Shocker! Peter Rice Fired From Disney; Dana Walden Taking His Post
09.06.2022 - 19:05
/ deadline.com
UPDATED: Disney has confirmed the exit of Peter Rice and the ascension of Dana Walden. Release is below.
Peter Rice, the highly regarded Disney exec, has been fired, Deadline hears. Rice is the chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content, and has been a respected leader there since moving over after the studio swallowed Fox. Rice was blindsided yesterday by the move, sources said.
Dana Walden, the Chairman of Entertainment, Walt Disney Television, will be succeeding him, we hear. The move marks a high profile restructuring shift made by Disney CEO Bob Chapek, as he continues to put his mark on the studio post Bob Iger.
Both are very well regarded execs, and Rice had to spend the past few months fending off wide rumors that Warner Bros Discovery chief David Zaslav would tap him to run the entertainment business for him. When it was clear Zaslav wanted execs to report directly to him, Rice pulled himself out of the running, making this a true shock.
No immediate reaction by Disney stock or many on Wall Street to this stunner. There’s a Shakespearean element to all this: Chapek has had a rocky go of things, and his contract is up next February. Rice was rumored to be a contender to ascend to the CEO position before Chapek got the job. He’s expected to survive, but had he been deposed, Rice would have been the strongest internal candidate to replace him. Was this a factor? No one is saying.
Rice signed a new contract just last summer. Meanwhile, Walden’s contract was up this year, and she had been negotiating a new one with Disney over the past couple of months. Clearly, for Disney CEO Chapek, it came down to choosing between the two executives, and he made his pick.
The executive shakeup is certain to reverberate throughout