Disney Publishing Worldwide is moving its headquarters from 114 Fifth Ave. in New York City 25 miles north to new offices in White Plains, N.Y. The company is moving approximately 175 employees in several stages and expects to have most of the book group in the new location by the end of the month. The only employees of Disney Worldwide not moving to White Plains are 25 editors in the Disney Press, Hyperion Books for Children and Disney Editions imprints, who will remain in their current location. Angus Killick, head of school and library marketing, is also remaining in New York.
Jeanne Mosure, senior v-p, global publisher at DPW, said that very few people have decided to leave Disney rather than travel to White Plains. “Losses have been minimal,” Mosure said. She also doesn’t believe having two locations will cause communication problems within the company, noting that Disney has been using videoconferencing and teleconferencing for years. The New York editorial office will allow agents and authors to continue to meet with the editorial team in Manhattan, and editors “can come up [to White Plains] as needed,” Mosure said. Every Wednesday, editors will go to White Plains for a weekly sales, marketing and acquisitions meeting (the first one is set for today).
Mosure said the move out of New York will give DPW more room to expand. In the fiscal year ended September 30, sales for Disney’s U.S. publishing group rose 15%, while worldwide licensing sales increased 13%.
With space freed up at the Fifth Ave. location, the Hyperion adult publishing group run by Bob Miller will return to its former home early next year. The division has been located at ABC headquarters on the Upper West Side for nine years.
