News Josh D’Amaro Named Next CEO of The Walt Disney Company

[Disney Analyst]

I work at a company much bigger than Disney and sit next to the CEO. You can influence the CEO if you’re good. Josh isn’t good enough or he agrees with him. Both are bad.

and the company I work for has a CEO that’s a micromanager and you have to let their decisions fail before they’ll sometimes listen to you …

 

[Jrb1979]

Also an acknowledgment that wall street is super dumb and makes no sense ever, truly.

I disagree. Wall Street likes things they understand and know. From day one Wall Street has never liked theme parks or amusement parks and don't understand them. Now that Disney is doubling down on being a theme park company as it's main income source, Wall Street doesn't like it.

 

[Disstevefan1]

If he keeps the status quo, which is the most likely scenario, I think it'll be more of the same that we saw from Bob.

This is probably what will happen with the parks.

My hope Josh wont do the needless and wasteful acquisitions and out of control spending with no ROI that Iger did.

 

[monothingie]

Good grief ... give me strength

What will they do next? Give discounts an APs so more freeloaders come to the parks?

 

[nickys]

What will they do next? Give discounts an APs so more freeloaders come to the parks?

Free picnic basket with every AP.

 

[rio]

At least Iger is setting him up for success this time with a massive expansion of most Disney parks around the world. Certainly different than the last time he stepped down 6 years ago

 

[HauntedPirate]

James please give me a break.

Hey, it was exhaustive search - It was exhausting for the board to track Josh down, having to travel between his office and sometimes venturing near the parks, on both coasts. The board isn't used to that kind of exertion, they normally just walk into Bob's office for answers.

 

[monothingie]

I work at a company much bigger than Disney and sit next to the CEO. You can influence the CEO if you’re good. Josh isn’t good enough or he agrees with him. Both are bad.

Josh is a sexy version of Chapek that can, or at least Iger hopes, can be manipulated. There's no substance there, because someone else will be pulling the strings.

If Bob keeps inserting himself or undercutting new leadership after March, then you know it's all a facade with Josh as the proxy.

Let's just see how long he lasts.

 

[Chef Mickey]

and the company I work for has a CEO that’s a micromanager and you have to let their decisions fail before they’ll sometimes listen to you …

I agree with you in general that the CEO is THE guy and makes the final decision. But it’s kind of like the President of the US. Massive influence, but so much going on, you need decision makers beneath you. You need trust because you can’t do everything.

In large companies, there are a LOT of important people and “trust” to make good decisions. CEO can override anything but you’ve gotta trust your people. Josh was in an extremely high level and influential role and the right guy would have been able to stop some of the poor decisions I’ve seen at the parks. I believe Josh is part of the problem.

I will say, the Parks have been extremely profitable, so you have to give him credit. I just don’t like the state of EPCOT, DHS, lightning lane, the price increases, and the IP decisions within the parks. His path to profitability was essentially raising prices and squeezing his customers endlessly. I don’t think that is sustainable - neither do investors.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Bobby’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Spot on the board and Senior Advisor until the end of the year. He’ll be behind Joshy Boi’s shoulder carefully watching every move he makes.

No, no. Bob will be "mentoring" him from his superyatch while he "manages" his women's futbol club with his wife.

 

[monothingie]

Hey, it was exhaustive search - It was exhausting for the board to track Josh down, having to travel between his office and sometimes venturing near the parks, on both coasts. The board isn't used to that kind of exertion, they normally just walk into Bob's office for answers.

Give the BOD all stock bonuses....oh wait right...

 

[HauntedPirate]

The market hates anything parks related, so that's not surprising. We really don't know the conversations that were had behind closed doors and if he did or didn't try to make cases. That said, people play the game to climb the ladder. We can only hope that now that he's at the top, he can change strategy to be more effective.

It's an odd paradox, isn't it? "We love that $DIS makes money!" (A LOT of that money comes from the parks) "Uhhh...."

On a side note, after all the stories I've heard about how Vahle views the parks and his stinginess to spend anything for a better quality product, I really hope he doesn't come anywhere near the open Parks position.

This.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Give the BOD all stock bonuses....oh wait right...

The board gets a stock grant every quarter. Maybe they need to increase it because the CEO search was so exhausting.

 

[Figments Friend]

Bobby’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Spot on the board and Senior Advisor until the end of the year. He’ll be behind Joshy Boi’s shoulder carefully watching every move he makes.

This.

Something to consider, folks.

This has been played out before.

Wishing Josh good luck though…he may need it.
This cannot be a ‘easy job’.

-

 

[DoTheImpossible]

I’ll reserve judgment until we see how the new structure actually operates. The nature of the press releases feels like they're trying to stress the importance of Dana Walden's role in the new structure here.

I remain bullish on the parks and optimistic about a partnership-style dynamic between D’Amaro and Walden that could drive further expansion. D23 2026 could be a meaningful barometer. It will be interesting to see whether D’Amaro uses that moment to announce the second half of their stated decade-long expansion plan and frame it as the foundation of his parks legacy as CEO.

 

[Figments Friend]

Josh is a sexy version of Chapek.

-

 

[Chef Mickey]

I disagree. Wall Street likes things they understand and know. From day one Wall Street has never liked theme parks or amusement parks and don't understand them. Now that Disney is doubling down on being a theme park company as it's main income source, Wall Street doesn't like it.

They don’t like it bc it’s a one time purchase and is incredibly expensive to maintain and run. Wall Street likes high margin, recurring revenue streams.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Let's not forget - Josh was in charge when DVC dumped their AP discount. Two different divisions, yes, but the fact is DVC owners were shafted with the removal of one of the only perks that was still worth it.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Good for Josh and Dana, I’m happy for them.

In terms of impact - my take is that the Overton Window on the parks is not huge. If you have cuts on one side and gains on the other- Chapek already pushed the “cut” side to the limit and I think there was significant backlash. Especially with the shaky economy, I definitely don’t see cuts like that on the horizon.

On the other side, I feel like the stock market is currently more growth obsessed than it has ever been. That may level out at some point but in the current environment, absolutely no way I can see truly plush perks like Magic Express / luggage delivery returning. (Labor shortages probably play a role here as well.) I predict that major changes to perks will be technology driven - if / when there’s a way to automate some services and move the existing labor force around without additional expense, we may see something truly exciting in terms of perks, but not until then.

In the relatively small middle ground that’s left, I think you have decisions about which IP to use, what new rides / entertainment to add, should resorts continue with the more minimalist look or go back to ultra themed, what fun extras should resorts have in terms of pool features, etc. I even think the possibility of one - like one - non-IP new ride is possibly on the table as a test case. Right now the strategy seems to focus very much on upfront costs, even if those costs are high. In that realm, since everyone says Josh is a parks person, I think people will be overall happy with his choices.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I’m excited we’re finally getting a change at the top but not anticipating a noticeable change in how the company is ran, until Josh proves me wrong I’m not getting my hopes up.

I work at a company much bigger than Disney and sit next to the CEO. You can influence the CEO if you’re good. Josh isn’t good enough or he agrees with him. Both are bad.

and the company I work for has a CEO that’s a micromanager and you have to let their decisions fail before they’ll sometimes listen to you …

Sadly both are true, I worked for Peter Morton and when he’d walk the floor everyone down to the guy cleaning the bathrooms would say good morning and even feel comfortable offering suggestions because he was open to any suggestion that could better the business, I’ve also worked for James Dolan where everyone walked on eggshells when he was in the building out of fear he’d fire you just for looking at him wrong.

I don’t know how Iger operated behind closed doors but typically you see a revolving door of executives quitting under the bad ones, Iger has had a fairly long lasting team of executives under him, not sure if that means Iger is persuadable or he just surrounded himself with yes men.

Having said that even Iger has people to answer to, the major stockholders (Vanguard, Blackrock, and State Street) pull his strings just like he pulls the executives strings. No one at the top can do anything without the consent of the big 3, they own over 20% of the companies stock and defying their orders is career ending. (This is also why I don’t expect major change with Josh, he still answers to them.)