In a shocking turn, Disney has revealed that COO Tom Staggs, the heir apparent to CEO Bob Iger, will be leaving the company.
Staggs is set to leave Disney as of May 6, 2016, but he is going to stay on the through the remainder of the fiscal year which ends in September. During that time, he will be a special adviser for Disney.
No reason has been given by Disney or Staggs as to why he is departing the company. It’s also not been revealed as to what he will do after leaving Disney.
Before the announcement was made, Staggs’ contract was set to expire at the end of June 2018, and he was thought to be taking over for Iger once he retired.
Disney has stated that the board will “broaden the scope of its succession planning process to identify and evaluate a robust slate of candidates for consideration” when Iger’s contract expires in two years.
The NY Times had a statement from Bob Iger regarding the departure:
“Tom has been a great friend and trusted colleague for more than 20 years. He’s made important contributions to this company earning wide respect across the organization for his achievements and personal integrity. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together, immensely grateful for the privilege of working with him, and confident that he will be enormously successful in whatever opportunity he chooses.”
It was in 2015 that Staggs was elevated to the position of COO of Disney and he also became the theme park chairman. Disney did state at the time that he was Iger’s handpicked heir to succeed him in 2018 and all that was needed was the board’s approval.
Disney has not commented on who will succeed Bob Iger now that Tom Staggs will no longer be with the company.
Join the “I’m So Disney…” group on Facebook to discuss this and many other Disney things with anyone and everyone.
I do know Mr.Staggs brought Walt Disney World plenty of negative publicity while he batttled autistic children in Orlndo.He has been infamous for these types of battles including the one to harass park patrons with security checkpoints.