Bob Iger Steps Aside: Josh D'Amaro Set to Lead Disney Into New Era

In a significant leadership reshuffling announced this week, The Walt Disney Company has formally named Josh D’Amaro as its next Chief Executive Officer, with the transition set to take place on March 18, 2026, coinciding with the company’s annual shareholder meeting. D’Amaro will assume control from Bob Iger, the visionary leader who has guided Disney through two decades of transformative growth and strategic acquisitions. Iger will transition to a senior advisor role, maintaining a seat on Disney’s board of directors until his anticipated departure at year-end. Additionally, Dana Walden, co-chair of Disney Entertainment, has been elevated to the newly created position of President and Chief Creative Officer, overseeing the company’s media, entertainment, news, and content strategy portfolio while reporting directly to D’Amaro.

The Leadership Transition: What’s Changing at Disney?

The board’s unanimous vote to elevate D’Amaro underscores confidence in his vision for the company’s future direction. James P. Gorman, Disney’s board chair, emphasized that D’Amaro “combines inspiring leadership with innovation, possesses a keen strategic eye for growth opportunities, and demonstrates genuine commitment to the Disney brand and workforce—qualities essential for navigating the company through its next chapter.” This transition marks a generational shift, as the incoming CEO brings expertise rooted in experiential business operations rather than studio and entertainment production, signaling a potential strategic pivot in how Disney prioritizes its various business segments.

D’Amaro’s Impressive Track Record at Disney’s Experiences

With nearly three decades at Disney, D’Amaro has built a formidable reputation managing the company’s most consistently profitable operations. He previously led Disneyland Resort in Anaheim and Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, before ascending to oversee the entire Experiences division—a sprawling business encompassing theme parks, cruise ship operations, and consumer products. The financial significance of this segment cannot be overstated: the Experiences division generated approximately 57% of Disney’s total profit during fiscal 2025 (ended September 27), making it the company’s profit engine during a period when other segments faced headwinds.

Under D’Amaro’s stewardship, Disney’s experiential properties have driven the introduction of groundbreaking themed attractions and destinations. His contributions include expanding the company’s most iconic franchises through projects such as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the Marvel-themed Avengers Campus, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and World of Frozen. These additions have proven remarkably successful in attracting visitors and driving spending. Looking ahead, D’Amaro has championed upcoming attractions including a Monsters, Inc.-themed land at Disney World and an Avatar-themed destination at Disneyland, demonstrating his capacity for forward-thinking strategic planning.

Bob Iger’s Legacy: Building a Modern Media Empire

To contextualize this leadership change, understanding Bob Iger’s contributions to Disney provides essential perspective. Since taking over the CEO role in 2005 from predecessor Michael Eisner, Iger orchestrated a series of landmark acquisitions and strategic initiatives that fundamentally reshaped the entertainment landscape. His acquisition strategy—including Pixar in 2006, Marvel Entertainment in 2009, and Lucasfilm in 2012—brought some of the world’s most valuable creative properties under the Disney umbrella. The subsequent acquisitions of 21st Century Fox assets in 2019 and the remaining stake in Hulu in 2023 further consolidated Disney’s dominance in content creation and distribution.

Perhaps most significantly, Bob Iger spearheaded Disney’s entry into the streaming era through the 2019 launch of Disney+. This bold move transformed the company from a traditional media conglomerate into a digital-first content powerhouse, though the transition has proven more economically complex than initially anticipated. Iger’s tenure was not without challenges; he stepped down in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic devastated theatrical releases, theme park revenues, and cruise operations. However, his return in late 2022 proved crucial: he engineered a dramatic corporate turnaround, implementing approximately $5.5 billion in cost reductions while positioning the company for renewed growth.

The Challenges Ahead: Can Success Translate Across the Company?

The critical question facing investors is whether D’Amaro can successfully transfer his proven excellence from the Experiences segment to lead the entire Disney enterprise. Disney’s traditional broadcast and cable media operations have experienced prolonged structural decline as cord-cutting and audience fragmentation continue reshaping the television industry. The company’s stock performance reflects these headwinds, having essentially stagnated over the past three years despite broader market growth. This contrasts sharply with the robust performance of the theme parks and experiences division, which has consistently delivered strong returns even during uncertain economic periods.

D’Amaro inherits a company at an inflection point. While the Experiences division generates reliable profits, Disney’s legacy media business requires either significant transformation or strategic repositioning. The incoming CEO must navigate several interconnected challenges: reigniting growth in streaming operations, reversing the decline in traditional media assets, maintaining the momentum and profitability of theme parks amid consumer spending pressures, and articulating a clear strategic vision that unites these disparate business segments under coherent leadership. The market will closely monitor D’Amaro’s early decisions, including his approach to cost management, creative partnerships, and portfolio prioritization, to assess whether his track record can expand beyond experiential businesses to encompass the full scope of Disney’s operations.

Investors should view this transition not merely as a personnel change but as a critical test of whether Bob Iger’s successor can sustain and extend the growth trajectory of the world’s most diversified entertainment conglomerate.