Christine McCarthy named CFO

[El Grupo]

It's been a few years (20+), but I well recall trimming everything possible from late 3Q to the end of 4Q so that our division could report a 20% gain to Eisner and "the team".

 

[shernernum]

You mean two men enter, one man stays. The other leaves with a golden parachute.

 

[jt04]

So the first time I tried to edit my post, it ate it. Dios Mio.....

Strategic Planning... first of its kind from 1985, created by CFO Larry Wilson, Ran by Larry Murphy, later ran by Peter Murphy (no relation). Its where Tommy Staggs and Jay Rasulo got their start.

Strategic Planning: The business prevention department. The department that shot down deals and proposals from company executives. Murphy got a $1M bonus in the middle of the Go.Com and Family Channel disasters. Murphy was Eisner's "enforcer," alienating Miramax & the Weinsteins. They alienated Roy Disney and Marty Sklar. They were known as "The Goon Squad"

Mayer was part of that madness in the 90s. Now he's back and so is strategic planning. Same people, same corporate heads. Same business-minded people who have looked down on creatives while selling out to the almighty dollar. Same people who are largely responsible for the parks being in the state they are today - neglect didnt just start 10 years ago.

This is a very very bad thing for the Company.

Hoping that (if you are right) getting DHS 2.0 approved will make it largely untouchable.

Surely DCA 2.0, Carsland, Potter 1 and 2, and DAK 2.0 will prove both that spending money makes money and that the central Florida market has plenty of growth potential.

~common sense~

 

[PhotoDave219]

You mean two men enter, one man stays. The other leaves with a golden parachute.

Or one just stays.... Rasulo managed to survive and stay even after he was forced out.

 

[BrerJon]

Hoping that (if you are right) getting DHS 2.0 approved will make it largely untouchable.

DHS 2.0 will get built, but that's only half the story - good luck getting any money for maintenance or staffing whatever we get. Strategic Planning, like most accountants and bean-counters, revels in giving guests a bad experience in the name of saving pennies, so you can expect about six months of great operation after launch then the cutback axe will swing and people will wonder what happened when maintenance slips and paint starts to peel. What will have happened is Strategic Planning getting stuck in to things.

 

[JWG]

This may not be bad, but we also have to remember that parks and resorts is only one small part of a much larger organization so not everything can be about the parks.

 

[PhotoDave219]

This may not be bad, but we also have to remember that parks and resorts is only one small part of a much larger organization so not everything can be about the parks.

We know. Its a business, trust me, we get it.

Its just that the same people - who darn near ruined the company - cant seem to get out of a leadership role..... They can screw up (like a $5.2B family channel deal, or the Go.Com deal or ruining Eli Roth at the Studios) yet they continue to have a place with the company. Same people who alienated Roy Disney. Same people who alienated Marty Sklar.

Just frustrating. Strategic Planning seems to once again be the juggernaut power center that runs the company once again.....

 

[Darth Sidious]

You're not familiar with the history of the strategic planning group at Disney, are you?

Everything that is wrong with this company came from the Strategic Planning Group and Peter Murphy.

My last sentence references TWDC... In general though these groups shouldn't be an absolute horror.

 

[PhotoDave219]

My last sentence references TWDC... In general though these groups shouldn't be an absolute horror.

I get that but its the same names and faces that burned us once before.....

Strategic Planning - when done right - is a great thing.

Strategic Planning - when done the way Eisner/Murphy did it - is AWFUL.

 

[betty rose]

So the first time I tried to edit my post, it ate it. Dios Mio.....

Strategic Planning... first of its kind from 1985, created by CFO Larry Wilson, Ran by Larry Murphy, later ran by Peter Murphy (no relation). Its where Tommy Staggs and Jay Rasulo got their start.

Strategic Planning: The business prevention department. The department that shot down deals and proposals from company executives. Murphy got a $1M bonus in the middle of the Go.Com and Family Channel disasters. Murphy was Eisner's "enforcer," alienating Miramax & the Weinsteins. They alienated Roy Disney and Marty Sklar. They were known as "The Goon Squad"

Mayer was part of that madness in the 90s. Now he's back and so is strategic planning. Same people, same corporate heads. Same business-minded people who have looked down on creatives while selling out to the almighty dollar. Same people who are largely responsible for the parks being in the state they are today - neglect didnt just start 10 years ago.

This is a very very bad thing for the Company.

I'm sorry to hear the history, I was hoping for something different, balancing creativity and insane bonus's for CFO.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I'm sorry to hear the history, I was hoping for something different, balancing creativity and insane bonus's for CFO.

Er, to be clear... I'm criticizing the Strategy Officer hire, not the CFO.

I like the CFO hire and havent heard her name before. I dont know anything about her and she looks like she's independent of any real politics in the company. She also has a botany degree.

 

[betty rose]

Er, to be clear... I'm criticizing the Strategy Officer hire, not the CFO.

I like the CFO hire and havent heard her name before. I dont know anything about her and she looks like she's independent of any real politics in the company. She also has a botany degree.

Thanks for clearing this up for me. I'm glad to see some "new blood".

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

The CFO isn't "new blood", she has been with Disney since 2000 I think.

 

[PhotoDave219]

The CFO isn't "new blood", she has been with Disney since 2000 I think.

Well, she's didnt come up through the SPG like a majority of the upper level leadership.... New Blood as in she's not from THAT part of Disney.

 

[Darth Sidious]

I think Strategic Planning never went away, it just previously reported to Jay. Now it reports directly to Staggs and Iger. Essentially they removed some responsibility from the CFO role prior to naming McCarthy the CFO.