Disney is in the final stages of selecting the next CEO of The Walt Disney Company. Disney’s board of directors is expected to announce the successor to Bob Iger in early 2026. Now, there is a new report with sources inside Disney describing the current, final, stage of the succession process.
The key candidates shared their vision for the future of Disney and the sources provided context on what it’s like inside Disney right now during this process. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news, including looks at Disney’s plans to reduce phone use by park guests and the recent announcement of Bluey coming to the parks.
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Disney CEO Succession Process Wrapping Up
Before diving into the next Disney CEO, it’s important to have the context of where we are today. Current Disney CEO Bob Iger has postponed his retirement five times and in the process has “helped push out a number of top executives poised to succeed him”, according to a new paywalled report by the Wall Street Journal. Bob Chapek was finally selected to succeed Iger in 2020, before Iger returned two years later to reassert himself as CEO and steady the ship. See our reporting on that moment here.
The Walt Disney Company is widely expected to promote their new CEO from within. The leading contenders are parks chief Josh D’Amaro and television head Dana Walden. These candidates are considered the leading options by people who work with Disney that spoke with the Wall Street Journal. The following details are from the report from the Wall Street Journal.
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Disney has stated that they will pick the new CEO in early 2026. Whichever candidate is selected is expected to work alongside Iger for a while to learn the ropes before officially taking over. Iger’s contract runs through December 2026, so they would have about 9 months of mentorship time built in.
The board wants to have as little drama as possible around the succession process this time. That includes working to prevent the loss of senior Disney executives when the new CEO is picked. The process is being run by Disney Chair of the Board James Gorman, who previously ran a drama-free succession process at Morgan Stanley. That process had similar internal candidates jockeying, and executives who didn’t get the top job stayed with the bank.
When Disney CEO Bob Chapek was selected, this process of keeping executives was not as carefully orchestrated. Many top executives departed when Iger left the company, including his communications chief Zenia Mucha, general counsel Alan Braverman, and studio head Alan Horn. They appear to be attempting to prevent this mass exit this time around.
The company has extended contracts for key executives, including its general counsel, chief financial officer and heads of communications and human resources. The new contracts all end between 2027 and 2029, according to public disclosures. A person familiar with the business shared that they have also had contract extension talks with other top executives who report to Iger, including the people who operate key business units.
The report stated that contract extensions could include bigger titles and expanded responsibilities for top executives who are not chosen as CEO, and pay increases, in an attempt to get them to stay at Disney.
Disney contracts typically last 3 to 5 years, according to the report. Alan Bergman, the chairman of the studio, Josh D’Amaro, and Dana Walden were all appointed to their new positions in 2023.
Leading Contenders and Vision For Future of Disney
Josh D’Amaro, runs Disney experiences which includes theme parks, consumer products, cruise ships, and videogames. He has been widely reported as the leading contender for the new CEO job. His most likely rival is Dana Walden, the co-chair of Disney entertainment and head of Disney television.
The Wall Street Journal states that supporters of D’Amaro say he is “analytical, comfortable talking to Hollywood talent who’ve collaborated with the parks and a charismatic public ambassador for the Disney brand”.
The Disney theme parks continue to grow as Disney’s most important business, as linear television has stopped delivering the profits it once did. The report states that “D’Amaro has overseen numerous price increases at the parks while remaining popular with fans”.
Josh D’Amaro and Dana Walden each met with the Disney board this summer in Orlando, Florida (presumably at the board meeting at Walt Disney World, though the report doesn’t say) to discuss their visions for the future of Disney.
The report indicated that D’Amaro pitched video games as a key part of Disney’s future. His vision includes giving them “a bigger role at the company and integrating gaming technology throughout its creative processes”. He previously led Disney’s $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games last year and has overseen the relationship with the “Fortnite” maker. This integration into the creative processes is already happening, including with the changes to the Star Wars Millennium Falcon attraction.
The article did not provide a look at what Walden pitched as her vision for the future of Disney.
Employees have aligned behind-the-scenes with D’Amaro or Walden, according to the report, but none of the candidates want to be seen as engaging in politics. With that said, we at Mickey Visit have been watching every appearance closely, from how candidates presented (or didn’t present) at the D23 Expo to how they performed in financial presentations.
Josh D’Amaro has been at Disney since 1998 and Walden has been at Disney since 2019 when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox. Walden’s backers say she is Disney’s “most experienced and accomplished creative executive”.
While Disney has looked to outside candidates, including videogame company Electronic Arts chief Andrew Wilson, most at Disney believe that an internal candidate will be promoted to CEO. There were also murmurs of a Co-CEO setup at Disney, which the board has not addressed. While Disney has never had a formal Co-CEO setup, the company flourished under the joint management of Michael Eisner as CEO and Frank Wells as President before Wells died in a tragic helicopter crash.
The Journal ended their report by summarizing the challenges facing the next CEO of Disney, which include the ongoing $60 billion investment to turbocharge Disney theme parks, including the completely new theme park resort, the increased focus on streaming services over linear television, and how to “re-energizing key movie brands such as Marvel”.
At Mickey Visit, we will continue to bring you the latest Disney news and planning resources. We are watching this race closely and will be looking forward to sharing the end result of the Disney CEO race. Please let me know what you think in the comments here and on social media.
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Bob Iger went on leave for 11 months (not two years as you had stated) — I say “leave” because he never gave up his office. Clearly Iger was using Chapek as a fall guy with which to blame and then justify firing/laying off countless (thousands) of employees. Iger also purged the COO & President positions. WHY? You would think those positions were important to train in before becoming CEO. And why did they make an announcement to making an announcement of CEO? Because it is yet another ploy-scam by Iger to remain in control. Iger will NOT leave Disney. Even with his stepping aside, he has a 5 year consulting built into his contract. Iger will be around for a long, long time.
What a nightmare if Dana Walden ran the whole company and feminized the Disney output even more, if that’s possible.