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Disney Executive's Exit Leads to Outside Hunt for Next CEO

  • Exit complicates efforts to find successor to Robert Iger
  • Staggs is said to have struggled to gain support of board
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Disney's Heir Apparent Tom Staggs Steps Down

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For years, Walt Disney Co. Chief Operating Officer Tom Staggs was being groomed to succeed Chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger at the world’s largest entertainment company. Now those plans are off.

Staggs is stepping down from his role next month, a surprise move that forces Disney to look outside the company for its next chief executive officer. Whoever replaces Iger, a 65-year-old whose contract is up in June 2018, could be the first outsider to run the company since Michael Eisner in 1984.