Disney brings back Tom Staggs, Kevin Mayer

Staggs and Mayer will assist ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro on developing and analysing partners for the business.

Walt Disney’s CEO, Robert Iger has brought back two former heirs apparent, Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, to advise on the future of Disney’s legacy TV businesses, as per media reports.

Staggs and Mayer, "Will assist ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro on developing and analysing partners for the business." Iger has said he's searching for strategic partnerships for ESPN but is willing to consider selling some of Disney's TV networks as it tries to make streaming more profitable, Disney tells Bloomberg.

Both men had once been tipped as potential successors to Iger — Mayer as head of M&A and the architect of its streaming strategy; Staggs as CFO — before leaving as their chances faded.

As per a report, Mayer and Staggs will help Iger think about “linear” TV properties like ABC. The legacy TV division is a business that Wall Street has been focused on since Iger effectively put a for-sale sign on it this month by saying the unit may not be core to the company’s future.

Mayer and Staggs now run Candle Media, an investment company that has bought an array of production studios.