Club Penguin

Club Penguin Makes It Easier for Kids to Chat Using Predictive Text

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on October 28, 2011 at 5:00 am PT

Club Penguin, the insanely popular Disney-owned virtual world that’s accessible from the browser, has made it easier and safer for kids to communicate within the game.

Exclusive: Yahoo News Head Moves to Disney.com, Which Will Get Big Redo

Kara Swisher in News on March 16, 2011 at 3:27 pm PT

Yesterday, BoomTown reported that Mark Walker, the head of the powerful Yahoo News site, was leaving the Internet giant for another company. That company, sources said, will be Disney, where Walker will be leading a major overhaul of its flagship Disney.com site.

When You Wish Upon Two (Web) Stars: CEO Bob Iger Talks About the Next Digital Direction for Disney

Kara Swisher in News on October 4, 2010 at 6:00 am PT

Yesterday, after Disney named two longtime Internet execs–Playdom’s John Pleasants and Jimmy Pitaro of Yahoo–as co-presidents of its Internet unit, BoomTown did a longer interview with CEO Robert Iger about the entertainment giant’s next Web moves to make it both relevant and profitable. Hope springs eternal. “I have tried to keep two obvious philosophies,” Iger told me. “First, that our current business not get in the way of adopting new technologies, and, second, that our business belongs on these new platforms.”

Yahoo's Jimmy Pitaro Lands Digital Co-President Job at Disney With Playdom's John Pleasants

Kara Swisher in News on October 3, 2010 at 9:45 am PT

Jimmy Pitaro, who is leaving his job running the powerful media properties at Yahoo, has taken a job as co-president of Disney Interactive Media Group, with John Pleasants. Pleasants was CEO of Playdom, the online game company that Disney acquired for $763 million in late July. The appointment of the pair, both of whom will report to Disney President and CEO Robert Iger, is a big move by the entertainment giant and looks like another attempt to clarify and bolster its Web strategy, which has had a long and often rocky history.

Game Site OMGPOP Asks Teens to Pay Up

Peter Kafka in Media on June 15, 2009 at 5:00 am PT

Earlier this year, casual game site OMGPOP raised $5 million from venture capitalists. Now it’s trying to extract some cash from its users.

Another Down Quarter for Disney, but Cable’s OK

Peter Kafka in Media on May 5, 2009 at 1:14 pm PT

A bad quarter for Disney, but it could have been worse–at least Wall Street was expecting it. After factoring out one-time charges and write-offs, Bob Iger and company earned 43 cents a share on revenues of $8.1 billion. Wall Street had been looking for 40 cents and $8.15 billion, respectively. The bright spot for the entertainment conglomerate is the same one you see at every media giant these days: Disney’s cable business.

Disney Combines Digital Units (Here's the Iger Memo)

Kara Swisher in News on June 4, 2008 at 9:52 pm PT

In what is likely to turbocharge its heft in the digital space, according to an internal email sent out by Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, the company is combining its Disney Interactive Studios and the Walt Disney Internet Group. The new unit, called Disney Interactive Media Group–will be headed by WDIG’s Steve Wadsworth. WDIG has a wide range of properties, like Club Penguin, ABC.com and Disney.com. DIS makes a range of games for Disney brands like “Hannah Montana” and “Wall-E.”

KidZui’s Parent Plan Lets Children Explore in Safe Corner of Web

Walt Mossberg in Personal Technology on March 20, 2008 at 12:01 am PT

A new service called KidZui aims to offer kids a safe subset of the Internet where they can roam freely without triggering parental worry.