Universal poaches Disney boss for top European role

Disneyland Paris marketing director Bruno Maglione has been poached to head the European operations of Universal Studios Consumer Products, the division which negotiates third-party tie-ins.

Maglione takes up the new post of European managing director of Universal Studios Consumer Products. Keith Isaacs, who is Universal’s senior vice-president of international consumer products, retires on March 31. This position will be merged into Maglione’s new post.

The division handled the licensing of the 1997 Steven Spielberg sequel to Jurassic Park, The Lost World, which was widely recognised as one of the largest licensing deals in the world. The deals for that film totalled 200m and included companies such as Kodak, Hasbro, Sega, Mercedes and Timberland.

The division has a tie-in deal with Boots which sells licensed children’s apparel with images from Babe: Pig in the City. Other Universal films that will screen in the UK this year include Patch Adams, starring Robin Williams, and the thriller Virus.

After initial worries over whether it was drawing enough people, Disneyland is now showing a profit. Last year it made 29m, up 34 per cent on 1997.

Euro Disney, of which Disneyland Paris is a subsidiary, is also looking to invest 686m in building a second site alongside its original park.