Ex-Disney Exec Joins Roth Venture

Onetime Walt Disney Studios top business executive Rob Moore has been hired by his former Disney boss, Joe Roth, to run Roth’s new entertainment venture.

The widely anticipated move makes Moore, a 13-year Disney veteran, the head of day-to-day operations for Roth’s yet-to-be-named Santa Monica company. In addition to focusing on movie production, Moore will be looking for various business opportunities and overseeing the start-up company’s Internet strategies.

Moore, 37, left Disney in late January, shortly after Roth resigned as head of the studio.

Moore has a small ownership stake in Roth’s new company. “I will have a significant piece of the upside if this works,” Moore said.

The Internet is one growth area that Roth and Moore are cultivating. Shortly after Roth left Disney in early January to start his own company, he quietly made investments in two Internet ventures: Distant Corners, a horror-sci-fi-fantasy site in which he is partner with former Artisan Entertainment executive John Hegeman and best-selling author and filmmaker Clive Barker; and MediaTrip.com, an entertainment site.