Tom Staggs stepping down

[jetdoctor]

Crazy is all I can say. I saw in after hours trading Disney stock tumbled.

 

[k5jm]

I did not think Skaggs was ever going to get the top spot. Disney needs a "Jonathon Tisch" type running the company.

 

[KingLlama]

Time to go to the source....

What say you @KingLlama ?

I'll have an "official" statement in the morning. But for now, here's all you need to know...

-I've got basketball on my TV screen
-The bourbon is flowing
-I'm wearing silk pants
-I'm eating marshmallows straight from the bag

So yeah....ol' Bob is flat killing it right about now.

Don't worry about Staggsy. I've set him up like a champ on his way out. Ten polo shirts emblazoned with the Dixie Landings logo, lifetime passes to the Spirit of Aloha Luau, a Dole Whip machine for home use, and as many DVD copies of "Bolt" as he can fit in the Rubbermaid tote we loaned him. The works, really.

 

[Princess Jes]

I'll have an "official" statement in the morning. But for now, here's all you need to know...

-I've got basketball on my TV screen
-The bourbon is flowing
-I'm wearing silk pants
-I'm eating marshmallows straight from the bag

So yeah....ol' Bob is flat killing it right about now.

Don't worry about Staggsy. I've set him up like a champ on his way out. Ten polo shirts emblazoned with the Dixie Landings logo, lifetime passes to the Spirit of Aloha Luau, a Dole Whip machine for home use, and as many DVD copies of "Bolt" as he can fit in the Rubbermaid tote we loaned him. The works, really.

You're a top bloke llama.
What about a refillable mug that's good for weekdays from 4:27am-5:59am and 8pm-10:13pm and 28 days worth of vouchers to waive all resort fees at any resort of his choice?
You could probably throw in a family pass for the fantasyland early entry thing as well, just because you're a nice guy

 

[Brancaneve]

Totally superficial here.....but did anyone else think that Staggs looks 35, not 55? If the fountain of youth can be had at Disney headquarters, then Iger may never leave.

 

[AndyPok1]

I did not think Skaggs was ever going to get the top spot. Disney needs a "Jonathon Tisch" type running the company.

The thing I find most fascinating is the leak that people didn't see him to be creative enough, whereas everyone I know that worked with him loved his creative vision and willingness to spend the extra dollar.... which as I type that makes me realize why the board might not want him. Nothing to see here, move along.

 

[CMDTA]

I just caught wind of this - Disney released a statement about 10 minutes ago:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160404006630/en/



I feel a great disturbance in the Force...

There goes General Lamarque.

I think it's time to march through the street and start singing "One Day More". Off to the barricade we go!

 

[freewill]

Can't help but wonder if there's concern at the Disney board level about the direction that MDE, FP+, etc have taken WDW -- in my view, emphasizing short-term financial efficiencies over longer-term creative development -- and the slight slippage in market share there to Universal. If I recall, it was Staggs who'd pushed this initiative in the beginning and Iger had something in a big meeting to him to the effect of "this better work."

Just speculating...and perhaps overweighting that particular theme park over the rest of the empire...

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Time to update my resume.

I'm a stockholder, and I'd vote for ya!

 

[dislmntx]

ooh....Can hardly wait to hear Pete's take on this one. The Shanghai Disney situation may have played a part. When I heard that the opening day tix sold out in hours my first thought was " they left money on the table." If they sold out in hours, that means they could have priced them higher and people still would have bought them. Can't wait to see who might be in line for the throne.

 

[CMDTA]

ooh....Can hardly wait to hear Pete's take on this one. The Shanghai Disney situation may have played a part. When I heard that the opening day tix sold out in hours my first thought was " they left money on the table." If they sold out in hours, that means they could have priced them higher and people still would have bought them. Can't wait to see who might be in line for the throne.

I think it's clear who they want in that role:

 

[Princess Jes]

ooh....Can hardly wait to hear Pete's take on this one. The Shanghai Disney situation may have played a part. When I heard that the opening day tix sold out in hours my first thought was " they left money on the table." If they sold out in hours, that means they could have priced them higher and people still would have bought them. Can't wait to see who might be in line for the throne.

Yeah but then they'd have to deal with everyone crying that they're just out to make money and don't care about the people who can't afford to go to a Disney park.
Outrageous really...

 

[rteetz]

ooh....Can hardly wait to hear Pete's take on this one. The Shanghai Disney situation may have played a part. When I heard that the opening day tix sold out in hours my first thought was " they left money on the table." If they sold out in hours, that means they could have priced them higher and people still would have bought them. Can't wait to see who might be in line for the throne.

Shanghai is definitely a large part in this. I don't think they left money on the table. The tickets are priced for the Chinese not Americans. You have to think about their economy and income. Opening day was bound to sell out pretty much no matter what anyways,

 

[rteetz]

ooh....Can hardly wait to hear Pete's take on this one. The Shanghai Disney situation may have played a part. When I heard that the opening day tix sold out in hours my first thought was " they left money on the table." If they sold out in hours, that means they could have priced them higher and people still would have bought them. Can't wait to see who might be in line for the throne.

Shanghai is definitely a large part in this. I don't think they left money on the table. The tickets are priced for the Chinese not Americans. You have to think about their economy and income. Opening day was bound to sell out pretty much no matter what anyways.

 

[Alicenwonderment]

I go to my local news and saw this. http://www.wmur.com/video/veuer/could-sheryl-sandberg-be-the-next-ceo-of-disney/38872636 You might have to copy and paste the site. I'm finding this interesting.

 

[GreatLakes]

Forbes has an interesting article on the failed succession.

 

[Angel Ariel]

If I recall, it was Staggs who'd pushed this initiative in the beginning and Iger had something in a big meeting to him to the effect of "this better work."

It sounds like from this article that Iger was also behind the whole MM+ initiative, but Staggs was the one who pitched it to the board and oversaw the project

For the pitch itself, Iger turned to Tom Staggs, the chairman of Disney’s Parks and Resorts division, who had overseen the MyMagic+ initiative for the last year. Staggs gave opening remarks about the program.

From later in that article, this happened at the end of that board meeting where Staggs introduced MM+:

The board broke into applause, and the meeting came to its close. The directors were chatting and readying to leave when Iger, aware of the challenges still ahead for MyMagic+, regained the attention of the small room. He looked directly at Staggs. "This better work," he said, bluntly and sternly. "This better work."

The theater was quiet, the elation gone. Iger repeated, "This better work."

 

[Angel Ariel]

Given that the leaks are saying the board lost confidence in Staggs, I have to wonder how much of that is due to the overruns of the projects he's headed. MM+ was very over budget, I don't know if Pandora is over budget but it's significantly delayed, Shanghai Disneyland is very overbudget as well as delayed...I can see how projects consistently going *very* far over budget AND being delayed would cause a board to lose confidence in someone.

 

[CMDTA]

Forbes has an interesting article on the failed succession.

I've seen that before in person. Three months ago we had a CEO, COO, and CIO. The CIO wanted to be CEO. The CEO didn't like him (a lot of people didn't like him) so the CIO left. The COO was supposed to take over but he waslooking at retirement, not taking over for the 70 year old CEO. On top of that the COO and the CEO were very different people.

After the CIO left, the IT sector imploded into a morass of backstabbing that reminded me of Lord of the Flies. The CEO thought he could fix it better than the COO (who was the former CIO). Needless to say he made things worse. The CEO and COO had a falling out, the COO "retired" leaving the CEO to try and fix the mess he created. The pressure cracked him, he did a lot of crazy things, and the board kicked him out.

Not we don't have a CEO, we have a CAO (chief admin officer) who took over everything, and we have someone who was forced to become the CIO despite the fact that he said he didn't want it and wants to leave.

Bad decisions at the top can quickly spin out of control. I figure it will be five years before we have a long term CEO, COO and CIO again. In the meantime I'm hiding under my desk, sharpening sticks, and smearing black paint on my face.

 

[freewill]

I've seen that before in person. Three months ago we had a CEO, COO, and CIO. The CIO wanted to be CEO. The CEO didn't like him (a lot of people didn't like him) so the CIO left. The COO was supposed to take over but he was looking at retirement, not taking over for the 70 year old CEO. On top of that the COO and the CEO were very different people.

After the CIO left, the IT sector imploded into a morass of backstabbing that reminded me of Lord of the Flies. The CEO thought he could fix it better than the COO (who was the former CIO). Needless to say he made things worse. The CEO and COO had a falling out, the COO "retired" leaving the CEO to try and fix the mess he created. The pressure cracked him, he did a lot of crazy things, and the board kicked him out.

Not we don't have a CEO, we have a CAO (chief admin officer) who took over everything, and we have someone who was forced to become the CIO despite the fact that he said he didn't want it and wants to leave.

Bad decisions at the top can quickly spin out of control. I figure it will be five years before we have a long term CEO, COO and CIO again. In the meantime I'm hiding under my desk, sharpening sticks, and smearing black paint on my face.

Yikes, never a good thing to be living through Lord of the Flies at work! Good luck and keep your head down!!