COO and Iger Heir Apparent Tom Staggs Leaving Disney

[rhino4evr]

Do you play games? Because I don't think you do. I've never seen a more creative time in video games than what we're in right now.

.

Do you think I would even know what the NX is if I didn't play games? I agree that indie and lower budget stuff like The Witness is bringing new creative ways to experience games, but the AAA market is fairly bankrupt on new ideas, at least at what's being released. The biggest games of the year, are still mostly sequels or remakes, and the original IPs are pretty few and far between. I'm excited about Uncharted 4 as much as the next guy, but we haven't seen the kind of creative IP creation like we did in the early PSOne and even PS2 days.

Failures like The Order, are exactly why the AAA development is in danger. I really hope that Last Guardian does well when it eventually comes out (although you could technically call that a sequel). MGS V basically caused Konami to leave the game business. If FFXV doesn't do well (it will I think), Square is in deep doo doo too.

Nintendo has been using the same IPs and characters form the early 80s. Splatoon was fun, but it was Amibos and Smash Bros. that have saved the Wii U from total failure. I personally don't think Nintendo will ever go 3rd party...they are too stubborn, and their games rely to much on their own controllers and ideas.

 

[rhino4evr]

sorry im off topic...felt like I needed to respond...

 

[JungleSkip]

MGS V basically caused Konami to leave the game business. If FFXV doesn't do well (it will I think), Square is in deep doo doo too.

MGSV is the not reason Konami left games. Konami left games because Konami is a crappy company, same with Square, who just refuses to get down to brass tacks and MAKE GAMES. Yes, a lot of the old guard of "Triple A" games are falling by the wayside, but that's because they just simply refuse to get with the times. This doesn't reflect a weak market, it reflects weak leadership with no vision.

Meanwhile we have companies like Guerilla, Insomniac, CD Project Red, etc pushing the new wave of great Triple A games.

Nintendo has been using the same IPs and characters form the early 80s.

Sure, but they continuously innovate. Super Mario 3, World, 64, Sunshine, Galaxy, and 3D world all feel radically different. Link to the Past led to Ocarina of Time led to Wind Waker which led to Skyward Sword. Nintendo uses the same IP, but generally the games feel fresh and new because they're the masters of gameplay.

 

[misterID]

Kathleen Kennedy. Book it.

I doubt Burke leaves Uni.

I believe this too.

 

[Scott W.]

 

[quinnmac000]

Do non competition laws apply for Executives due to all their inside knowledge because I'm pretty sure that would disqualify Burke from going to Disney even if he wanted to. However that should allow any leadership from any Disney sub sections to be able to promoted to CEO. However, I wouldn't put my money on Kathleen yet either.

Most of her recent non franchise films have not taken off nor been box office hits (I.E The last Airbender, War Horse, War of the Worlds, and Adventures of Tin Tin) and while she lead Lucas films, Strange Magic and Red Tails which were released under her presidency, failed to make a dent and get back the money it took to make them. The sole film under her presidency to make money was TFA which arguably was going to be massive to begin with.

I see TWDC recruiting Jeff Bezos more so than anyone with Amazon Studios already picking up some award winning hit shows and Amazon becoming a huge thing, I can see the board using his technological advances to their benefit. IT would also be a win for all of us because every single negative complaint about Amazon from a customer goes directly to his inbox or so it has been said.

 

[GadgetGuru]

Do non competition laws apply for Executives due to all their inside knowledge because I'm pretty sure that would disqualify Burke from going to Disney even if he wanted to. However that should allow any leadership from any Disney sub sections to be able to promoted to CEO. However, I wouldn't put my money on Kathleen yet either.

Most of her recent non franchise films have not taken off nor been box office hits (I.E The last Airbender, War Horse, War of the Worlds, and Adventures of Tin Tin) and while she lead Lucas films, Strange Magic and Red Tails which were released under her presidency, failed to make a dent and get back the money it took to make them. The sole film under her presidency to make money was TFA which arguably was going to be massive to begin with.

I see TWDC recruiting Jeff Bezos more so than anyone with Amazon Studios already picking up some award winning hit shows and Amazon becoming a huge thing, I can see the board using his technological advances to their benefit. IT would also be a win for all of us because every single negative complaint about Amazon from a customer goes directly to his inbox or so it has been said.

Non-competes are an interesting space. Especially because California, where Disney is headquartered, doesn't enforce non-competes. That being said, with these multinational corporations, it's hard to figure out which laws apply where.

Jeff Bezos won't ever happen. He wouldn't leave Amazon (he did found the company) and Amazon has aspirations of becoming Disney (along with every other company it seems like). I really can't buy the idea of Disney grabbing a pure tech CEO. You would need somebody with sufficient media experience too. The only true tech / media company I can think of is Yahoo... and I'm not thinking Disney is rushing to grab anybody heading that ship.

That being said, I'm convinced it'll be Sheryl Sandberg. She's never going to be CEO at Facebook, she's on Disney's board (has media experience), and she's from a tech company. If Disney wants to prove it's partially a tech company, it'll need to pick somebody with tech + media experience.

 

[quinnmac000]

Non-competes are an interesting space. Especially because California, where Disney is headquartered, doesn't enforce non-competes. That being said, with these multinational corporations, it's hard to figure out which laws apply where.

Jeff Bezos won't ever happen. He wouldn't leave Amazon (he did found the company) and Amazon has aspirations of becoming Disney (along with every other company it seems like). I really can't buy the idea of Disney grabbing a pure tech CEO. You would need somebody with sufficient media experience too. The only true tech / media company I can think of is Yahoo... and I'm not thinking Disney is rushing to grab anybody heading that ship.

That being said, I'm convinced it'll be Sheryl Sandberg. She's never going to be CEO at Facebook, she's on Disney's board (has media experience), and she's from a tech company. If Disney wants to prove it's partially a tech company, it'll need to pick somebody with tech + media experience.

She doesn't bring anything unique to the table. With Iger, Disney got Capital Cities, With Eisner, Disney got a top film executive. Sandberg hasn't brought anything Disney doesn't have which won't exactly help.

 

[Mad Dog]

Bezos leaving Amazon would be like Walt leaving Disney. Bezos is Amazon as Walt was Disney.

 

[Macfr3ak]

Who ever is chosen.. it will need to be the right decision. I think at stake most here is their theme parks.. say what you want about them but Comcast has their sites set and the damage WILL make a HUGE hole if the right choice isnt made for Iger's replacement

 

[JungleSkip]

This does not paint the future of Disney in a great light...

In Disney Shakeup, Cost-Cutters Get Clout in Post-Staggs Era - Bloomberg

 

[IzzyB]

Did we want staggs in there, he did MM+ and Shanghai. Both projects went way over budget and is causing the cuts now.

 

[JungleSkip]

Did we want staggs in there, he did MM+ and Shanghai. Both projects went way over budget and is causing the cuts now.

While I didn't love Staggs in the slightest, I don't think anyone else in Disney is a better choice.

 

[IzzyB]

While I didn't love Staggs in the slightest, I don't think anyone else in Disney is a better choice.

I hope they go outside. But doubt it.

 

[Scott W.]

Do non competition laws apply for Executives due to all their inside knowledge because I'm pretty sure that would disqualify Burke from going to Disney even if he wanted to. However that should allow any leadership from any Disney sub sections to be able to promoted to CEO. However, I wouldn't put my money on Kathleen yet either.

Most of her recent non franchise films have not taken off nor been box office hits (I.E The last Airbender, War Horse, War of the Worlds, and Adventures of Tin Tin) and while she lead Lucas films, Strange Magic and Red Tails which were released under her presidency, failed to make a dent and get back the money it took to make them. The sole film under her presidency to make money was TFA which arguably was going to be massive to begin with.

I see TWDC recruiting Jeff Bezos more so than anyone with Amazon Studios already picking up some award winning hit shows and Amazon becoming a huge thing, I can see the board using his technological advances to their benefit. IT would also be a win for all of us because every single negative complaint about Amazon from a customer goes directly to his inbox or so it has been said.

It could be Like Michael Eisner building DHS all over again.

 

[GadgetGuru]

Woah, this news has gotten huge. It's one thing for themepark fanbois+girls to be talking about this. It's one thing for WSJ to run a story or two about Staggs leaving.

It's a whole different situation when Bloomberg is using this as a way to talk about massive culture issues at Disney. When the film divisions are doing their best business ever, it's crazy to think that ESPN + parks spending could drag the company down so much.

 

[JungleSkip]

Woah, this news has gotten huge. It's one thing for themepark fanbois+girls to be talking about this. It's one thing for WSJ to run a story or two about Staggs leaving.

He was COO of one of the biggest companies in the world.

 

[Nick]

He was COO of one of the biggest companies in the world.

Yeah, it was big news when Rasulo left last year after Disney picked Staggs as COO. Now the board decided they don't like him so they ran him out the door too. It's not even a theme park story, it's business.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I postulated this in the RoL thread but I'll post it here too. With Soarin and Frozen having no opening dates (with both possibly delayed) and RoL getting "cancelled", I wonder if this along with Shanghai, MM+, and weakening domestic parks caused the vote of no confidence.

 

[Cheezbat]

While I'm not a stockholder and I honestly could care less about every other arm of the company, I truly want to see the theme parks flourish. WDW has been an absolute mess lately. Yes, maintenance has gotten better around the resort, but Epcot is so stale, Animal Kingdom needs more to do, Hollywood Studios is an epic disaster, and Magic Kingdom hasn't gotten a true E-ticket in 24 years.

On the other hand, Disneyland and California Adventure are looking great and have plenty of attractions to offer, Hong Kong Disneyland has been getting some great additions the past few years with more in the pipeline, (while not owned by Disney...)the Tokyo parks are as good as ever, and Disneyland Paris is finally getting the refurbs and maintenance it's needed and their Studios park has a number of expansions planned in the coming years too.

With six resorts worldwide, the company needs to continue investment in all parks, especially WDW. Wouldn't you want your flagship resort be a shining example for the company? It sure isn't right now.