ESPN's longtime boss George Bodenheimer stepping away

Nov 23, 2011 |

Reuters

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Walt Disney Co announced a management shake-up at ESPN on Tuesday, saying longtime President George Bodenheimer would leave behind his day-to-day duties after 13 years in which he built the network into a sports powerhouse.

Disney tapped John Skipper to replace Bodenheimer as ESPN president and the co-chair of Disney Media Networks. Skipper will take over those roles on Jan. 1, when Bodenheimer steps away from his day-to-day operating duties and moves into the position of ESPN executive chairman.

Skipper has been ESPN's executive vice president of content since October 2005.

The shift comes just weeks after the news that Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger will step down as CEO in March 2015 after nearly a decade at the helm. That announcement set off a guessing game over who would eventually take over the media giant, with many on Wall Street pointing to Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo and Tom Staggs, who heads the company's theme parks and resorts division.

Shares of Disney were down 2.2 percent at $33.57 in midday trading.

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