NEW YORK--Walt Disney on Tuesday named theme parks head Josh D'Amaro as CEO, ending years of succession uncertainty and placing a longtime insider at the helm as artificial intelligence and a wave of consolidation upend the media industry.
D'Amaro, 54, will take the reins from Bob Iger, 74, at the company's annual investor meeting on March 18. Iger, credited with shaping the modern Disney through deals for Pixar, Marvel and 21st Century Fox, will stay on as a senior adviser and board member until his retirement from the company on December 31.
Disney also named entertainment co-chief Dana Walden, a creative executive in the mold of Iger with a string of commercial and critical hits and strong talent ties, as chief content officer and president.Walden was among the internal candidates for the CEO role along with entertainment co-chief Alan Bergman and ESPN head Jimmy Pitaro.
Succession has long been the storied entertainment giant's weakness - it delayed Iger's retirement several times and brought him back in 2022 to replace his handpicked successor, Bob Chapek, after the pandemic hobbled its business. To avoid another misstep, Disney in 2024 named Morgan Stanley veteran James Gorman as its chairman to oversee the CEO search. Gorman, who led a smooth transition at the Wall Street bank, joined after the House of Mouse extended Iger's tenure for a fifth time through 2026. The search committee evaluated 100 external candidates in addition to internal contenders.
Gorman said the committee considered the candidates' vision for the company, their understanding of the Disney brand, their creative chops, and their embrace of technological innovation - particularly artificial intelligence."There's so much that he's done creatively, and storytelling, and such a deep understanding of the brand and where the industry is going," said Gorman. "I thought it was a fabulous choice."
With D'Amaro, Disney is turning to a nearly three-decade company veteran who runs its biggest profit engine - the experiences unit that includes theme parks and cruises and whose sales have grown every year after the pandemic receded in 2021.Last fiscal year, the division turned a record operating profit of nearly $10 billion, making up nearly 60% of the company's earnings.Disney shares were down 0.7% on Tuesday.
D'Amaro is leading the company's push into the Middle East with a theme park in the United Arab Emirates' capital, Abu Dhabi, that would mark its first major new park in nearly a decade. But a decline in international visitors to the U.S. is weighing on the parks business, with Disney shares falling more than 7% on Monday after the company flagged the "headwind" even as its overall sales and profit exceeded expectations.
