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

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
Awkward Season 4 GIF by The Office


The job definition of Strategic Advisor: Keep getting paid to not say anything.
Reminds me of the movie Margin Call about the market collapse of 2008. Actor Stanley Tucci who played a Wall Street exec was laid off but was told to report back to work for one day to keep quiet, sit in an office and get paid 6 figures for his cooperation.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
She was right. Disney still spends way too much on content and the recent restructuring didn't go far enough to streamline the company.

The fact that Alan Bergman and Dana Walden are both sharing the same job, each with massive teams, tells you all that you need to know.


Iger’s entire “philosophy” is collapsing. Every part. He has a good run of fortuitous conditions…it’s over…the street is on notice

Streaming costs aren’t sinking them…corporate philosophy is. One way to fix that
 
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tanc

Well-Known Member
You know it's bad when Disney doesn't have a single employee lined up to take over for CEO. Who even is the replacement for Christine? I've never heard of them. While I hope Christine the best, things are not looking good. She is right about the content though, there's literally billions going into content and they just aren't getting the numbers for it to be worth it. You would think with the countless amount of companies they've bought they would utilize it properly, but there's still a tremendous amount of content not on Disney+ that is iconic.

On a side note, Iger is long past over due his stay. It's quite scary there is no one fit enough to be CEO in the company. Even Iger as CEO to me isn't much better than Chapek. I have a feeling a lot of the park changes recently were moreso because Disney realized their extreme cost cutting measures were wildly unpopular among guests and likely began losing money.
 

SpectreJordan

Well-Known Member
Looking ahead (instead of kicking someone while they are down), I wonder to what extent this changes Iger's remaining tenure. The company hasn't had great success at the box office lately, I could be wrong but maybe performing the worst it has in decades. The parks are also not performing spectacularly (especially compared to last year). I just think Iger really needs to step up and pick the right people to lead the company in the future.
I'm curious as to how much of an effect Chapek had on the quality of the film & show productions. The quality really started going down in 2022, which is when stuff produced under Chapek would've started coming out.

Sure, COVID was an issue too but the insane decrease in quality from 2019 to post COVID isn't hitting anyone as hard as it's hitting Disney.

I could see Chapek forcing the studios to crap stuff out in order to make content for Disney+. This is most clearly seen with Marvel; from 2021 to 2023 we've had as much new Marvel content as all of the first 3 Phases combined.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
You know it's bad when Disney doesn't have a single employee lined up to take over for CEO. Who even is the replacement for Christine? I've never heard of them. While I hope Christine the best, things are not looking good. She is right about the content though, there's literally billions going into content and they just aren't getting the numbers for it to be worth it. You would think with the countless amount of companies they've bought they would utilize it properly, but there's still a tremendous amount of content not on Disney+ that is iconic.

On a side note, Iger is long past over due his stay. It's quite scary there is no one fit enough to be CEO in the company. Even Iger as CEO to me isn't much better than Chapek. I have a feeling a lot of the park changes recently were moreso because Disney realized their extreme cost cutting measures were wildly unpopular among guests and likely began losing money.
The problem is the board…it’s no longer independent. An independent board would bring in outside execs. Period

“Hey dude…you want to be Michael Eisner without the family looking over your shoulder and make a couple billion?”

“Cool…do I get a nametag?”

A real hard sell
 

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
You know it's bad when Disney doesn't have a single employee lined up to take over for CEO. Who even is the replacement for Christine? I've never heard of them. While I hope Christine the best, things are not looking good. She is right about the content though, there's literally billions going into content and they just aren't getting the numbers for it to be worth it. You would think with the countless amount of companies they've bought they would utilize it properly, but there's still a tremendous amount of content not on Disney+ that is iconic.

On a side note, Iger is long past over due his stay. It's quite scary there is no one fit enough to be CEO in the company. Even Iger as CEO to me isn't much better than Chapek. I have a feeling a lot of the park changes recently were moreso because Disney realized their extreme cost cutting measures were wildly unpopular among guests and likely began losing money.
Kevin is a finance guy, years on the parks and resorts team , and his Ops background was being VP of DAK and Downtown Disney for a brief time back in the day. I'm sure he saw a fair share of guests under the influence of whatever when he oversaw Pleasure Island.
 

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
Is he your brother?

Because his business history is not too impressive…it’s already been detailed in the thread
I think Kevin can fit the bill of a temp CFO considering his finance background. I'm sure he's not complaining on the $1M annual base , $1M annual bonus and other incentives he will receive when he's the temp for now.
 

Ayla

Well-Known Member
You know it's bad when Disney doesn't have a single employee lined up to take over for CEO. Who even is the replacement for Christine? I've never heard of them. While I hope Christine the best, things are not looking good. She is right about the content though, there's literally billions going into content and they just aren't getting the numbers for it to be worth it. You would think with the countless amount of companies they've bought they would utilize it properly, but there's still a tremendous amount of content not on Disney+ that is iconic.

On a side note, Iger is long past over due his stay. It's quite scary there is no one fit enough to be CEO in the company. Even Iger as CEO to me isn't much better than Chapek. I have a feeling a lot of the park changes recently were moreso because Disney realized their extreme cost cutting measures were wildly unpopular among guests and likely began losing money.
He's someone you don't want taking over the position permanently.
 

el_super

Well-Known Member
On a side note, Iger is long past over due his stay. It's quite scary there is no one fit enough to be CEO in the company. Even Iger as CEO to me isn't much better than Chapek. I have a feeling a lot of the park changes recently were moreso because Disney realized their extreme cost cutting measures were wildly unpopular among guests and likely began losing money.

One of the weirdest tropes you pick up from fan communities is this strange idea that business decisions are not made based on financials or market conditions, but instead are completely determined by the whims of heroes and villains.

Anyway, the parks have been making TONS of money, even while other parts of the company are reorganizing. It's very unlikely that a new CFO will bring any noticeable changes to the parks.

Hmmm, it makes you wonder, if you think differently than Iger you are gone.

Probably not. You can 'clash' with your boss and it doesn't mean you'ore automatically fired. Some bosses actually like getting the feedback and input, even when people don't agree. It's fan fiction at this point to think Iger is being that vindicitive.
 

BlakeW39

Well-Known Member
For everyone happy Christine is gone, she wasn't the issue. Iger is. And he's still there. Who's he naming as his successor anyways? Rob Biger?
 

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
One of the weirdest tropes you pick up from fan communities is this strange idea that business decisions are not made based on financials or market conditions, but instead are completely determined by the whims of heroes and villains.

Anyway, the parks have been making TONS of money, even while other parts of the company are reorganizing. It's very unlikely that a new CFO will bring any noticeable changes to the parks.



Probably not. You can 'clash' with your boss and it doesn't mean you'ore automatically fired. Some bosses actually like getting the feedback and input, even when people don't agree. It's fan fiction at this point to think Iger is being that vindicitive.
One of Iger 's styles is My Way or the Highway .
 

DisneyHead123

Well-Known Member
Wish her well and hope the real reason she’s leaving, for her sake, is the usual corporate palace intrigue stuff and not her health or her family’s health.

I think Disney streaming is going to have to fundamentally change their model, in a way that smarter people than me will have to figure out. It just seems logistically impossible for one studio - or even a few studios, after mergers - to basically expand from being one channel to being all of the channels on cable tv. Because that is basically what streaming services are asked to do - replace the entertainment value of cable in its entirety at a reasonable price. Maybe in the future a big network of small independent studios will spring up and companies will buy individual series from them in the way that music streaming services get songs from different artists. Maybe all the services will have to collaborate on package deals. Or maybe they’ll all go to the Amazon Prime “mostly individually priced shows with some free content” model. Maybe they’ll find some other revenue stream that is beyond my pay grade to envision. But trying to churn out enough content to be a cable replacement just seems untenable to me. Content is crazy expensive to produce.
 

TalkingHead

Well-Known Member
Iger’s contract ends in 18 months. That big adjustment to the movie release calendar this week means the next CEO will have to answer for decisions being made now during Iger’s term w/r/t Marvel, SW, and Pixar tentpoles. Externally the company looks like it’s a bit in disarray, trying to rejigger the streaming model without changing things too much and doubling down on franchises that may or may not be what audiences want.

All that to say the next CEO will have a mess on their hands.
 

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
Iger’s contract ends in 18 months. That big adjustment to the movie release calendar this week means the next CEO will have to answer for decisions being made now during Iger’s term w/r/t Marvel, SW, and Pixar tentpoles. Externally the company looks like it’s a bit in disarray, trying to rejigger the streaming model without changing things too much and doubling down on franchises that may or may not be what audiences want.

All that to say the next CEO will have a mess on their hands.
The bigger they are the harder they fall. Former Disney exec Kevin Mayer left for greener pastures to be the CEO of Tik Tok. After 3 months at Tik Tok , he was fired. Outside execs do come into difficult situations joining a new company and their goal is to turn the company around.
 

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