By Ben Fritz
Continuing to fill top posts by moving or promoting internal
talent, Walt Disney Co. has named consumer-products president Bob
Chapek as the new head of its parks and resorts division.
Mr. Chapek succeeds Tom Staggs, who earlier this month was named
chief operating officer, making him a top candidate to take the
helm from chief executive Robert Iger upon his planned retirement
in 2018.
A 22-year veteran of the company, Mr. Chapek spent most of his
career heading home video for Disney's movie studio before taking
over the consumer-products business in 2011.
That switch was a relatively natural one, since both jobs
involved selling retail goods. But Mr. Chapek takes his new job
with no experience in the tourism business, as did Mr. Staggs in
2010. With 130,000 staffers, parks and resorts is Disney's biggest
unit by employee count and second biggest in terms of revenue and
profits, behind only television.
In addition to five major resorts and a sixth under construction
in Shanghai whose opening was recently pushed back to the spring of
2016, Mr. Chapek will also now oversee Disney's cruise and vacation
businesses.
Despite a recent measles outbreak centered at Disneyland, the
company's two domestic theme parks have been booming, with
attendance up 7% in the quarter ended Dec. 27. Disney just raised
prices at both of its U.S. parks, breaking the $100 barrier for a
single-day adult ticket to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom for
the first time.
Results were down at international parks last quarter, however.
In October, Disney said it would spend $525 million to recapitalize
the debt-laden operator of Euro Disney in Paris.
In the fiscal year ended Sept. 28 last year, total parks and
resorts revenue grew 7% to $15.1 billion and operating income rose
20% to $2.66 billion.
Disney will name a new president of consumer products later, the
company said. At that point, it will have switched the heads or
co-heads of three of its five operating units in the past year. In
2014, former ABC News president Ben Sherwood was named co-chairman
of Disney/ABC Television, overseeing all the company's television
businesses except for ESPN.
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