Kevin Tsujihara took over as studio chief in early 2013. Within three months, Tsujihara’s rivals for the position — Jeff Robinov and Bruce Rosenblum — had left the Burbank company.

Credit the relatively smooth process at Disney to Iger, said Peter Whitford, the former president of Disney Stores Worldwide.

“If there was a fight in the early days under Eisner, it used to happen in [the press], but Iger did a lot to stop that,” said Whitford, who left the company in 2003. “It was his choice to make things a little tighter.”

Rasulo, a native of New York, joined Disney nearly 30 years ago after a stint as a manager at Marriott Corp. During his parks and resorts tenure, Disney opened Hong Kong Disneyland and began a significant remodel of the California Adventure theme park in Anaheim.

He was also previously chairman and CEO of Euro Disney and has been credited with revitalizing Disneyland Paris after it opened in 1992 to poor reviews.

He also worked on the $4-billion purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012 and oversaw last year’s acquisition of digital production house Maker Studios.

“He’s definitely an executive who will have choices based on his experience at Disney — not just in the CFO role, but in the parks role, and his international background,” said Whitford. “He has highly desired skills.”

There is a precedent of high-level Disney executives leaving the company when they are passed over for top jobs.
Famously, former Disney studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg departed in 1994 after Eisner did not elevate him to the president post. Katzenberg went on to co-found DreamWorks SKG.

Robin Diedrich, an analyst for Edward Jones Research, said it would be a surprise if Disney brought in an outsider to be CFO. With the notable exception of Eisner and the hiring of talent agent Michael Ovitz as president in 1995, Disney usually promotes from within for its top jobs.

The announcement of Disney’s next CFO could come in about a month, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Disney watchers said that longtime company executive Kevin Mayer could be considered for the job, among other candidates at the company.

Mayer, who is executive vice president of corporate strategy and business development, has overseen several of the company’s notable acquisitions, including those of Lucasfilm and Maker.

Staggs is now the internal front-runner to become the next CEO of Disney, a sprawling company that has 180,000 employees and is valued at more than $185 billion on Wall Street. Disney has previously used the No. 2 position to prepare incoming CEOs — Iger held the job from 2000 to 2005.

However, Staggs’ elevation to chief executive is not preordained: Between now and 2018, his leadership will be scrutinized by Disney’s board of directors, which will select the company’s next leader.

It’s also possible that Disney could eye an outsider for the CEO position.
 

I wonder how they can say no to Rasulo? He has all the experience you could want and I believe he would be the only board member with any direct Parks experience. Sounds like a win win to me but I'm sure certain egos will get in the way.
Ike Perlmutter probably a decent factor to why not.
 
I attributed it more to the usual crappy Disney succession planning and the hard feelings it caused.
I'm going to do a bunch of research, but my guess is that Iger saw Rasulo as a threat back in 2015 if he was promoted to COO. Rasulo had been at Disney since 1986, and obviously had a bunch of allies among the old guard in the company. Iger only joined Disney proper when he fell into the CEO job in 2005. Previously, he had only TV operating experience.

Iger had to have time to hand-pick future board members and consolidate his position, which he did. After all, they allowed him to delay his "retirement" a couple of times.
 
From the Staten Island, NY newspaper

https://www.silive.com/goofy_about_disney/2015/06/post_48.html

Jay Rasulo, former Staten Islander, to step down as Disney CFO
  • Updated: Jun. 29, 2015, 9:20 p.m.|
  • Published: Jun. 29, 2015, 8:20 p.m.
By Chuck Schmidt | goofyaboutdisney@aol.com

Jay Rasulo, long-time Walt Disney Company executive, is stepping down from his post as Chief Financial Officer on June 30.

In professional sports, statistics give you a pretty good idea of what kind of season a player is having. Generally speaking, in sports, more is better.

When Jay Rasulo took over as the Chief Financial Officer of the Walt Disney Company on Jan. 1, 2010, Disney stock was trading at about $32 a share.

When Rasulo, 59, steps down from his post as Disney's money man tomorrow (June 30), the value of those same stocks will be hovering around $115 a share. In short, Jay Rasulo made his mark, because in business, more is definitely better.

In spite of those impressive numbers and his glowing track record with the company, Rasulo -- who grew up on Staten Island and delivered the Staten Island Advance in his hometown of Oakwood -- is stepping down from his CFO post after being passed over for the Chief Operating Officer's position [which went to Thomas Staggs] earlier this year.

The COO is generally considered to have the inside track on Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger's job when his contract runs out in 2018.

In 2010, Iger had Rasulo [who was chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts at the time] and Staggs [then the company's CFO] switch jobs, the idea being to give each man a broader range of experiences and responsibilities within the company. The switch, in effect, set up a competition between the two men, with Iger's job being the ultimate winner-take-all prize.

Rasulo's departure comes as little surprise; he's been working without a contract since January.

His career with Disney began in 1986 after stints with other major companies, including Marriott Corp.

He first made a name for himself within Disney when he was asked to reverse the flagging fortunes of Disneyland Paris, which opened in 1992 to underwhelming reviews and lower-than-expected attendance.

"There was nothing wrong with the park," Rasulo said in an interview in 2010. "It's one of the most beautiful in the world." What Rasulo quickly came to understand was that Disneyland Paris was created for an American audience, despite the fact that the majority of the guests were coming from Europe. For one thing, Europeans love to eat in outdoor venues. For another, they like wine with their meals.

Rasulo initiated a number of strategies, and once "we embraced the European model" and a more Euro-friendly atmosphere was created, Disneyland Paris' fortunes changed dramatically for the better.

When Rasulo was appointed Chairman of Parks and Resorts in 2002, his impact was immediate and has been long-lasting.

He green-lighted the expansion of Disney Cruise Line with the additions of the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy ocean liners. And he helped initiate the free Magical Express shuttle service from Orlando International Airport to Walt Disney World.

He also had a hand in tackling the dreaded "Disney lines" problem. At a D23 fan convention in 2009, Jay introduced the world to the "no queue queue" for the revamped Dumbo attraction that was part of the Fantasyland expansion in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.

The idea, he explained, was to make lines an "entertainment experience and not just waiting in line becoming an expert on the backs of the heads of the people in front of you. ... It's more about letting our guests entertain themselves while they're waiting ... so they feel like they've been entertained for 35 or 40 minutes and now they're on the attraction."

The concept of interactive lines has been so successful that many established park attraction queues have been revamped, while it's now standard operating procedure that any new attractions feature interactive queues.

Rasulo also was the driving force behind the revitalization of Disney's California Adventure theme park, which -- like Disneyland Paris -- opened to less-than-impressive reviews in 2001. And he oversaw the development of Hong Kong Disneyland.

Jay also had a hand in broadening the Disney guest experience outside the parks. He helped initiate the Adventures by Disney travel program, which allows guests to visit a wide variety of tourist sites around the world while accompanied by expert guides; he also helped beef up Disney Vacation Club's inventory with several additions, including the Aulani resort in Hawaii.

Rasulo's track record as CFO was equally impressive. In addition to witnessing the meteoric rise in Disney stock prices, he worked on the $4 billion purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012 and oversaw the acquisition of digital production house Maker Studios last year.

Iger praised Rasulo for being "a valued colleague and friend, as well as a vital contributor to Disney's success, particularly in his roles as chief financial officer and chairman of our Parks and Resorts division."

"It has been a true honor to work at Disney for these many years, and for a great leader in Bob Iger," Rasulo said. "And as I look to the horizon for future endeavors, I am privileged to continue my friendship with Bob and remain as an adviser to him and the Disney team."

On Friday, it was announced in a regulatory filing that Rasulo will not only remain with the company as an adviser to Iger, but he will draw the same salary [he made $16.2 million in total compensation during Disney's last fiscal year] as he would have had he remained CFO.
 
Compromise is a long dead art form but how about Disney agrees to one (Jay) but not the other (Nelson). Everyone leaves a little happy and unhappy - the way fair negotiations usually end up.
Do you think Peltz who is going for his second proxy bid in a calendar year goes for that though?

Perlmutter had his fingers on Staggs losing favor and leaving and also championing Chapek for CEO. His attachment to this is enough to just say no.
 
Do you think Peltz who is going for his second proxy bid in a calendar year goes for that though?

Perlmutter had his fingers on Staggs losing favor and leaving and also championing Chapek for CEO. His attachment to this is enough to just say no.
I would take Rasulo and give up Peltz. And there ain't nobody on these boards who detests how the company is mismanaged more than I do.

There HAS to be somebody, anybody, on the board who has the stones to actually ask questions.
 
Do you think Peltz who is going for his second proxy bid in a calendar year goes for that though?

Perlmutter had his fingers on Staggs losing favor and leaving and also championing Chapek for CEO. His attachment to this is enough to just say no.
Peltz walked away from the first fight so maybe he can be reasonable again.

And maybe Ike did have a hand in those issues but ultimately it was the useless board and Iger who were responsible for the changes. Would they really have the guts to blame it on someone else? Don't forget, that was the "wonderful" board who extended Chapek days before firing him...truly an embarrassment of a board.
 
Peltz walked away from the first fight so maybe he can be reasonable again.

And maybe Ike did have a hand in those issues but ultimately it was the useless board and Iger who were responsible for the changes. Would they really have the guts to blame it on someone else? Don't forget, that was the "wonderful" board who extended Chapek days before firing him...truly an embarrassment of a board.
That extension was also the shortest given out by a Board in the history of the company, which gave a lot on here the idea that Chapek was already on thin ice with the board but they didn’t have an alternative yet.

I’m also not absolving Iger of anything in this situation, he skipped town quickly and left the board with their hands tied on who to choose as successor. Chapek had the most support among the board at the time as well other executives within the company backing him.
 
That extension was also the shortest given out by a Board in the history of the company, which gave a lot on here the idea that Chapek was already on thin ice with the board but they didn’t have an alternative yet.

I’m also not absolving Iger of anything in this situation, he skipped town quickly and left the board with their hands tied on who to choose as successor. Chapek had the most support among the board at the time as well other executives within the company backing him.
In hindsight, the theory that Iger saw the Covid shutdowns coming (he's politically connected, after all) and set up Chapek to take the beatings is getting more and more plausible.

Iger is that smart (and devious), and Chapek is that dumb.
 
Rasulo didn't quit, he was fired. The money was paid out for him to keep quiet. Just like was done with Christine McCarthy.
How do we know this?

I'm wondering who will be named the new CFO.
 
Rasulo didn't quit, he was fired. The money was paid out for him to keep quiet. Just like was done with Christine McCarthy.
I wouldn't be so sure of this. If he were fired and didn't choose to step down as the statement says (and it's what logically makes the most sense, this isn't a step-down or else you're fired situation), then it wouldn't make any sense to keep him on as an advisor and still have access to insider information.
 
I wouldn't be so sure of this. If he were fired and didn't choose to step down as the statement says (and it's what logically makes the most sense, this isn't a step-down or else you're fired situation), then it wouldn't make any sense to keep him on as an advisor and still have access to insider information.
Iger was merely "keeping his enemies closer," I would suggest. If Rasulo was subject to disclosure rules as an advisor, he would be unable to squawk. Especially if he would forfeit the bonus if he violated the disclosure.

It's never called a "firing." It's merely a serverance package offer that cannot be refused.
 
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