Universal Executive Leadership Changes

[OrlandoGuy]

Only in this forum would people getting fat retirement packages (I'm sure) being construed as some great injustice, and the loss of the guy who, being generous, had spotty at best creative instincts after his project partner left for Disney.

My guess is if we weren't as plugged in as we are, we would never know this happened, moving forward.

is this a real take? I’m sure if you look a little you could find plenty of places outside the forum where forced retirements are considered a not so great thing.

 

[JungleSkip]

is this a real take? I’m sure if you look a little you could find plenty of places outside the forum where forced retirements are considered a not so great thing.

"executives who have quietly opted to take voluntary early retirement packages."

"Opted" != "Forced"

 

[Grabnar]

is this a real take? I’m sure if you look a little you could find plenty of places outside the forum where forced retirements are considered a not so great thing.

It's not forced retirement though, these were VERPs. This is Comcast tightening the belt before the expected recession, and it's a good time to get out of the game if you're even somewhat approaching retirement age. Most of the time these programs are >1 year of salary up front with some continuation of benefits that's cheaper than COBRA. Again, looking down the barrel of an engineered recession I would 100% be willing to take that deal, especially knowing that I could go ahead and set up an LLC to do project management consulting in my free time.

 

[Disneyhead]

This kind of shake up won't really effect projects that were already greenlit or under construction. This will almost certainly effect future development.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Alicia]

Yea, been having to point out the “voluntary” word a bit last few hours. Some of the new clickbait-like titles from other outlets aren’t helping things.

Yea, they’re out, but sounds like it was by their own choice. And I’m sure they were well compensated.

Good for them.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Your guys’s experience with corporate speak has definitely been different from mine I guess. My company just did something extremely similar and in NO way was anyone happy for those that got the “generous benefits package” except for a handful in their mid to late 70’s.

 

[Grabnar]

This kind of shake up won't really effect projects that were already greenlit or under construction. This will almost certainly effect future development.

Fingers crossed.

I wonder if this places the velocicoaster guy (Gregory something?) up for accelerated promotion? From the media blitz they did it really seemed like Universal wants him to play a part in what's coming next.

Your guys’s experience with corporate speak has definitely been different from mine I guess. My company just did something extremely similar and in NO way was anyone happy for those that got the “generous benefits package” except for a handful in their mid to late 70’s.

Also varies company by company. My last job had too many people apply and they turned a ton of people down. VERPs generally don't get approved without continuity plans in place so I'm not spectacularly worried :shrug:

 

[nikem3]

As someone who has a 4 star park in Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, I have to say that hearing this news makes me nervous. I once pushed some of my janitors and mascots to early retirement in the game and the park took a beating. Just wanted to give my personal, real life, video game simulation experience.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Creativity has always weathered the storm, Comcast knows (and has made it well-known) the parks are a bright spot in their business. Every company has been going through something similar these past few months now. It's an unfortunate part of the business.

 

[JungleSkip]

Creativity has always weathered the storm, Comcast knows (and has made it well-known) the parks are a bright spot in their business. Every company has been going through something similar these past few months now. It's an unfortunate part of the business.

These guys also won't have problems spinning up an LLC and lapping up "consulting" gigs as freelancers. They'll be fine.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Also varies company by company. My last job had too many people apply and they turned a ton of people down. VERPs generally don't get approved without continuity plans in place so I'm not spectacularly worried :shrug:

I don’t think I’d describe what I said as “worried” (I even had a pretty optimistic take on the state of Epic and the resort I thought). My take is just that this is bigger than a fandom…remember too that some of these guys actually peruse the forums and they have to wade through a page of some people saying they’ll be fine, who cares, they got severance packages, etc. Defending the corporation by minimizing the impact of “voluntary” (wink wink) retirement packages on real people is very strange to me.

Would be interesting to see where those on this thread fall on their respective corporate totem poles and how that impacts their view on it. I also have experience working with UO so maybe it just stings a little harder on my end.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

These guys also won't have problems spinning up an LLC and lapping up "consulting" gigs as freelancers. They'll be fine.

Yup - Someone has to make a list of all the past Imagineers who have set up their own consultations.

Not too worried about this from a creative standpoint either. UC/UPR knows they went overboard with screenz.

 

[Mad Dog]

It'll be interesting to see if any of these gentlemen, or all three, end up forming their own creative company that contracts services to the theme parks. With Epic near, Universal will probably have a
temporary slowdown in projects, so it's probably good timing to leave now with the financial enticement, instead of facing possible cuts, or realignments, in the next couple of years. As some have mentioned,
media companies are facing some future uncertainty in lieu of the streaming bubble bursting, as many predicted, but few paid heed to it's overly lofty expectations. That'll result in some trickle down
financial tightening. These three just probably read the tea leaves, and their response is logical.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Don’t forget the opportunities it opens up for younger employees there.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Don’t forget the opportunities it opens up for younger employees there.

Yup it's a never-ending cycle unfortunately.

Fire the ones with more experience/higher salaries and replace them with young talent/lower salaries.

Perfect time for UC to realign itself for the future as well. Their largest creative efforts in history (EU & Beijing) are pretty much wrapped up now, time to plan for the future with no major projects yet (outside of possibly Europe) and trim down a bit.

 

[Nico]

Well Im sure Disney Fans said that about Chapek saying he was groomed by Iger and look how that turned out. Who is even the underlings of TC?

Gregory Hall was the face of VC. Is he still a part of Creative? (I don’t consider the term “underling” as particularly apt for the situation.)

 

[ReelJustice]

Someone please force me to retire early. Please. I’m begging you.

 

[GAcoaster]

Don’t forget the opportunities it opens up for younger employees there.

And Universal Creative has a lot of staff members who were recruited from park operations-- people who actually understand the parks and aren't bean counters or interns who never set foot in a park but this looks good on their resume.

Also, leaving UC can lead to opportunities for those who left including continuing to work on Universal projects through outside firms.

 

[belloq87]

My only mild “concern” stems simply from a current lack of knowledge about who will fill the leadership roles, how long that will take, and what impact that might have on the speed of post-EU projects getting developed and built.

 

[Brian G.]

The impression I'm getting is that it is NOT a negative for either party.

So there's that.