Yeah, thats the part the news outlets seem to forget. The hiring paradigms this time around favor cronyism and nepotism over actual merit and skill, and direct hire just augments that 10 fold

It's possible and pretty common in the Voice Acting industry. Many characters have outlived their VAs such as Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Winnie the Pooh, Kermit the Frog, etc.

Subsequent VAs do impressions of the original voice. Largely these impressions are exceedingly close to the original voice and people hardly notice the change

It's funny how these kinds of articles always read exactly the same. I honestly want to know what offices they are using for these supposed metrics because it seems like people are doing everything they can to just endure and waste time while in actual offices.