DISNEY - HEADS CONTINUE TO FALL AT DISNEY

HEADS CONTINUE TO FALL AT DISNEY

Like a replay of Alice in Wonderland in which the Queen orders, "Off with their heads!" top executives of the Walt Disney Company continue to fall. Mark Zoradi, head of Disney's motion pictures group, is the latest to be forced out, following the ouster of longtime Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook in September and Miramax chief Daniel Battsek in October. Only last weekend Zoradi was awarded the Louis B. Mayer's leader of the year award in the motion picture business from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. But some industry observers have observed that Disney chief Robert Iger regarded him and the other ousted executives as being too wedded to the past and therefore too reticent to launch bold initiatives -- like closing the window between theatrical and DVD releases.

10/11/2009