News Christine McCarthy to step down from her role as Chief Financial Officer

J

jpeden

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
el_super

el_super

Well-Known Member
Lilofan said:
That's PR malarkey talk to make it sound better - keeping her as an advisor. My former CEO was fired which we knew but was kept as a " consultant " to the exec team. I'm not buying that bridge for sale.
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The idea of her being fired makes absolutely no sense. It's fan fiction to support a specific narrative.

There was nothing about her specific job performance that was being criticized externally, except some PR gaffs. Even today some circles are still hailing her as a hero and savior for the company.

If there was any cause for concern in her performance, Disney wouldn't be highlighting the fact that shes staying on. They're doing that to single consistency, but specifically consistency with the way McCarthy managed finances at Disney.

The idea that she somehow fell out of favor with Iger because he wanted to spend more money than she was comfortable with is reliant on two supremely false ideas: that Iger didn't want to take advice to save money, and that Iger would be dumb enough to try to fire someone in the midst of the already shaky C-Suite. She could be up there making fun of Iger's mother and I doubt he would dare try to oust her. He worked with her for how many years before he retired and somehow now we think that the last six months has just been TOO MUCH to deal with? That seems unlikely as well.

The far more likely scenario, the simplest one based on the facts, is the one that was posted by Disney: she needed to take time off to spend with her family during a medically sensitive time. It actually makes far more sense when you piece together the history of her actions over the last few months. She went over Chapek and straight to the board out of desperation to have the CEO question resolved in her favor, knowing that she wasn't planning to be around much longer herself. Those irregular events and actions now take a different context knowing she was planning to exit.



Disney Analyst said:
I can't imagine them replacing Iger at this point now... How do you get a new CFO and CEO, all in the current timeline?
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They might have a plan for bringing in a new CEO that would now necessitate having the new CEO pick a CFO from their team to come in and run finances. That doesn't seem all that unusual and perhaps that the reason why Lansberry is being pinned as interrim (for now).
 
Nubs70

Nubs70

Well-Known Member
el_super said:
The idea of her being fired makes absolutely no sense. It's fan fiction to support a specific narrative.

There was nothing about her specific job performance that was being criticized externally, except some PR gaffs. Even today some circles are still hailing her as a hero and savior for the company.

If there was any cause for concern in her performance, Disney wouldn't be highlighting the fact that shes staying on. They're doing that to single consistency, but specifically consistency with the way McCarthy managed finances at Disney.

The idea that she somehow fell out of favor with Iger because he wanted to spend more money than she was comfortable with is reliant on two supremely false ideas: that Iger didn't want to take advice to save money, and that Iger would be dumb enough to try to fire someone in the midst of the already shaky C-Suite. She could be up there making fun of Iger's mother and I doubt he would dare try to oust her. He worked with her for how many years before he retired and somehow now we think that the last six months has just been TOO MUCH to deal with? That seems unlikely as well.

The far more likely scenario, the simplest one based on the facts, is the one that was posted by Disney: she needed to take time off to spend with her family during a medically sensitive time. It actually makes far more sense when you piece together the history of her actions over the last few months. She went over Chapek and straight to the board out of desperation to have the CEO question resolved in her favor, knowing that she wasn't planning to be around much longer herself. Those irregular events and actions now take a different context knowing she was planning to exit.





They might have a plan for bringing in a new CEO that would now necessitate having the new CEO pick a CFO from their team to come in and run finances. That doesn't seem all that unusual and perhaps that the reason why Lansberry is being pinned as interrim (for now).
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While not fired, she has:
1. Been removed from a position of authority and influence.
2. Placed in an advisory roll.

She has moved from the seat next to Iger at the meeting table to one of many chairs lining the wall.

This is a polite corporate firing. She has a role for 6-8 months while she lines up a position somewhere else.
 
el_super

el_super

Well-Known Member
Nubs70 said:
This is a polite corporate firing. She has a role for 6-8 months while she lines up a position somewhere else.
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And ... there's no possible way that you could believe that she did this of her own accord?

Somehow no sane, rational person would ever choose to give up professional responsibility to spend more time with an ailing love one?

Or that after months (or years) of turmoil, instability, and long days and longer nights of work, that someone would just need a break?

That somehow taking away her agency and power through this speculation is justified just to support the dim view some people have of Iger?

It's all too silly.
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
Nubs70 said:
While not fired, she has:
1. Been removed from a position of authority and influence.
2. Placed in an advisory roll.

She has moved from the seat next to Iger at the meeting table to one of many chairs lining the wall.

This is a polite corporate firing. She has a role for 6-8 months while she lines up a position somewhere else.
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How do you conclude she was removed... vs leaving?
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
el_super said:
And ... there's no possible way that you could believe that she did this of her own accord?
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Possible…but unlikely given the circumstances
el_super said:
Somehow no sane, rational person would ever choose to give up professional responsibility to spend more time with an ailing love one?
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Circumstances again. And you didn’t read the WSJ article, did you?
el_super said:
Or that after months (or years) of turmoil, instability, and long days and longer nights of work, that someone would just need a break?
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Business people are egotistical. There are several inherent characteristics that defeat your theory here.
el_super said:
That somehow taking away her agency and power through this speculation is justified just to support the dim view some people have of Iger?

It's all too silly.
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You used “agency” 😂…how old are you claiming to be today? It ain’t 40 🤪

Your lack of understanding of how humans operate when money and power are influences means you wouldn’t have lasted 30 seconds in the Roman senate 🏛️
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
CJR said:
I still speculate that Iger is planning to make himself the last CEO and let Disney hang from a tree with some fruit. We shall see.
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It’s been the direction for 15+ years.

Since buzz and Woody were bought.

You are the “greatest” If you are the last and it’s hard to argue…

1686945080764.png
 
CJR

CJR

Well-Known Member
Sirwalterraleigh said:
It’s been the direction for 15+ years.

Since buzz and Woody were bought.

You are the “greatest” If you are the last and it’s hard to argue…

View attachment 724382
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There's no doubt in my mind that there's been informal talks. They were onboard with the Vision Pro on day one of the announcement. I think it'll be too irresistible if Disney stock plummets in a downturn later this year.

It's also a very easy solution to a self created problem.
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
CJR said:
There's no doubt in my mind that there's been informal talks. They were onboard with the Vision Pro on day one of the announcement. I think it'll be too irresistible if Disney stock plummets in a downturn later this year.

It's also a very easy solution to a self created problem.
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and hypothetically…15 years of staunch Iger royal guards will say “THEY CANT SELL!!!”

To which “I told you so…” won’t go over well
 
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Indy_UK

Indy_UK

Well-Known Member
The site that shall not be named are saying that McCarthy and Iger but were banging heads on the recent cutbacks and she wanted to go further.

I wasn’t a fan of her but that may not have been the worst idea to consolidate further.

Iger is in a pickle now as they could have probably recouped quite a bit of money back through the sale of Hulu.

You could have sold Hulu with the subscriber base plus a bulk of the 20th Century pictures IP that you didn’t want to keep. But they shut down Blue Sky Animation, and will probably cherry pick the specific IP to keep like Avatar, Alien, and Die Hard. So overall they have Hulu which is becoming more and more less valuable
 
J

jpeden

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
el_super said:
And ... there's no possible way that you could believe that she did this of her own accord?

Somehow no sane, rational person would ever choose to give up professional responsibility to spend more time with an ailing love one?

Or that after months (or years) of turmoil, instability, and long days and longer nights of work, that someone would just need a break?

That somehow taking away her agency and power through this speculation is justified just to support the dim view some people have of Iger?

It's all too silly.
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Her husband has been ill for awhile. The WSJ even noted that there had been no change in her personal situation that warranted a change of her job and it surprised those in the C-suite.

Iger should have 100% listened to her on further entertainment consolidation. That is where the bloat is and it needs to be cut. But like everyone in Iger’s sphere, she was only useful until she stopped worshiping at his feet, and then she became expendable. It’s somewhat crazy (and ironic) that she helped orchestrate bringing him back and that probably ended up being her downfall.

Also don’t forget it was McCarthy who lined up the billions of loans and potential loans that kept Disney afloat when they shut the parks in 2020. She was praised by CFO’s across the country for how she adeptly handled that. We may not like what happened to the parks under her tenure as CFO but to say she wasn’t an adept CFO is factually incorrect.
 

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