Disney taps Pleasants and Pitaro to lead digital content unit

The Walt Disney Company named John Pleasants and James Pitaro co-presidents of its Walt Disney Interactive Media Group unit, replacing former group president Steve Wadsworth, who resigned last month. Pleasants, who previously served as DIMG executive vice president, joined Disney earlier this year as CEO of social gaming phenom Playdom, which Disney acquired for $763 million in July 2010. In his new role, Pleasants will spearhead Disney's digital games businesses, including online, console, social and mobile; he also will continue running Playdom, which engages an estimated 42 million active gamers each month and ranks as the third-largest social game provider on Facebook. The Playdom portfolio also includes free iPhone titles like Social City, Sorority Life and Mobsters: Big Apple. Pleasants' responsibilities also include Tapulous, the mobile music game developer Disney snapped up in July.

Pitaro joins DIMG after a stint as vice president and head of media at Yahoo, where he oversaw the digital services giant's original video, branded entertainment and editorial content initiatives. He also led the expansion of Yahoo Sports. As head of Disney Online, Pitaro will charged with enhancing the consumer experience across the entertainment titan's myriad branded web and social media sites, including Disney.com and Family.com. Pitaro also will lead DigiSynd, Disney's social media marketing agency. Both Pleasants and Pitaro will assume their new roles on Oct. 18.

Wadsworth joined Disney in 1993 and assumed oversight of its digital efforts six years later--in the decade to follow, he also added supervision of the company's mobile and gaming initiatives to his duties. Wadsworth's exit is the latest in a series of high-profile Disney exec departures--according to the company's recent Q3 earnings report, Disney Interactive Media Group posted a quarterly operating loss of $65 million.

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