Disney names parks chief Josh D’Amaro to succeed Bob Iger as CEO
Disney said Friday that it will name parks chief Josh D’Amaro as its next chief executive, taking over from Bob Iger in a transition effective March 18.
The company also said Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden will step into a newly created role as president and chief creative officer of The Walt Disney Co., reporting to D’Amaro. Disney’s leadership change comes as it seeks growth by linking its entertainment content with its experiences businesses, including theme parks, cruises and resorts, and as its media and streaming operations remain a key part of its strategy.
Disney said Iger will continue serving as a senior adviser and board member until his retirement from the company at the end of the year. D’Amaro, 54, has overseen Disney’s theme parks, cruises and resorts since 2020, the company said, and he also leads Walt Disney Imagineering, which handles the design and development of Disney’s theme parks, resorts, cruise ships and immersive experiences.
Disney said its Experiences division has been a substantial moneymaker, citing $36 billion in annual revenue in fiscal 2025 and about 185,000 employees worldwide. The company’s statement positioned D’Amaro for the chief executive role by tying the Experiences leadership responsibilities to broader demands on Disney’s entertainment output, including using the company’s intellectual property to support new movies and theme park additions, while also pushing for streaming growth and continuing to build its sports business.
In framing the search and succession plan, Disney highlighted the company’s handling of its CEO transition, which follows a difficult earlier leadership change. The company said the decision on its next chief executive comes almost four years after it replaced Iger with Bob Chapek, a move Disney said had “disastrously” led to Iger’s return in 2022 after a period of clashes and weakening financial performance under Chapek.
Disney said it began planning for succession in 2023 and began its CEO search in earnest in 2024, when it enlisted James Gorman—Disney’s chairman and a former executive chairman at Morgan Stanley—to lead the effort. The company said that even with an external search, it was widely expected to look internally for the next CEO, in part because Disney executives were being mentored by Iger and had extensive contact with the company’s 15 board members, including Iger.
Gorman said in prepared remarks that D’Amaro 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,” adding that he has “an outstanding record of business achievement,” including collaborations with major entertainment names to bring their stories to life in Disney’s parks while combining Disney storytelling with technology.
Gorman also described the central role of creativity in the business, telling CNBC in an interview: “I think if you think about what is the heart of the Disney company, it’s the creativity. It’s this amazing IP that’s been produced over decades, going back to Walt, and the storytelling that comes from that creativity.” He said Dana, working with Josh and ensuring that the best creativity permeates Disney’s businesses, is what the company “wanted.”
The timing of the succession announcement comes as Disney has benefited from box-office hits such as “Zootopia 2” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” while also confronting headwinds including a decline in foreign visitors to its U.S. theme parks, which Disney’s statement linked to a broader drop in U.S. tourism amid an aggressive immigration crackdown by the Trump administration and tensions with many of the country’s trading partners.
Disney said D’Amaro has been leading a multiyear $60 billion investment into its cruise ships, resorts and theme parks and also runs its licensing business, including a partnership with Epic Games. The company added that Walden joined Disney in 2019 and previously spent 25 years at 21st Century Fox, including serving as CEO of Fox Television Group, before co-leading Disney Entertainment’s streaming and entertainment media businesses with the expectation that her new creative role would support D’Amaro’s leadership.