The hunt for a successor to Disney CEO Bob Iger is heating up after the entertainment giant appointed former Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman as chairman of the Disney board this week, confirming that a new CEO would be appointed in “early 2026.”
The race as it currently stands seems to be narrowing on an executive from Disney’s creative ranks, which means the co-chairs of Disney Entertainment — Dana Walden and Alan Bergman — have the early lead. Walden, who clearly has the leading position, would be Disney’s first female CEO in its 101-year history.
An individual with knowledge of Iger’s thinking told TheWrap earlier this month that former executives Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer are not seen as succession candidates for the top job, even after the duo returned to Disney last year as consultants with their private equity firm Candle Media. Iger has frequently stated that his successor would need to be someone steeped in Disney’s creative and storytelling foundation.
The pressure is mounting on Disney’s board to make a prudent choice, especially given the disastrous attempts to find a successor to Iger after his previous 15-year stint as CEO.
After several failed attempts, in early 2020 Disney named Bob Chapek to succeed Iger. Chapek, who worked in Disney’s home video division, along with consumer products and parks, oversaw a folly filled tenure that included angering Marvel Studios star Scarlett Johansson, a bungled response to Florida’s Don’t Say Gay bill and an extreme devaluation of Pixar movies. In November 2022, the board removed Chapek and reinstalled Iger.
Once back at Disney, Iger largely undid the organizational changes that Chapek had made. When Iger took the stage in August for the Disney Studios presentation at D23, a kind of all-Disney Comic-Con held outside Disneyland, he received a standing ovation.
But the impact of that bungled succession has lingered. Earlier this year, Disney fended off activist investor Nelson Peltz in a months-long proxy battle. One of his main criticisms for the decline in Disney’s stock price from its all time-high of $201.91 in 2021 to a 52-week low in October 2023 was the company’s succession failures, which he blamed partly on a board that was “too closely connected” to Iger. (As of the end of Tuesday’s trading session, Disney stock closed at $96.74 apiece.)
Disney’s next CEO also will have to confront the AI revolution, which has implications not only for the content that Disney generates but for the experiences it provides in its theme parks and cruise ships.
“One of the skill sets that the next CEO is going to have to have is the ability to understand how large language models can benefit the company through acquisitions or partnerships, and that involves threading multiple needs with the creative teams that Disney employs, the actors who are still needed and want to insure that they’re fairly compensated, and making sure the output generated by the models is still under the control of the company,” one person with knowledge of the situation said.
In the race
Dana Walden, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment
If you’re looking for an executive on the creative side, it’s hard to find one more accomplished than Walden.
In 2024 alone, Disney programming under her leadership earned a staggering 395 Emmy nominations and 116 wins. These included victories across all TV spaces from streaming (“The Kardashians”), broadcast entertainment (“Abbott Elementary”), broadcast news (“Good Morning America”) and the mighty winner on cable (“Shōgun”).
Walden has also proven that she has an eye for talent. At Fox, she advocated early for Ryan Murphy and pushed to create “Glee,” a partnership that has earned millions for her former company and later Disney. That also proves her talent relationships move with her from company to company.
Walden was also behind the development and production of massive hits like “24,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “American Idol.” There’s also the Fox of it all. Before joining Disney, Walden served as the CEO of Fox Television Group. Her transition from Fox to the current state of Disney proves she can successfully lead during a merger or acquisition, an essential skill for anyone who’s hoping to head Disney.
While she clearly has creative chops, that’s only one part of Disney. Unlike D’Amaro, Walden doesn’t have any experience overseeing Parks or Resorts, which comprise the Experiences segment of Disney that pulled in 36% of the company’s revenues and 71% of its profits last quarter. That may be an obstacle but not an insurmountable one with the right team.
On the other hand, Walden’s advocates note that she has brought her division into profit per Iger’s directive since he returned to the CEO suite, which Parks has not.
Critics note a lack of deal-making experience, though her advocates note that she was deeply involved, along with Bergman, in strike negotiations last year.
She also lacks experience in the film industry. The acquisition of the highly lucrative “Bluey” proves she may have a good eye for talent in the children’s space, which is vital for anyone hoping for this job. But as many in Hollywood know all too well, the movie game isn’t the same as the TV game.
Final point: Walden has a close relationship with Vice President Kamala Harris, a close friend for more than three decades. Should Harris win the presidency, that could only help Walden’s positioning as a would-be CEO.
Alan Bergman, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment
Disney will always be a movie company first and foremost, and that’s the realm where Bergman lives. Since he became president of the Studios division in 2005, 28 of Disney’s movies have surpassed the $1 billion mark.
Those milestones showcase Bergman’s nimbleness. He rules over a formidable brand empire, which is to his executive credit. But the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm were made by Iger and his strategic team, not Bergman.
During Bergman’s tenure in Studios, Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, Marvel Entertainment in 2009, LucasFilm in 2012 and both 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures in 2019. Those are five wildly different companies, yet Bergman has overseen successes from them all.
“Avengers: Endgame,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Avengers: Infinity War” all crossed the $2 billion mark, becoming four of only six movies to do so. Bergman also oversaw the massively successful “Frozen” movies, as well as “Inside Out 2” on the animation front and more mature films like “Nomadland” and “Poor Things.” This shows that Bergman has experience convincing teams to play nice and make great art in the middle of stressful acquisitions.
However, arguably it was the creative and executive leadership at each of those brands that drove the brilliance of those movies, including Kevin Feige at Marvel, Pete Docter at Pixar and Kathleen Kennedy at Lucasfilm. This makes Bergman far less of a creative leader than Walden.
Much like Walden, Bergman also doesn’t have any experience on the Parks and Resorts side. And just as Walden hasn’t spent time on the movies side, Bergman hasn’t spent much time on the TV side.
And while many in Hollywood are quick to sing Walden’s praises in awards speeches and profiles, that’s notably not as often the case when it comes to Bergman.
Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Josh D’Amaro, current chairman of Disney Experiences, has been a rising star at Disney since 1998. He has served in a number of positions, including as chief financial officer of Disney Consumer Products License and vice president of Adventures by Disney (the excursion company).
He also served in a number of roles related to Disney Parks. He was vice president of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, vice president of Resort & Transportation Operations at Walt Disney World (which oversees the monorails). And he went from president of Disneyland to president of Walt Disney World, before taking over Chapek’s role at Experiences.
D’Amaro has become something of a sensation for the Disney Parks super fans, who regularly request selfies with him. And careful observers have seen how often he has visited various parks with Iger, usually flanked on the other side by Walden, suggesting that both are key contenders for next in line. D’Amaro’s knowledge of his division cannot be overstated. Experiences is a crucial component to Disney’s overall business model, an area that all other business units contribute to, particularly Disney Studios, and Disney+, which made sure there was a Mandalorian walk-around character in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
But the foundation of Disney, as Iger has said many times, is the creativity and the content. That comes from entertainment and puts D’Amaro at a disadvantage. Succession-watchers at Disney noted that he conspicuously showed up to the D23 showcase this year with celebrities like John Stamos, Darren Criss and Billy Crystal, perhaps in a bid to emphasize his talent relationships.
“Creators lost sight of what their No. 1 objective needed to be,” Iger said in November at the DealBook Summit in New York. “We have to entertain first. It’s not about messages.”
D’Amaro could streamline and expedite things that would have taken much longer under previous regimes, such as drawing up parks attraction plans drawn up before a movie comes out. But it’s unclear how creative D’Amaro actually is. Still, even unpopular decisions — such as removing Tom Sawyer’s Island from Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom to install a “Cars” attraction or the possible closure of Muppet*Vision 3D — don’t seem to stick to him. He keeps on chugging, his million-watt smile beaming proudly.
Jimmy Pitaro, chairman, ESPN
ESPN head Jimmy Pitaro has two big advantages in the CEO race: He understands the tricky and vital business of live sports, and he’s had Disney experience outside of his current niche. Disney considers ESPN to be one of its three core businesses, and under Pitaro’s leadership, ESPN has maintained its status as one of the leaders in the sports broadcasting space.
Pitaro also has one of the most difficult tasks when it comes to transitioning the company’s linear business to streaming — turning the profitable sports network into a fully direct-to-consumer service, which will launch in 2025. He’s a key player behind Venu Sports — a joint venture with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery — which has been put on hold as the media giants appeal a preliminary injunction won by Fubo in August due to antitrust concerns.
Pitaro previously served as chairman of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media. Though it’s not parks experience, in that role Pitaro worked with the Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel brands, helping to create everything from a gaming slate to home goods branded with iconic characters. He served as chairman of the division until 2018, which was around the height of major industry changes such as the rise of streaming. Before that he was head of media at Yahoo, where he oversaw Yahoo Sports and Yahoo Music.
While Pitaro may have an edge over Walden and Bergman when it comes to consumer experience, like D’Amaro, he lacks creative chops. Though ESPN has had some unscripted hits like the ongoing “30 for 30” series, Pitaro has little to no experience developing or producing on the scripted side.
And Pitaro may suffer from an affliction far too common in corporate America — he’s too good at his current job. Given that there are few major sports networks and even fewer that are as ubiquitous as ESPN, it may be easier to fill Walden or Bergman’s roles than Pitaro’s. It’s also unclear if Pitaro even wants the Disney CEO gig. During ESPN’s Media Day in August, Pitaro denied the ongoing job search impacted how he approaches his job as ESPN chairman. “I’m sitting in my dream job,” he said.
He doesn’t seem to be campaigning for the role in the same way as others in the corporation.
Out of the race
Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs
For a while, this seemed like an attractive alternative. Some Wall Street analysts speculated that Disney would acquire Candle Media and install Staggs and Mayer in roles similar to the Michael Eisner/Frank Wells configuration of 1984. That seemed like even more of a real possibility after Disney brought the former executives back last year as outside consultants to work on the management of ESPN and strategic alternatives for its India sports property. But that Disney consulting contract has since ended, according to the person familiar with Iger’s thinking.
Staggs served as COO and a chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, where he closed a deal for the “Avatar” theme park rights and spearheaded the Shanghai Disneyland project. Mayer assisted in the acquisition of several big-name gets in Iger’s portfolio, including Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, and was named chairman of Disney direct-to-consumer and international, where he spearheaded the launch of Disney+.
Between the two of them, they have decades of Disney knowledge and operational prowess. It seemed like a no-brainer. But despite their popularity on Wall Street, the return of the dynamic duo was not to be.
The wild card
Somebody from the outside
All of the speculation about who will succeed Iger has come from within the gilded walls of the company’s courtly Magic Kingdom. But the X factor, of course, is somebody chosen from the outside.
When Disney selected Michael Eisner to run the company, he was coming off a hot streak at Paramount Pictures. In turn, he nabbed Jeffrey Katzenberg, also from Paramount, to run Disney’s movie division. There are plenty of movie studios and production houses in Hollywood, even more when you factor in the streaming giants. Could Disney find someone particularly gifted, visionary and future-facing to run the company?
Tough call. Disney is an incredibly complicated, diverse, international company with its own very specific corporate culture. Breaking into that from the outside would be a challenge — especially when it comes to getting the board to sign off.
Disney has built its brand on limitless imagination and the power of magic, but in the recent past it has fallen back on the tried-and-true – IP plays, remakes and reboots. Sleeping Beauty is starting to really snooze. Time to find somebody to wake her up.
Alexei Barrionuevo, Lucas Manfredi and Sharon Waxman contributed reporting to this article.
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