The Rasulo/Staggs Battle to Replace Bob Iger at Disney Heats Up

By Robert Niles: Jay Rasulo just threw an interesting twist into the mystery of who will be Bob Iger's replacement as the head of the Walt Disney Company.

Rasulo, the current chief financial officer for Disney and the former head of the Disney parks, is one of two leading candidates to replace Iger when Iger's contract is up in 2018. The other is Tom Staggs, the Disney Parks chairman who swapped jobs with Rasulo in 2009. Rasulo's contract as CFO is up at the end of the month, and he's not yet signed an extension.

That's promoting quite a bit of speculation about what Rasulo's planning. Disney is expected to name a Chief Operating Officer this summer, who is expected to be Iger's heir apparent. So far, the speculation about Rasulo's motivation for not signing an extension falls into two camps:

1. He is expecting to get the COO job, so he's holding off on signing an extension until he gets the COO assignment and its better financial terms.

2. He is not expecting to get the COO job, so he wants to be free of a contract with Disney so he can walk immediately once Staggs gets the gig.

For what it is worth, in the five years that Staggs has been running the Disney theme parks, I have yet to encounter a single cast member who has said that he or she preferred Rasulo in that job. Everyone I've spoken with in the parks division has preferred Staggs. While that might just mean that Staggs is a better fit for the theme park gig, let's remember that theme parks are the second-biggest moneymaker in the Disney corporation, behind ESPN. And who helped negotiate the deal that brought Disney ESPN in 1996? Tom Staggs.

Keep reading:

• Disney extends CEO Bob Iger to 2018


• Disney kicks Meg Crofton upstairs; Disneyland's Kalogridis takes over Walt Disney World


• Vote of the week: Was Jay Rasulo a success or failure at the Disney theme parks?


• Rasulo out as Disney theme parks chief; Staggs to replace

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