Disney finance chief sees cartoon hero as role model

Jay Rasulo, seen as one of two possible successors to Walt Disney chief executive Robert Iger, invokes his company's well-known characters when discussing his role as chief financial officer.

"I gotta have a big heart, I gotta love everybody, I've gotta reach out to the world as Woody does in our stories," Rasulo said, when asked why he sometimes compares himself to the Toy Story hero. "But on the other hand, I'm still counting the money like Scrooge McDuck."

Rasulo said Disney often faced decisions that cost in the short run and yet built stronger ties with consumers, such as policing foreign makers of licensed goods. He became finance chief in 2009, after leading Disney's parks for about seven years, when Iger asked him and then finance chief Tom Staggs to switch jobs. Both men are seen as possible successors when Iger steps down in 2016.

"It has been an incredible learning and broadening experience, certainly for me, I'm sure on both sides of it," said Rasulo. "In this role, you get to experience the breadth of the [company]."

The Columbia University economics graduate, who started out with the company in strategic planning in 1986, said part of Disney's success lay in how it deployed capital.

About 65 per cent was reinvested in the businesses, such as theme-park rides, movies or sports rights for the ESPN network, among the largest contributors to group profit, he said. The company also pays dividends, buys back stock and seeks acquisitions that add to its character library or provide new distribution outlets.

Last year, Rasulo, who also has master's degrees from the University of Chicago, supervised a companywide cost-cutting initiative, designed to make sure the company was adapting to technological changes in its businesses. That led to hundreds across several divisions being fired.

In March, he was appointed to oversee Disney's US$500 million acquisition of Maker Studios, the money-losing provider of online short-form videos.