Walt Disney’s Thomas Staggs to step down as COO, following elevation uncertainty

Walt Disney Co had for years followed a carefully set process to choose a successor to chairman and chief executive Robert Iger.

The year 2015, saw the company elevate long-time executive Thomas Staggs to the No 2 role, a move widely seen as his anointment as CEO in waiting of the world's largest entertainment firm.

However, those plans did not quite work out with Disney's announcement yesterday, that Staggs would relinquish his position as chief operating officer in May.

Disney's board of directors had not yet moved in the direction of taking a final decision regarding the CEO selection, and Staggs "read the tea leaves," said one person close to the company who was not authorised to comment publicly, latimes.com reported.

According to people close to the company, one issue for Disney's board might have been Staggs' lack of a serious creative background.

Staggs headed the company's parks and resorts division from 2010 to 2015 during which Disney launched MyMagic+ to allow visitors to more efficiently tour attractions. However, he had no other experience leading a unit that churned out entertainment content.

Although Staggs, 55, was widely viewed as Iger's heir apparent, but the top job was never guaranteed to him. It was also made clear to him a year ago that his work would be evaluated by the board. Iger, 65, would leave the company with the conclusion of his contract in June 2018.

Meanwhile, according to commentators, while lots of people could lead the company when Iger's contract expired in mid-2018, there was no obvious candidate - especially from a younger generation - to run a sprawling organisation with interests in TV, digital, movies, and theme parks.

Indeed, it was also not clear why the board declined to formally designate Staggs as successor, which was  believed to have prompted him to quit.

''We have no reason to believe there was any specific project failure or decision(s) that triggered'' the decision, Bernstein Research's Todd Juenger said, deadline.com reported.