She’s Really Gone: Disney Confirms MT Carney’s Exit as Marketing Chief

“This has been a remarkable journey and I look forward to seeing your continued brilliance everywhere,” Exec writes in staff-wide memo

Disney confirmed the exit of marketing chief MT Carney on Monday after news of her departure spread throughout the media over the weekend. 

Her exit ends a tumultous two year run for the marketing maven, who never adapted to Hollywood's clubby ways. In late March, TheWrap reported that the studio was activing seeking to replace her while she was still on the job.

Also read: Disney Seeks to Replace Marketing Chief MT Carney (Exclusive)

In a memo to staff on Monday, Carney said she was exiting her post of president of marketing to spend more time with her family in New York. 

"After much consideration, I have decided to leave the Disney family to return to my own," Carney wrote. "It is terribly hard to leave, but I have been constantly torn between my kids and my job, and like all good Hollywood movies, the kids have to win."

"This has been a remarkable journey and I look forward to seeing your continued brilliance everywhere," she added.

A Disney representative declined further comment on her exit.

As TheWrap reported on Sunday, the exec was already effectively gone from the Burbank studio, where she hadn't been seen for weeks.

Carney presided over a rocky tenure that saw the disappointing box office performance of such films as "Mars Needs Moms" and "Secretariat," as well as a few bright spots such as the widely praised campaign for "The Muppets."

Also read: MT Carney Leaving Disney Marketing Role, Say Sources

Carney, a Hollywood newcomer, joined Disney from the New York City-based media planning and strategy firm Naked Communications in April 2010. She was seen by studio chief Rich Ross as having the potential to shake up the Disney's marketing culture with fresh ideas and an iconoclastic approach, but her outsider status ended up working against her in cliquish Hollywood. 

It wasn't long before the studio began quietly shopping Carney's job. 

In late November, TheWrap reported that Disney aggressively courted Sony’s chief of marketing Marc Weinstock to replace Carney, and sounded out Josh Greenstein, a senior marketing executive at Paramount, for the job as well. Both turned it down, sources told TheWrap.

The studio is now in the unenviable position of recruiting another marketing chief after the very public flameout of Carney.

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