Tony Baxter Retiring Tomorrow, 2/1/13

[zulemara]

News is spreading like wildfire that Tony Baxter is retiring effective tomorrow. Officially the company is saying he is "stepping away from full time employment but staying on as a consultant for various projects"

A sad loss no doubt, speculation is WDI is trying to get his salary off the books.

 

[bob1459]

That blows..

 

[wiigirl]

Wut?

 

[TheRustyScupper]

that blows..

ditto!

 

[YoHo]

That sucks.

Too bad it wasn't Joe Rohde.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

That sucks. Too bad it wasn't Joe Rohde.

amen to that !

 

[lockedoutlogic]

That sucks.

Too bad it wasn't Joe Rohde.

how could they get rid of that clown?

i'm sure he'd be the first to slap them with a wrongful dismissal suit...no matter whatever half cocked reason he could come up with...

 

[umichigan10]

And just when you thought they couldn't get any cheaper

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

~I wonder if Baxter was frustrated with Disney. ~Jim Hill wrote a very good article about Baxter. Apparently, he was offered a ton of money to leave Disney, but he just didn't have the heart to do it (awww)! I'm sure plenty of other offers will soon fly his way!

 

[disneyphilip]

And just when you thought they couldn't get any cheaper

That's not true. Trust Eddie Sotto--Baxter IS staying on as a consultant (don't try to twist things around by saying that he's really retiring or whatever, because that is not true)!

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

Not to worry. They're hiring Ralph(from Wreck it Ralph) to take his place! Besides there are plenty of real imagineers working over at Universal who would probably come back for the right offer ... Not!

 

[manning]

That's not true. Trust Eddie Sotto--Baxter IS staying on as a consultant (don't try to twist things around by saying that he's really retiring or whatever, because that is not true)!

Equals his influence is greatly reduced.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Equals his influence is greatly reduced.

Exactly....

"Consultant" is just another term for "severance" or "payoff"

They did that to Roy E. Disney years back to...and he responded by launching an internet campaign to eliminate the CEO he brought in.

Its likely Baxter is just being paid out what he had coming to him overtime...and will likely only attend PR events and maybe do some token work.


Do you think George Lucas is really going to "consult" on the billion dollar enterprises that disney just bought? Other than "hey, whats your idea?" i think not...not when every industry analysts have practically unanimously agreed that he lost it and his franchise which was once ironclad looks very low quality as he continues to milk it like an amish cow.

 

[OldsDr]

In many companies when a person retires that has a lot of inside information, they are paid "consultants" for a few years after. This is a way to keep them connected to the company, so they can not go "consult" for a competitor