We have breaking news on the announcement of Disney’s next CEO. We have been watching for months since Disney announced that they would be announcing a CEO in early 2026 at the end of 2024. Now we are finally here.
Last week we correctly predicted and discussed the next CEO. Let’s get into the details that were announced. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including details on the latest Disney World changes and 7 big Disney announcements from yesterday.
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Disney Announces Josh D’Amaro as Next CEO
Disney has announced that Josh D’Amaro, the current Chairman of Disney Experiences, has been selected as the next CEO of The Walt Disney Company effective at the upcoming Annual Meeting on March 18, 2026, when he will succeed longtime Disney CEO Robert A. Iger. The Board also intends to appoint D’Amaro as a director immediately following that meeting.
As head of the company’s largest business segment with $36 billion in annual revenue in FY2025 and 185,000 Cast Members and employees worldwide, D’Amaro, a 28-year Disney veteran, is the architect of the largest global expansion in Disney Experiences history, and has led the segment to new heights financially, creatively, and in guest satisfaction.
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“Josh D’Amaro possesses that rare combination of inspiring leadership and innovation, a keen eye for strategic growth opportunities, and a deep passion for the Disney brand and its people – all of which make him the right person to take the helm as Disney’s next CEO,” said James Gorman, Chairman of The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors. “Throughout this search process, Josh has demonstrated a strong vision for the company’s future and a deep understanding of the creative spirit that makes Disney unique in an ever-changing marketplace. He has an outstanding record of business achievement, collaborating with some of the biggest names in entertainment to bring their stories to life in our parks, showcasing the power of combining Disney storytelling with cutting-edge technology. The Board believes he is exceptionally well prepared to guide this global company forward to serve our consumers around the world and create long-term value for shareholders.”
“Josh D’Amaro is an exceptional leader and the right person to become our next CEO,” said Robert A. Iger, CEO, The Walt Disney Company. “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.”
Concurrent with D’Amaro’s appointment, Dana Walden, Co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment, has been named President and Chief Creative Officer of The Walt Disney Company, also effective March 18. As Co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment, Walden has led Disney’s world-renowned, award-winning entertainment media, news, and content businesses globally, including Disney’s streaming businesses. In this new role – a historic first for the enterprise – Walden will report directly to D’Amaro and 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.
“Dana Walden is an excellent leader who commands tremendous respect from the creative community,” continued Iger. “Given that creativity is at the heart of everything Disney does, she is a wonderful choice to serve in this new leadership role. In the years since Dana joined Disney, she has accumulated great knowledge about the many facets of our businesses and brands, and is very well prepared to be President and Chief Creative Officer.”
Bob Iger has provided extensive mentorship to the internal candidates throughout the succession planning process, and upon transition will continue to serve as Senior Advisor and a member of the Disney Board until his retirement from the company on December 31, 2026.
Iger has led Disney to unprecedented creative and business success during his nearly two decades leading the company. Since his return in 2022, he has spearheaded a strategic transformation of the company, guiding Disney through a period of significant industry disruption and positioning it for long-term growth in this new era of entertainment. As part of this transformation, Iger moved quickly to restructure the organization, empower creative leaders, and restore financial discipline, establishing four strategic priorities: strengthening the quality and economic output of the film studios, delivering sustained profitability in streaming, positioning ESPN as the premier digital destination for sports fans, and turbocharging growth across Disney Experiences. Today, Disney is more agile and more resilient, and D’Amaro will take the helm of a company that is in a vastly stronger position than it was three years ago.
“I am immensely grateful to the Board for entrusting me with leading a company that means so much to me and millions around the world,” said Josh D’Amaro, incoming CEO of The Walt Disney Company. “Disney’s strength has always come from our people and the creative excellence that defines our stories and experiences. There is no limit to what Disney can achieve, and I am excited to work with our teams across the company and brilliant creative partners to honor Disney’s remarkable legacy while continuing to innovate, grow, and deliver exceptional value for our consumers and shareholders. I also want to express my gratitude to Bob Iger for his generous mentorship, his friendship, and the profound impact of his leadership.”
“On behalf of the entire Board, we extend our deepest gratitude to Bob Iger for his extraordinary leadership and dedication to The Walt Disney Company,” continued Gorman. “The Board asked Bob to return as CEO in 2022 for two critical reasons. First, to lead the company through a challenging transition and ensure Disney was fit for purpose for the future. Second, to strengthen the leadership bench and to help develop candidates for the CEO transition. Bob has delivered on both priorities, while also guiding Disney through a transformative period with an ambitious strategy that has further strengthened its position as the world’s premier entertainment company. After nearly two decades leading Disney, the Iger era has been defined by enormous growth, an unyielding commitment to excellence in creativity and innovation, and exemplary stewardship of this iconic institution.”
Josh D’Amaro has worked for Disney for 28 years after beginning his career at the Disneyland Resort. He has been widely touted as one of two front-runners for the position. Dana Walden, the Co-Head of Disney Entertainment, was widely considered to be the other finalist for the role. In the coming weeks and months we will detail the shifts in the executive leadership ranks that will cascade from this move. Key open questions – who will be the next head of Disney theme parks and will Dana Walden remain at Disney?
Last week I wrote about the “irresistible case” for Josh D’Amaro as CEO as we were entering the final week of his push to become CEO. In that article, I broke down, the four key attributes and realities that made him the most likely candidate.
He is known among fans as down to earth and deeply caring about the theme parks. Since becoming Disneyland President in 2018, he has become a celebrity among Disney theme park fans, many of whom stop him to chat or take a selfie.
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This celebrity status carries forward to his ability to step into the role of Disney politicians, statesmen, and showman. This is an aspect of the Disney CEO job that Bob Iger handles so artfully. D’Amaro in many ways has fashioned his look and public persona on Iger and will be able to successfully step into this area. He is one of the best executive presenters we have seen at D23, for instance, and knows how to deliver what a crowd wants.
As I shared in my previous analysis, in 2022, D’Amaro knew that they didn’t have enough to wow fans at the D23 Expo and took a risk with a Blue Sky presentation that teased the projects that would turn out to now be the addition of villains, Cars, Encanto, and Indiana Jones to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. Though the presentation initially invited speculation about what had been actually announced that day, D’Amaro’s instinct to push to reveal more to fans successfully demonstrated a long-term vision. Through his insistence on remaining close to guests, he has kept his finger on the pulse of the fandom and understands where he and the company need to be.
D’Amaro’s management style is also fitting with the wide-ranging aspect of the CEO job. He is known for trusting his specific resort leaders and Imagineers around the world with key decisions as they know their businesses best. This is a trait that Bob Iger has also been known for internally.
He has also developed strong relationships with key creative partners across The Walt Disney Company. He has made appearances at events with key creative leaders of Marvel, Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and more. He also has demonstrated his understanding of Walt Disney Imagineering.
Finally, D’Amaro manages the Disney Experiences segment of the company that, in fiscal 2025, delivered a record $10 billion in operating income. Disney overall reported $17.6 billion, meaning that the Disney Experiences division accounted for 57% of the overall operating income in 2025. This can’t be overlooked. Disney Experiences is the growing part of the Disney business. Plans are under way for new rides at Disneyland and new rides at Disney World as part of the $60 billion investment in theme parks and cruise lines to turbocharge the offering.
With more than half of Disney’s operating income now coming from Experiences, the division has become the company’s financial growth engine.
In my analysis I also wrote about how Dana Walden has no theme parks experience and Josh D’Amaro has no content production experience. The board made the decision to elevate both of them to create a structure where there are leaders in place to handle both the theme parks and Hollywood.
Some suggested that a Co-CEO structure could be likely. This arrangement seems to get the benefits of that co-leadership while establishing a clear final decision maker. We are glad that Disney is keeping their senior leadership at the company and that this transition already appears to be going so smoothly.
What Does Josh D’Amaro’s Selection Mean For Theme Park Fans?
The selection of Josh D’Amaro as the next CEO of The Walt Disney Company signals as likely a continuation of the current plans to invest $60 billion in new rides and attractions over the next decade as we could hope for.
While some of the substance of what is being added to could shift, we can expect to see Disney continue to double down on theme parks as the core of the business. We could say that this is great news for Disney theme park fans, but it is also great news for Disney shareholders as the theme parks continue to grow their share of the total profit from Disney with each passing year.
We will have to wait a little while to understand what this means beyond the continuation of investment in the Disney theme parks. We already know that there Disney has many more projects to announce for their theme parks around the world. We have only heard about the first five years of the $60 billion investment in the theme parks and the second five years are actually supposed to have more of the investment.
As a theme park fan, I am personally pleased to have someone from the parks taking the helm and ready to guide the company and the theme parks into the future with expanded investment to create more of the experiences that we all cherish.
In my opinion, there is only one announced Disney theme parks project that could change based on the new CEO and we wouldn’t hear this immediately.
Of all the new projects coming to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, the one that is the least publicly defined and has had no work start yet, is the Pandora – World of Avatar addition at Disney California Adventure. Even Villains Land at Walt Disney World has had the site cleared. Nothing like that has happened for Pandora yet.
We know that this was Bob Iger project as part of his return as CEO and connection with director James Cameron. That might be enough to carry it forward, but there have been a lot of comments made by Disneyland fans asking for something else instead. Every time we talk about the project we receive a wave of comments from followers wishing for some other addition in its place. Granted many of those commenters have never experienced Pandora in Disney’s Animal Kingdom which is a superb land, but we take the point. If there is any project that could be potentially shifted in the future, both from an interest standpoint and reality that no dirt has been moved, it would be this one. Add to this that while the newest Avatar film was still a global hit with over a billion at the box office, it is not on the same level as the previous two movies. That said, they did emphasize the success of Avatar on the earnings call yesterday.
Beyond theme parks, we can also expect to see a tone setting big move from Josh D’Amaro that defines his era of Disney leadership. Bob Iger kicked off his time as CEO by pretty quickly looking to acquire Pixar from Steve Jobs. That set off a spree of intellectual property acquisitions over his tenure that included Marvel, Star Wars, and eventually 20th Century FOX. What will be Josh D’Amaro’s first big move be?
Stay tuned to Mickey Visit as we bring you more of the latest Disney news and planning resources.
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