Disney COO Thomas Staggs Steps Down

[3DisneyFanz]

I found this to be an interesting comment, I wonder what they mean by creative side of business.

I know many here have complained about the money grabs, or ways to pay to raise extra cash by offering an experience, like the villains desert party last year. I found it to be lazy and that disney could do better. Could it be for things similar to that but on a much larger scale?

Anyone have any idea what projects he's lead, MM+, Shanghai?

The next quarterly report could be interesting.

I think his biggest achievement is being the guy who brokered the deal to buy Marvel but the other two items you listed can't make up for the one positive.

The term "creative" is a puzzling one though because that really depends on how you want to define it. I'm worried that they would see things like Disney After Hours and the Desert Parties as creative because they require very little investment on Disney's part but lots of payments from the guests.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

"I will make Disney great again!

I will build a new park and make Universal pay for it!

As to specifics on how I will make Disney great again, trust me... oh, by the way, I make GREAT deals... I will hire the top people. The best people. They will be so good you can't even imagine."

I WISH you were just talking about a cartoon company...

Ludicrous...isn't it?

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I think his biggest achievement is being the guy who brokered the deal to buy Marvel but the other two items you listed can't make up for the one positive.

The term "creative" is a puzzling one though because that really depends on how you want to define it. I'm worried that they would see things like Disney After Hours and the Desert Parties as creative because they require very little investment on Disney's part but lots of payments from the guests.

Exactly...

If the current trend of making "creative" a synonym for "highest profit, least investment" at the top levels continues...

Then Disney is screwed. It's only a matter of time.

 

[JimmyV]

I can't see Sandberg in the role - She's got the financial chops but nothing about creative experiences let alone working in the entertainment industry other than a board member at Disney AND Starbucks (hmm... now I wonder who shut down main street bakery) CFO or COO definitely but not CEO...

Kahtleen Kennedy is a better fit I'd say.

Everything that I am seeing is that they are looking outside the company. If KK were being screen-tested for the role, I would think that they would have moved her to a different position to see how she functioned outside of the movie world. Staggs got to where he is/was through a series of bake-offs, and it seems that they would have added KK as a contestant in the bake-off if she was under serious consideration. Not saying that you are wrong. But if she gets the nod, it will be the result of the complete abandonment of their "hire from within" process that they have used for the past 15 years, which is to test potential successors if a series of diverse roles before moving them up the ladder.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Kathy Kennedy is not qualified...

She is a great movie production Talent who has access to the best directors/producers/etc.

But the Walt Disney company is WAY bigger than that now. Same with Lasseter...not even in the same ballpark.

It's gonna be a Wall Street type that you HOPE has an artistic/creative sense or background.

 

[JimmyV]

But the Walt Disney company is WAY bigger than that now. Same with Lasseter...not even in the same ballpark.

It's gonna be a Wall Street type that you HOPE has an artistic/creative sense or background.

Agree, with the above, but I would change "Wall Street type" to "Wall Street and/or high tech, digital type" that you HOPE has an artistic/creative sense or background.

 

[middlechild]

What was Stagg's role in taking back the Paris park? Just spent a couple of hours there, and the walls are up around everything. Rode ToT and Pirates, not much more to go on. Ratatouille was down on maintenance, Aerosmith down for refurb, Haunted Mansion of course, Star Tours down on refurb. The park may have had people, but what a waste of a day. It was better three months ago when I was there last. The cost of Shanghai is huge, certainly. Don't leave Paris out.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Sheryl Sandberg? I think, my concerns are real. It can be worse...MUCH worse.

 

[adam.adbe]

Yeah. I put TV/ESPN in the "maybe" column. It is absolutely a huge issue for the company. What I don't know is how deep Staggs is/was in being charged with fixing that problem. In other words, is that an "Iger problem", a "Staggs problem" or a "Ben Sherwood problem"? I could be completely off base, but I don't think that the Board would put Staggs on the chopping block for something that is more of an "Iger/Sherwood problem." But I reserve the right to be wrong!

I don't think it's necessarily about being on the chopping block. Let's tale the "concerns about creative vision" stuff on face value. Disney has grown very big on the back of Avengers and SW. The Marvel run has probably passed its zenith. In three years the same will be true for Star Wars. To keep share prices up (ignoring the huge drag that is ESPN, and the large amount of capex the parks will need to stay vibrant/return to vibrancy) Disney need a good pipeline of blockbuster movies. If Staggs is seen as week on just that side of the business, that's every reason to look elsewhere.

If that's the case and this is truly as simple as the board not liking the candidate, then two things happen: 1) Staggs keeps the COO slot and the next CEO arrives from stage left, which would bother Wall Street, or 2) Staggs vacates the COO spot for the next heir apparent. My guess is the latter happened, and since there's nowhere much to go but down from COO, Staggs quit as a face-saving gesture, and will take a hefty pay-off to keep quiet about it.

 

[rteetz]

What was Stagg's role in taking back the Paris park? Just spent a couple of hours there, and the walls are up around everything. Rode ToT and Pirates, not much more to go on. Ratatouille was down on maintenance, Aerosmith down for refurb, Haunted Mansion of course, Star Tours down on refurb. The park may have had people, but what a waste of a day. It was better three months ago when I was there last. The cost of Shanghai is huge, certainly. Don't leave Paris out.

I don't know if he had a role. Paris is getting a huge makeover to make that park great again. They aren't wasting money there really.

 

[rteetz]

Sheryl Sandberg? I think, my concerns are real. It can be worse...MUCH worse.

Well she is on the Disney Board of Directors.

 

[adam.adbe]

I will build a new park and make Universal pay for it!

"I will build China a new park, and make YOU pay for it." -- Robert Iger.

 

[adam.adbe]

Sheryl Sandberg? I think, my concerns are real. It can be worse...MUCH worse.

Obviously she wouldn't be an obvious choice for CEO of an entertainment company, but Disney keep getting caught flat-footed by technological changes. She, at least, understands where society is heading.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Obviously she wouldn't be an obvious choice for CEO of an entertainment company, but Disney keep getting caught flat-footed by technological changes. She, at least, understands where society is heading.

More job cuts? It already reminds me of a Walmart self service checkout line.

 

[JaxDad]

"I will make Disney great again!

I will build a new park and make Universal pay for it!

As to specifics on how I will make Disney great again, trust me... oh, by the way, I make GREAT deals... I will hire the top people. The best people. They will be so good you can't even imagine."

Based on the current rumors, they seem to be going the way of the "I am a woman, therefore it's my turn" candidate...

 

[JimmyV]

To keep share prices up (ignoring the huge drag that is ESPN, and the large amount of capex the parks will need to stay vibrant/return to vibrancy) Disney need a good pipeline of blockbuster movies. If Staggs is seen as week on just that side of the business, that's every reason to look elsewhere.

While I don't disagree with the premise, I am not connecting on the idea that the Board is all of a sudden panicking over the film "side of the business" and the need for a pipeline of blockbuster movies, and that Staggs lacks creativity (or performance) in that area. If there is one side of the company that is performing, it is that. And if the Board were looking elsewhere because it views Staggs as lagging in that area, it wouldn't have to look too hard to find Kennedy to fill that need. But their external search leads me to conclude that they are looking for a person with a financial sceptre and not someone with a movie director's clapboard. And that tells me that the don't like the way Staggs manages finances.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Sheryl Sandberg? I think, my concerns are real. It can be worse...MUCH worse.

...I don't like that one either.

I hear Marisa Mayer will be available soon

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Based on the current rumors, they seem to be going the way of the "I am a woman, therefore it's my turn" candidate...

Where have I seen that recently?

And just like THAT Example...it's not the right call if it's being done to service "principle"

 

[lockedoutlogic]

More job cuts? It already reminds me of a Walmart self service checkout line.

It's only just begun

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I don't know if he had a role. Paris is getting a huge makeover to make that park great again. They aren't wasting money there really.

Staggs isn't getting "blamed" for Paris.

That is and always will be privately attributed to Eisner and the ghost of frank wells