The Walt Disney Company DIS announced that its CFO James A. Rasulo will step down from his position at the end of this month. The company has not yet named a successor to Rasulo.
Following his resignation, Rasulo will continue to serve as an advisor to CEO Robert Iger in order to facilitate a smooth transition.
Rasulo has been instrumental in mapping out strategies that have proved to be tremendously successful for the company. Rasulo joined Disney in 1986 as director of Strategic Planning and Development. During his tenure with the company, Rasulo occupied various positions like chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division, chairman and CEO of Euro Disney and senior vice president of Corporate Alliances before becoming CFO five years back. As per sources, Rasulo has been working with Disney sans a contract after his existing contract expired in Jan 2015.
He is credited for expanding Disney’s California Adventure theme park and opening of the Hong Kong Disneyland. He has also worked on major acquisitions in the last five years that include the $4 billion purchase of Lucasfilm (2012) and Maker Studios (2014).
However, a veteran of 30 years, Rasulo was passed over for the second-best job at Disney earlier this year. Instead, Thomas Staggs was appointed as the COO, which is considered as the grooming position for the next CEO. It is widely expected that Staggs will take over Iger’s position when he retires in 2018.
However, Disney has been extra cautious to avoid a chaotic transition this time around, after a very ugly handover back in 2005 from the then CEO Michael Eisner to Iger.
At present, Disney is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock. Other favorably ranked media stocks include AMC Networks Inc. AMCX, Pearson plc PSO and The New York Times Company NYT. While AMC networks sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Pearson plc and The New York Times carry the same Zacks Rank as Disney.
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