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Kareem Daniel to exit Disney after Bob Iger restructures Media And Entertainment Distribution Division

Bob Iger disclosed the news in a letter to employees.

Kareem Daniel is exiting Disney as head of its Media and Entertainment Distribution division, a day after the exit of CEO Bob Chapek.

Newly reappointed CEO Bob Iger disclosed the news in a letter to employees . Iger said he has tasked Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro and Christine McCarthy to design “a new structure that puts more decision-making back in the hands of our creative teams and rationalizes costs.” That initiative, he added, “will necessitate a reorganization of Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution.” Walden, Bergman and Pitato are chairs of Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Studios Content ESPN and sports content, respectively. McCarthy is chief financial officer of the Walt Disney Co.

In stark contrast to the Iger era, when decentralization flourished, the governing idea of Chapek’s creation of DMED was to streamline the process of creating the optimal release plan for all film and TV titles, in theory minimizing internal friction. In Daniel, detractors say, the effort was headed by a business-minded exec who hadn’t developed extensive experience in overseeing film and TV slates.

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