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Disney Parks Chief Is Looking Very Much Like the CEO in Waiting
Search for Bob Iger’s successor is viewed as two-horse race with Josh D’Amaro in the lead
By
Thomas Buckley
October 2, 2025 at 10:30 AM UTC
- Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger bristled at the suggestion that Josh D’Amaro will succeed him as CEO, saying the board hadn’t made a decision.
- The board is focused on four internal candidates, including D’Amaro, Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, and Jimmy Pitaro, to succeed Iger when the company names a new CEO early next year.
- D’Amaro is viewed as a leading candidate due to his understanding of Disney’s culture and his success in leading the company’s theme-parks division, which has been Disney’s most profitable division.
Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger was chatting at the Farmshop restaurant in Santa Monica, California, a couple weeks ago when the conversation turned tense.
His breakfast partner suggested Josh D’Amaro, head of Disney’s theme-parks division, “will do a great job when he’s appointed CEO.” Iger bristled, according to a person who witnessed the exchange. He raised his voice, saying the board hadn’t made a decision and that he had “no idea” where that notion was coming from.
The conversation reflects a growing consensus among many Disney executives, former executives and industry leaders that D’Amaro will succeed Iger when the company names a new CEO as planned early next year. The board is focused on four internal candidates, including D’Amaro, entertainment co-heads Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, and Jimmy Pitaro, who leads ESPN. Iger’s contract ends in December 2026.
Disney has reported the number of succession committee meetings, without providing other details. The process is being led by Chairman James Gorman, who oversaw a successful leadership transition at Morgan Stanley before joining Disney’s board in February 2024. A Disney spokesperson declined to comment.
The division that D’Amaro has led since 2020 is Disney’s most profitable. The “Experiences” business, which includes theme parks, cruise ships and consumer products, has boosted sales every year since the pandemic.
Through nine months of fiscal 2025, profit in the division rose to $8.12 billion, a third more than Disney’s TV, film, streaming and sports operations combined. The past few years have been a struggle for those businesses, which are still trying to find their footing in an age when many consumers no longer watch conventional TV or go to the movies as much.
Disney has
earmarked up to $60 billion to expand the resorts division over the next decade with more attractions, more cruise ships and a licensed company theme park in the Middle East, its first in the region. D’Amaro also oversees Disney’s $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games, creator of the
Fortnite game franchise.
One goal of the succession committee is to avoid past missteps. Over the years, Disney serially delayed the retirement of Iger, losing a number of potential internal candidates in the process. At his behest, the company appointed then-parks chief Bob Chapek as CEO in 2020 only to fire him and bring Iger back in 2022.
This time, succession is widely viewed inside and outside of Disney as a two-horse race, led by D’Amaro, 54, who was born 20 years to the day after Iger. Competing with him is entertainment co-Chair Walden, who primarily runs Disney’s TV business. Bergman and Pitaro are viewed as long shots, according to Disney executives who asked not to be identified talking about someone who may soon be their boss.
In recent months, D’Amaro has been looking like a CEO in waiting, through interactions with investors, employees and the broader entertainment industry.
In July, he appeared alongside Iger and Mickey Mouse as the New York Stock Exchange celebrated
Disneyland’s 70th anniversary. D’Amaro attended movie premieres in Los Angeles on two consecutive nights that month.
In May, the parks chief participated in a question-and-answer session at a MoffettNathanson investor conference before showing up at rival Netflix Inc.’s presentation for advertisers and catching up with its senior executives. In March, at the South by Southwest festival, he appeared on a panel about the future of storytelling alongside film chief Bergman.
Walden and Bergman have distinguished themselves by steering the
Disney+ streaming service to profitability after years of losses. Walden has also sought to make inroads with Wall Street, such as participating in a panel at a Morgan Stanley media and technology conference in March and being interviewed on CNBC’s
Mad Money show in May.
Under her tenure, Disney has produced such TV hits as
The Bear and
Only Murders in the Building.
More recently, Walden played a leading role in the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show over remarks he made about the killer of activist Charlie Kirk, and in the internal deliberations that led to the program’s return days later.
Pitaro participated in a Bank of America conference in September, shortly after launching a new streaming version of ESPN.
Among Disney executives discussing succession, a common theme has been D’Amaro’s understanding of Disney’s culture, according to people with knowledge of the matter. He has worked at Disney for almost three decades, while Walden joined the company in 2019 after Disney’s $71.3 billion acquisition of the Fox entertainment business.
While D’Amaro has never supervised Disney’s film or TV units, he interacts almost daily with the people who run those businesses and is well liked by them, several of the people said.
In March, at a retreat in Florida for Disney’s top 300 managers, the four divisional leaders were given equal time to showcase their businesses and say how they will shape the company’s future, the people said. D’Amaro’s presentation, about the potential of the Experiences unit to bring Disney’s brand and entertainment properties to life, was especially inspiring, the people said.
In a game of pickleball at the retreat, D’Amaro lost a doubles match against two executives from the film studio, the people said. Insiders on hand joked they were surprised — they assumed he’d win anything he competes in.
My thought:
If it’s down to 2 in the front (Josh D'Amaro and Dana Walden), I think Disney should take a page from both Comcast and Netflix, and make both Josh and Dana co-CEOs, since Josh is parks and Dana is media. They can then find someone to be the company’s President/COO, like what the late Frank Wells was. If only they brought in either Tom Staggs or Kevin Mayer, so either one can stay at Candle Media to look after it.