Parks and Resorts President and Disney CFO Swap positions

[sir clinksalot]

Disney Parks and Resorts President Jay Rasulo and CFO Tom Staggs have flipped positions at the company.

What this means for the park as a whole is unknown at this time, although you can't help but see that Staggs former title has the name "Financial" in the name. Hopefully he's not being brought in to reign in spending at the park (more than it already has been).

Company Town | Disney's Iger on executive shuffle | Los Angeles Times

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger said he had been planning for "quite some time" to give Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs and Disney Parks Chairman Jay Rasulo new responsibilities, to broaden and deepen the experience of the executive team, but had been forestalled because of the economy.

"It's something that was my idea, something I broached with them a number of months ago," Iger said, adding he waited "until things stabilized before I moved them out of their roles."

Iger said that as chairman of Disney's Parks and Resorts division, Staggs gets an opportunity to gain operational experience -- although he denied Staggs is being positioned for the presidency, a long-unfilled No. 2 role at the company. "I've never known he's been looking for elevated responsibilities in the company," Iger said.

A Disney insider say the moves are intended to strengthen the executive team when Iger names a chief operating officer.

For Rasulo, the new post gives him a chance to manage the financial aspects of the company.

Discuss this topic in the Disney Business section on MiceChat

http://micechat.com/forums/disney-bu...ks-resort.html

[SnorkletsMom]

Again...I cringe at the ramifications.

Thanks, clinks!

[ALIASd]

from 6/7/2007

More investment in Disney theme parks division

More capital spending will be coming to Walt Disney Parks & Resorts in coming years, according to Walt Disney Co. Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs.


In an address on on the Web-based Merrill Lynch U.S. Media Conference this morning, Staggs said that the theme parks division can expect more capital investment. That spending will be driven for a couple of years by the cost of the two new cruise ships Disney is buying to expand Disney Cruise Lines, but he said the theme parks also will benefit.


The division's capital spending has fluctuated from about $1 billion in 2004 to $1.4 billion in 2005 and down to $900 million last year, reflecting the cost of opening Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005. Disney's investment in domestic parks -- Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure -- slid about 8 percent last year to $667 million, according to the corporation's annual report.

"We think we'll see capital expenditures come up from the somewhat low levels we've seen over the past years," Staggs said.

Orlando Sentinel - More investment in Disney theme parks division on Tourism Central Florida

[myawn]

I've sent him an email suggesting he could reverse the ******* decision to discontinue Lights of Winter as a way of demonstrating he's focused on customers.

Of course, in his previous role of being focused only on money, perhaps it was his bad idea in the first place.

[Sosai X]

Originally Posted by myawn

I've sent him an email suggesting he could reverse the ******* decision to discontinue Lights of Winter as a way of demonstrating he's focused on customers.

Of course, in his previous role of being focused only on money, perhaps it was his bad idea in the first place.

They describe the technology behind the Lights display as "obsolete". The real reason behind the retirement might have been that when they went to inspect it this year in preparation for setting it up, they found that the equipment presented a possible fire hazard or other safety issue, or just didn't meet some kind of code. It would probably cost more to repair the issue, than the entire equipment is worth. Or perhaps the equipment is old (like analog switches and vacuum tubes), and there is nobody working at the park who is an expert at maintaining and running it. Whatever the reason, rather than have the equipment cause injury to someone, Disney chose to retire it. It's just their way of playing it safe, rather than take the risk, even though the display is rather popular with Guests at Epcot.

[mousechild]

On topic of the OP, this move can be seen as a typical corporate move to widen executive experience. It takes years to get people the experience they need to step into the CEO position and I think Disney is wise to continue to develop a succession plan that allows for promotion within. I know it is fashionable on this site to se any move at Disney as a nefarious plot to screw up the parks but I don't see it here.

Unless Disney does things like this to train execs in all of Disney's business units they will be forced to go outside the company for their next CEO.