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Originally Posted by Eliza Creststeel
Supposedly Disney's Online division has a new boss - I'm hoping this is a GOOD thing.
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Disney Interactive now has 2 bosses. Disney named James Pitaro and John Pleasants as Co-Presidents of the Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG). They are replacing Steve Wadsworth who stepped down in September. This follows a move by Disney to acquire nearly a billion dollars in assets designed to strengthen their position in on-line content, gaming and social networking.
Pitaro come from Yahoo where he was the head of several of the website’s most popular sections, Finance, News and Sports. Pleasants was the CEO of social game developer Playdom and will continue in that role now that Disney has recently purchased Playdom for just over $700 million.
Pitaro and Pleasants are taking over DIMG at a troubled time. The LA Times claims that DIMG has been a “financial burden” to Disney and that “Wall Street has grown impatient.” The article goes on to cite that both Pixie Hollow and Pirates Online are less successful than anticipated. Club Penguin is, in essence, carrying much of Disney Interactive on its shoulders.
The most interesting point in the news release is the lack of reference to Pirates Online:
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Originally Posted by LA Times
BURBANK, Calif., October 3, 2010 -- John Pleasants and James Pitaro have been named Co-Presidents, Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG), it was announced today by Disney President and CEO Robert A. Iger….
Pleasants, who will be based in the Bay Area, will oversee Disney’s overall games strategy and its global network of game development studios, including recently acquired mobile publisher Tapulous. The games group will include such popular online virtual worlds as Club Penguin and World of Cars as well as console and mobile titles.
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The omission of Pirates Online from Disney’s official press release might be just that. An omission. Time will tell.
I really believe that the only thing Disney is afraid of is losing money.