Disney CEO Iger, CFO Staggs Sign New Five-Year Contracts

Disney CEO Iger, CFO Staggs Sign New Five-Year Contracts

Los Angeles Business Journal
February 1, 2008

Walt Disney Co.'s President and Chief Executive Officer Robert A. Iger has signed a new five year contract with the company, Disney reported Friday.

The new contract will end Jan. 31. 2013, Burbank-based Disney (NYSE: DIS) said in a release, and his previous contract would have ended Sept. 30, 2010. Iger became Disney's chief executive on Sept. 30, 2005.

The company's Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thomas O. Staggs also signed a new five year contract that extends to April 1, 2013.

I'd say Iger's reign has been mixed thus far, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and give him another few years to get the ship righted.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ian

I'd say Iger's reign has been mixed thus far, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and give him another few years to get the ship righted.

---

I would say he's been generally good so far....not perfect...but realize that any entertainment company CEO is going to have to take flyers and lose on many in order to have a chance to stay competitive

Judging the public's entertainment whims is a difficult job....no?

The acquisition of Pixar was an important step for long term success......so i give him credit for taking that step...

but many of his moves as they relate to WDW are yet to be seen....so we shall see

He's much better than Eisner's later years...that is for sure....Eisner became way to over-bearing and mistrustful of everyone in his later years....and apparently forgot what type of company he was in charge of....

Iger has exceeded my expectations so far

To me after talking alot of Technology the only thing positive I have seen from Iger thus far has been the acquisition of Pixar. He really needs to put his stamp on something soon he may be more likeable than Eisner and still fixing some of Eisner's mistakes but I'm not seeing any great performance from him.

I actually don't blame Iger for the problems at WDW. To be truthful, I don't think the theme parks interest him all that much. I suspect he's left the "fixing" of that problem up to Lasseter and some of the other folks he's recently put in charge over that area.

It seems to me that Iger is more of a T.V., Internet, and media kind of a guy moreso than a theme park guy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ian

I actually don't blame Iger for the problems at WDW. To be truthful, I don't think the theme parks interest him all that much. I suspect he's left the "fixing" of that problem up to Lasseter and some of the other folks he's recently put in charge over that area.

It seems to me that Iger is more of a T.V., Internet, and media kind of a guy more so than a theme park guy.

---

I think that is Iger's leadership style and what differentiates him from Eisner. Iger appears to trust his teams and their leaders to make decisions and run with ideas with less hands on input, while Eisner's style involved having more of a direct say in most areas of the company.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ian

I actually don't blame Iger for the problems at WDW. To be truthful, I don't think the theme parks interest him all that much. I suspect he's left the "fixing" of that problem up to Lasseter and some of the other folks he's recently put in charge over that area.

It seems to me that Iger is more of a T.V., Internet, and media kind of a guy moreso than a theme park guy.

---

what specific problems do you see?

I'm not being sarcastic...I just want to know what you feel are the biggest areas that need fixing at WDW

I have my own list....but then again I feel I could do a farely decent job running the place myself.....

...and my first move sure as heck wouldn't be adding DVC units (though I own) or planning a 15 month "celebration" to fill hotel rooms....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lockedoutlogic

what specific problems do you see?

---

I know my list is extensive I don't even know where to start :confused: But here are a couple


1. CM Training and quality
2. Cutbacks in Maintenance
3. Profit over Magic Syndrome( less value for your dollar)
4. Lack of Vision
5. Lack of Imagination

I could go on and be more specific but I think these sum it up best.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lockedoutlogic

what specific problems do you see?

I'm not being sarcastic...I just want to know what you feel are the biggest areas that need fixing at WDW

---

This is the short list of immediate problems I think need to be addressed. They appear in order of most important on ...

• Quality/training of cast members
• Quality of new attractions
• Cleaniness/maintenance of guest areas
• Dining plan problems
• Abandon "less for more" mentality and replace with original Disney "more for more" approach

I noticed on both lists that were given on the top problems "Quality of Cast Members" was #1.

I know this sounds like a stupid, obvious question, but why does Disney pay their people so poorly? Is it just front line people that are paid so low? Does Entertainment get paid peanuts also?
I know that profit is important, but with raising salaries, they are going to create a higher demand for their jobs and be able to attract better quality people because their pay is competitive.

Well ... I don't know the real answer to this, per se, but I can take a very good guess.

While we were all enjoying the rapid expansion of WDW in the 90's, I personally think that few people realized what a problem Disney was causing for themselves.

It takes almost 60,000 people to make that resort run now. The overhead associated with having that many employees is just insane. You think about what that costs in terms of training them, paying them, paying their benefits, scheduling them, managing them ... it goes on and on and on!

They backed themselves into a corner ... you simply can't pay 60,000 people a real, living wage and maintain any kind of profitability at the resort. Or you have to establish a pricing structure that basically does the same thing ... it costs so much for people to vacation there that you put yourself out of business.

I don't know what the answer is. Sadly, I don't think there is one, really. I think we just may have to resign ourselves to the fact that the days of Disney-quality cast may be over.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Disneyatic

I noticed on both lists that were given on the top problems "Quality of Cast Members" was #1.

I know this sounds like a stupid, obvious question, but why does Disney pay their people so poorly? Is it just front line people that are paid so low? Does Entertainment get paid peanuts also?
I know that profit is important, but with raising salaries, they are going to create a higher demand for their jobs and be able to attract better quality people because their pay is competitive.

---

Bingo.....

they do pay poorly.....they are overextended based on the low cost labor pool in Orlando...and they will not pay more to raise the caliber because WDW is the biggest cash cow that the Walt Disney Company has in the US - and that means it must stay so for financial reasons

I have to grin when people say "better employees"....there are those of us...who worked there but weren't in awe of the company taglines...who analyzed the situation and know that saying "better employees" is a problem that cannot be solved with a feasible solution at this time....

The best they can do is outsource and reduce the labor pool...then increase salary and training when the bottomline numbers won't be so large (don't forget about health care....which probably costs disney 2/3 of what they are paying in wages at WDW)

so that problem cannot be solved without a major reorganization, priority shift, and to be frank....a complete alteration of company philosophy that will not happen under any forseeable circumstance.

i can give you 100 real world examples if you wish....but i'm hungry so that will have to wait until later:thumbsup:

Eh ... I'm not sure I agree. I think there are ways they could improve the situation from where it is now.

I'm not sure they're options they would want to explore, perhaps, but it could be done by someone with guts and vision.

Two qualities one Mr. Walt Disney had, I might add ....