Walt Disney Co has appointed Josh D’Amaro as its new chief executive officer, ending a prolonged and closely scrutinised succession process that has dominated conversations in Hollywood and on Wall Street for more than a year.

D’Amaro will succeed Bob Iger, becoming the ninth chief executive in Disney’s 102-year history.

Disney’s share price slipped by just over 1% in early trading on Tuesday after the announcement.

“Josh D’Amaro is an exceptional leader and the right person to become our next CEO,” Iger said in a statement.

“He has an instinctive appreciation of the Disney brand, and a deep understanding of what resonates with our audiences, paired with the rigor and attention to detail required to deliver some of our most ambitious projects. His ability to combine creativity with operational excellence is exemplary and I am thrilled for Josh and the company.”

A closely watched succession battle

D’Amaro emerged as the leading candidate after a tightly contested race with Dana Walden, Disney’s entertainment co-chairman.

The appointment marks the second time in six years that Disney has named a successor to Iger, after his earlier choice, parks chief Bob Chapek, led to a high-profile leadership crisis that ultimately brought Iger back to the helm and reset his retirement plans.

While D’Amaro takes the top job, Walden has been appointed president and chief creative officer of The Walt Disney Company.

Disney said Walden’s new role will “ensure that storytelling and creative expression across every audience touchpoint consistently reflect the brand, engage audiences at scale, and advance core business objectives, while driving enterprise-wide initiatives and translating vision into action.”

Josh D’Amaro’s expertise in parks to steer the company

The 54-year-old executive has spent nearly three decades at Disney, much of it in the theme parks business across the United States and overseas.

Since 2020, he has led the experiences unit, overseeing theme parks, cruise ships and consumer products.

Led by D’Amaro, experiences accounted for 38% of Disney’s revenue in its last fiscal year and 57% of operating income.

Under his leadership, the experiences segment recorded a 6% rise in revenue in fiscal 2025 and generated a record $10 billion in operating income.

On Monday, Disney reported quarterly earnings and revenue that exceeded expectations, buoyed by its theme parks and streaming business, even though the stock fell 7%.

However, Disney’s experiences’ segment has become the company’s primary growth engine, underscoring a shift from its historical reliance on television networks.

D’Amaro then steps into the role as Disney grapples with structural changes in its business and mixed investor sentiment.

Industry experts say D’Amaro’s appointment reflects Disney’s prioritisation of its most profitable business lines.

Disney also plans to invest $60 billion in theme parks and cruise businesses by 2033, the largest expansion programme in its history, and D’Amaro will be made the man in charge to oversee the implementation of this mammoth vision.

D’Amaro’s strategic ambitions beyond parks

D’Amaro’s vision extends beyond physical experiences.

According to The Wall Street Journal, he intends to expand Disney’s presence in video games and integrate gaming technology into its creative processes.

He championed Disney’s $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games in 2024 and has overseen the company’s relationship with the maker of Fortnite.

The move highlights Disney’s effort to deepen its engagement with younger audiences and explore new digital revenue streams.

Yet the entertainment business remains central to Disney’s long-term strategy.

The company continues to navigate the decline of traditional television while pushing for profitability in streaming and investing heavily in marquee content.

Investors will now look to D’Amaro to articulate a coherent growth strategy at a time when Disney’s stock is down nearly half from its 2021 peak and has remained largely stagnant over the past three years.

Questions over creative leadership

D’Amaro’s appointment has reignited debate over whether executives from Disney’s parks and consumer products divisions are best suited to lead a creative-driven company.

Critics argue that leaders with operational backgrounds may lack the expertise required to manage Hollywood talent and storytelling.

While Disney’s entertainment division is smaller than its experiences in financial terms, it remains the source of characters and narratives that underpin its broader ecosystem of attractions and merchandise.

Most of D’Amaro’s career has focused on finance and theme park operations.

However, during his tenure at experiences, he has worked closely with entertainment executives, cultivated relationships with creative talent and played a more active role in Walt Disney Imagineering, the unit responsible for designing attractions and cruise ships.

He also recruited senior leadership to revitalise Imagineering, signalling an effort to bridge the gap between creative ambition and operational execution.

A smoother transition in focus

Disney’s board appears determined to avoid a repeat of the turbulence that accompanied previous leadership transitions.

Iger’s retirement has been postponed multiple times, and his return in 2022 followed a corporate shake-up that exposed divisions within the company.

This time, the board has sought a quieter and more deliberate process. According to The Wall Street Journal, it aimed to minimise departures and preserve institutional stability following the CEO announcement.

Iger’s tenure spans nearly two decades across two stints.

After rising through the ranks at ABC and Disney’s corporate leadership, he served as CEO for 15 years before stepping down in 2020.

The succession experiment with Bob Chapek, however, was overshadowed by the Covid pandemic and strategic disagreements, leading to Iger’s dramatic comeback in 2022.

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