Disney Reshuffles the Deck with a New CFO
After several eventful years and 20 quiet ones before that, Christine McCarthy has stepped down as the Chief Financial Officer of The Walt Disney Company.
What just happened, and what does this change at the top mean for Disney’s future?
Who Is Christine McCarthy?
There’s an unspoken rule of upper management at high-profile corporations.
The ones who perform their job duties well remain largely anonymous to the outside world until such a time as their bosses champion them.
I’ll demonstrate by example. Do you know who Kristina Schake is?
Disney hired Schake as spokesperson more than a year ago. The nature of the beast in this business is that you don’t know her.
Weirdly, you probably remember her successor, though. Geoff Morrell failed spectacularly in the same role and ultimately cost Disney millions of dollars.
Schake has held a similar position for three times as long and counting. You don’t know her because she’s proven demonstrably better at the jobs.
When an executive does their job well, the job duties appear calm to outsiders. When they don’t, we get Bob Chapek as CEO.
I mention all this as a preface to the career of Christine McCarthy, a fine financial expert who first worked as a CFO in 1997.
Disney later poached her in 2000 to work as the company’s treasurer. Eventually, McCarthy earned the prestigious title of Disney CFO in 2015.
Wall Street reveres McCarthy because she’s a total pro.
The Ballad of Christine McCarthy
For the first two decades McCarthy worked at Disney, she avoided headlines and performed her job admirably.
Then, circumstances took a turn when she made an off-the-cuff quip about how Disney theme parks might cut meal portions to help fans with our waistlines.
We’ve joked about the matter several times, as it wasn’t a smart thing to call Disney fans fat.
In truth, McCarthy sensed a leadership vacuum once Iger announced his retirement.
To the woman’s credit, she tried to step up by taking a more vocal role as one of the three most powerful executives at Disney.
I applaud McCarthy for this attempt, as her instincts were correct. Bob Chapek simply wasn’t someone ready for the spotlight.
Sadly, McCarthy didn’t prove any better in this role. Still, she tirelessly defended Disney, even at Chapek’s expense.
As Disney’s financial struggles mounted – and let’s be clear that they’ve never been as bad as some would suggest – McCarthy did the math.
The CFO recognized that the executive suite only held one lifeboat, and she jumped on it before Chapek could.
McCarthy informed Disney’s Board of Directors that Chapek had committed some shady business practices to hide the company’s streaming losses.
After a particularly frustrating earnings call, McCarthy vented to Jim Cramer about all Chapek’s mistakes.
This conflagration of events directly led to the termination of Chapek as CEO, coinciding with Chapek’s return.
McCarthy didn’t simply row her lifeboat away safely. Others hailed her as a hero.
The Hero Takes a Fall
For a time, McCarthy basked in the spotlight as Wall Street celebrated her actions.
A source even told Deadline that McCarthy had become the leader in the clubhouse to replace Bob Iger as CEO.
My comment in response was, “Go home, Deadline. You’re drunk.”
Sometimes, when I make predictions or projections, I worry about my accuracy, fearing it will reflect poorly on the hard-working people at MickeyBlog and MickeyTravels.
This…wasn’t one of those times.
The idea of McCarthy as CEO never passed the laugh test, as her PR struggles were readily apparent.
Even so, many speculated that McCarthy had a job as Disney CFO for as long as she wanted.
While I’ve never viewed the situation that way, believing that McCarthy’s long-term fate was inexorably linked with Chapek’s, it’s beside the point.
Disney has replaced McCarthy as CFO for reasons other than her competence. Her family has reportedly experienced a health crisis.
So, let’s all take this moment to be humans and respectful Disney fans.
We are grateful to Christine McCarthy for everything she has contributed to our favorite company during the past 23 years.
I sincerely hope that her health is okay and that she possesses the free time now to cater to the needs of her loved ones.
From the wording, we don’t know whether the health problem is hers or a family member’s. Whatever the case, we wish the McCarthy family the best.
What Happens Next?
Based on the presentation of this story, I believe McCarthy had the choice to leave, but the timing is noteworthy.
Her replacement, Kevin Lansberry, will start on July 1st, giving her two weeks to tie up her job duties.
A genuine health risk would require an immediate sabbatical unless someone has surgery that couldn’t be scheduled until July.
So, McCarthy will pass the baton. In the process, the final remnant of the Chapek leadership era will leave Disney.
Yesterday, June 14th, Bob Iger placed a decade-long stamp on Disney’s film division by claiming tentpole movie releases through 2031.
Now, the CEO will choose a permanent successor to McCarthy as CFO, and that’s the intriguing part.
The wording explicitly stated that the job isn’t Lansberry’s long-term. He may not even want to unpack.
Disney could be giving him a trial by fire to see how well he performs, but it sounds like the company will explore outside options for this role.
Instead, the CEO appears set on finding another Kristina Schake, an executive who will come in, keep their head down, and do the work.
The smoothest transition here would involve Lansberry claiming the role permanently.
If Iger picks an outsider, we should pay close attention, though. That hiring represents the CEO’s next long-term stamp on Disney.
The company needs stability more than anything right now. So, this story is sneakily important to Disney’s road map for the next decade.
PS: Be well, Christine McCarthy. I had some fun at your expense with the salad story, but you’re a pro’s pro.
Feature Image: Getty Images
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