Jay Rasulo and the Chamber of Secrets

First published November 11, 2002

By C. W. Oberleitner

DizBiz returns with yet another entertaining and informative column. This time around, learn why the inside info flowing out of the Walt Disney Company has slowed to a trickle. Could it be Mr. Rasulo is actively plugging the Mouse House's leaks?

Walt Disney used to say that one of the questions he was most often asked was; "Where do your stories come from?" In fact, he was asked that question so often that he tried to answer it once and for all in a special episode of the Disneyland television series dedicated to explaining the process of story development.

If you are a regular reader of Jim's Why For column you probably already know that one of the questions Jim – and most of the rest of us hard working journalists – is most often asked is; "Where do you get your stories and information from?"

Jim is fond of saying he's a couch potato and this stuff just sort of magically comes to him out of the ether. Actually he's more or less correct. I don't mean about being a couch potato. I mean the ether, more precisely Ethernet.

Virtually all of us in the business of telling the story of the inside workings of America's leading entertainment companies have our sources inside those companies. From fans of a ripping good yarn to the archetypical disgruntled employee folks like to share what they know. We receive a fairly steady stream of information and gossip about the comings and goings of the powers that be inside Disney, FOX, Universal, et al. And, almost all of it arrives via e-mail.

Yes, we do use the phone to call and confirm a fact or story. And, you can never underestimate the value of cruising around a theme park and striking up a conversation with a CM, or ride operator if you're visiting a non-Disney park. Eventually, however, it is the Internet that becomes the writer's best friend. Whether it's opening the e-mail box sifting through the various rants for that gem of a lead or lurking around discussion boards sniffing out a hot topic you just can't beat the Internet for source material. Most of the time that is.

Lately you may have noticed the almost total lack of new Disney related stories to be found in the business section of most newspapers and on the Web. Disney mavens Al Lutz and David Koenig are beginning to look like occcasional guest contributors at MousePlanet and ScreamScape's November 20 update of Disneyland and DCA rumors was little more than recycled speculation that so called insiders have been posting to the various discussion boards since early September.

True, there have been news stories about the release of Walt Disney Pictures The Santa Clause2 and the November 27, release of that studio's latest feature animation film Treasure Planet. These stories, however, have all been, more or less, part of the studio's marketing and promotion effort. The almost daily flow of news and information about the inner workings of Team Disney Burbank and the machinations and melodrama that rages between the shop keepers who run the Disneyland Resort and the resort's fans has all but dried up. And what little new information there is has the faint odor of suspicion about it.

So what's going on? Perhaps the best way to answer that is by following the tried and true story telling technique of our fearless leader Jim Hill, digression.

As The Board Room Turns

The Walt Disney Company is not the only major Fortune 500 conglomerate prone to conducting its melodramatic affairs publicly. Truth be told at one time or another almost all companies engage in this type of behavior, its human nature. Some companies are just more fun to watch going about their daily business than others. That's why just as we have our favorite daytime TV dramas we also have our favorite little corporate melodramas. And, thanks to the Barnumesque showmanship of its co-founder and current CEO one of America's most entertaining companies to watch is Apple Computer, Inc.

Set in the bucolic Silicon Valley, a brief history of Apple reads like a story treatment for a daytime soap opera. In 1976 former Atrari, Inc. computer games designer and college drop out Steve Jobs founds Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak. In 1977 they introduce the first mass marketed personal computer the Apple II. In 1980 Apple goes public making millionaires out of Wozniak and Jobs. Along the way the duo forever changes the way Americans dress for work.

In 1983 in order to better focus his attention on new product development – the as of yet unannounced Macintosh – and show Wall Street that Apple is capable of behaving like a serious corporate citizen Jobs taps PespsiCo. President John Sculley to be Apple's new President and CEO. In 1984 the Macintosh is introduced. By 1985 Wozniak resigns, the company lays off 1,200 employees and in a palace coup Sculley maneuvers Jobs out of Apple. Later that year Jobs starts NeXT, Inc. to build the next great personal computer.

In 1986 Jobs buys a majority stake in Pixar from old pal George Lucas. Sculley is seduced by the siren song of Apple's research and development department and spends millions to develop the Newton, an early PDA. Apple begins posting a series of losses that will take the company to the brink of bankruptcy on more than one occasion.

By 1993 NeXT is forced to close its hardware division and concentrate on operating system software. John Sculley is forced to resign as Apple's CEO. In 1995 Pixar and partner Walt Disney Pictures releases Toy Story. During 1996 Apple gets its fourth CEO, Gil Amelio. Ameilo announces that Apple will buy NeXT and that Steve Jobs will return to the company as an "advisor".

The following year advisor Steve Jobs calls for and gets Amelio's resignation along with the majority of Apple's board of directors. Many of the departing directors had supported John Sculley's 1985 ouster of Jobs. Following Amelio's departure Jobs agrees – at the request of Apple's new board of directors – to stay on as interim or iCEO until a permanent replacement can be found. Jobs accepts this "temporary" position saying that he does not want to take over control of Apple.

On January 6, 2000 in San Franciso's Moscone Center in front of thousands of rabid Macintosh fans and users Steve Jobs announces that he will become the full time CEO of Apple Computer, Inc. At the same time he confirms that he will also remain CEO of Pixar.

Prior to Steve Jobs return while it was losing money and market share at a prodigious rate. News about what was going on inside Apple was easier to come by than a daily weather report. Before the iMac there wasn't a single product introduced by the company that hadn't had its entire development cycle chronicled in great detail on the web, often to disastrous effect. Once word of a newer faster Mac being readied for market reached prospective buyers they stopped buying the current models. This forced Apple to take drastic markdowns to move excessive inventory.

Company politics were common knowledge as well. It was not uncommon for Apple employees to use the Internet to start rumors and fan the flames of Apple related gossip in order to force a rival division into an unfavorable position both within the company and with Mac users. News about who was about to be hired, fired or promoted often reached Mac fanatic websites before the individuals involved reached their desks. And then it all stopped.

Shortly after Steve Jobs returned to Apple he was overheard saying, "This isn't a business. It's a sieve." He set about making it known that he didn't want to learn about new Apple products from the web before he heard about them at the office. And, that the surest way to incur his wrath was by trying to curry his favor via e-mails that somehow mysteriously ended up in the hands of the Mac press.

At first it appeared that Apple employees use to working in anarchy didn't take their returning iCEO seriously. That soon changed. Apple's lawyers began firing off some intimidating letters to unauthorized Mac web sites. They paid particular attention to those sites operated by Apple employees. Apple security officers began publicly escorting a parade of suddenly terminated employees to the parking lot. It wasn't long before the staff grapevine had pieced the puzzle together.

In an effort to stop the flood of unauthorized information pouring out of Apple Steve Jobs had begun a clandestine program of disseminating misinformation around the company's Cupertino headquarters. Key executives were instructed to take suspected leakers into their confidence and provide them with tantalizing but false information about Apple's future plans. The false stories contained specific details that made it easy for Jobs and his managers to trace leaks right back to their source.

The misinformation campaign also paid off for Jobs and Apple in other ways. The Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay area press were so accustomed to tips from within Apple that they seldom questioned the authenticity of the material they were given. With Apple "unofficially" filling the channel with truly deniable information the computing press was beginning to look foolish and ineffective.

So effective was Jobs campaign against unauthorized leaks he was able to catch the entire computing world off guard with the introduction of the iMac. Nobody saw the little blue computer coming. Since that time the Mac press has had to confine itself to guessing about Apple's product plans. To date they have had remarkably little success at predicting Apple's future.

Meanwhile Back in Burbank

All of which – as Jim is fond of saying – brings us back to the current lack of information as to what may or may not be going on inside Disney. Lately cast members around the resort have been a bit more circumspect when it comes to talking about what's going on backstage at the Magic Kingdom. One theory is that everybody from the part timers to the old timers are more or less holding their collective breath waiting to see who else from the Merchandise Mafia – otherwise known as Team Disney Anaheim – follows Paul Pressler back to the malls.

In a chilling parallel to Apple's recent history there have been reports of Disney staffers with unofficial Disney related websites being visited by the company's legal staff. There have been stern warnings about using the company name and posting what the legal depart sees as confidential Disney Company information on those websites.

As mentioned earlier some of the information about Disney that has made its way over the transom lately has been a bit well, fishy. When checking out the accuracy of a story it's uncommon to have two or three sources confirm all the details in exactly the same manner. According to Jim, however, he is seeing more and more of this type of thing. "It's really odd when you have more than one person use the exact same phrasing when describing ongoing events to you." He said.

The current drought of Disney dish began early in October. Coincidentally enough Jay Rasulo was appointed president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, replacing Paul Pressler, during the last week of September. This by itself is not enough to suggest that Mr. Rasulo has begun a Steve Jobs like campaign to stop the unauthorized dissemination of Disney Company information. There is, however, something else to suggest that this may in fact be exactly what is going on.

While doing research to learn more about Mr. Rasulo and how he may run his division of The Walt Disney Company we here at JHM.com have been talking to folks who had an opportunity to observe Mr. Rasulo in action as head of Euro Disney S.C.A. While comparing notes with one of our European sources an interesting observation came out.

We happened to tell one of our European sources about the current lack of anything new in the way of information coming out of either Burbank or Anaheim. Our source, quite casually, informed us that that was pretty much the same thing that happened to European Disney watchers after Mr. Rasulo took control of Euro Disney S.C.A. One day they were flush with information and the next, nothing.

Unlike Apple, no one ever came forward and said Euro Disney S.C.A. or Rasulo ordered a halt to the leaking of unauthorized information. Insider information just stopped flowing shortly after Mr. Rasulo took over.

Has The Walt Disney Company finally had enough of having its dirty laundry and future plans aired all over the World Wide Web? Was one of Jay Rasulo's first official acts as the new president of Disney Parks and Resorts to turn that division into a chamber of secrets? It's probably too early to tell. One thing is for certain. As for now no one has reported seeing any of their co-workers being unceremoniously marched to their car by Disney security.

Epilogue

In the world of show business and themed entertainment the back-story of how various projects come to life is very often every bit as entertaining as project itself. Sometimes the back-story is even more entertaining. Regardless of how fascinating they may be these insider stories aren't worth losing your job over. There are plenty of well-documented stories from the recent past to keep us all enthralled, and Jim very busy for some time to come.

Keep those cards and letters coming. But, let's be careful out there.

Teaser

Some of the stuff we are working on includes, Right Idea Wrong Park, A Tale of Two Schumachers and War of The Websites?

Speaking of Thomas Schumacher and Jay Rasulo, guys call me. Let's do lunch. I'll pay.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

C'ya real soon!