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Disney Interactive appoints co-presidents
MUMBAI: Barely a week and a half after Steven Wadsworth quit co-president of Disney Interactive Media Group, the company has appointed former Yahoo entertainment programmer James Pitaro and ex CEO of social gamemaker Playdom John Pleasants as its co-presidents.
The announcement was made by Disney chief Robert Iger. Both will assume office on 18 October.
Pleasants, who will continue to work out of San Francisco and run Playdom, will oversee all Disney‘s video-game businesses, including console titles, mobile and online games, and Web-based virtual worlds such as Club Penguin and the recently launched World of Cars.
Meanwhile, Pitaro will oversee Disney‘s non-gaming online content primarily centered around its Disney.com portal.
Said Iger, “Our rapidly growing Disney digital businesses will benefit greatly from the deep experience and distinct leadership skills shown by John and Jimmy. John has shown incredible agility and skill in helping companies achieve success in the ever-shifting digital games business while Jimmy has vast knowledge of the online world and has been hugely successful at creating and building audiences around branded online content.”
The Disney chief consolidated Disney‘s gaming and Internet operations into the interactive media group in 2008 and put Wadsworth in charge.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
