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

[HMF]

The trend right now is that Parks and Resorts are the future of this company. I think the trend was there in 2020 when Chapek took over and he was erroneously deemed as a Parks guy as well (albeit totally different).

He was as much of a parks guy as I am a video games guy. Barley use them and the only way I can get passionate about them is if I am being paid and even then, my passion has its limits. You would not want me running Nintendo basically neither should plastic salesman Chapek should have been ever near control of the parks let alone CEO of the company.

 

[HMF]

Nelson Peltz is apparently rather unimpressed with D'Amaro's selection, and said it will give Bob another chance to "save the day" ala Chapek, since D'Amaro has no entertainment experience.




Source: https://nypost.com/2026/02/03/busin...ng-disneys-ceo-succession-to-stay-in-power-2/

Peltz is an idiot though I agree D'Amaros selection is not surprising.

 

[HMF]

*cringe*

I will be shocked if COP is still a thing by the time D'Amaro retires.

 

[HMF]

I consider the reign of the Bobs pretty much the same tenure. I wasn't aware that the Bobs immediately came after Eisner when he stepped down in 2005 (Iger-Chapek-Iger). Understanding there are valid criticisms of D'Amaro, I'm looking forward to leadership more comparable to that of Eisner.

Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner Congratulates Josh D'Amaro, Offers Advice

Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner Congratulates Josh D'Amaro, Offers Advice

www.wdwmagic.com

The Eisner that built DLP or the Eisner that built DCA?

 

[HMF]

My bet is on a Muppets American history attraction at MK. And a Great Movie ride with the Simpsons for DHS.

The former is almost destined to happen. The latter I can't see happening.

 

[HMF]

Matt Ouimet on D'Amaro:

Josh D’Amaro is Disney’s new CEO.

He is a good guy and a very talented businessman.

As the years pass he will be judged by both Main Street and Wall Street.

Residents of Main Street seek to be entertained by compelling and creative content delivered through all the forms and channels Disney controls.

Residents of Wall Street want to see profits grow, driving the stock value higher.

It is reminiscent of Rumplestiltskin. Josh and his colleagues are tasked with spinning content straw into gold.

As an edited line from a Disney Cruise line show goes: “It has all happened before and it may happen again, but this time it will happen to Josh and his friends.”

There have been periods of dramatic growth for Disney before, but this time is different. The scale of the company is greater, competitors are stronger and the impact of technology is unprecedented.

I had drafted something more complicated but this says it in a lot less words:

I believe in Josh but not in the stock.

At the current scale of the company with the challenges noted, expecting significant growth to drive the stock price higher is a fairy tale.

I am certain that Josh will prove to an outstanding leader of the company. His impact may not ever receive the highest of accolades on Wall Street but I am quite certain that with his focus on creativity and quality content he will be happily welcomed on Main Street.

Why is growth the ultimate measure of success? Isn’t enough to keep a great brand, great.

With Josh in charge I am looking forward to watching more great movies, visiting the parks more and cancelling my Wall Street Journal subscription.

Disney is in good hands.

I respect Ouimet's opinion and I hope he is right.

 

[HMF]

I'm really confused by those people saying, "I think Josh will be good/great for the parks!!". Ummm... you do realize he's been the head of DPEP for years, right? And I think, the last time I checked, Disney's theme parks were all under the DPEP umbrella. If the statements were akin to, "I think he'll keep investing in and expanding the parks", you'd have an actual statement to discuss.

Merging Consumer Products and Parks was one of the worst ideas in company history.

 

[HMF]

He doesn’t even need to a new non IP attraction, imagine if he announced the Imagination redo and a return of Dreamfinder followed by a complete refresh of Dl Tomorrowland with a completely rebuilt Peoplemover and an all electric Autopia. The roof would be blown off.

The former I am betting on happening. The latter I am not quite as optimistic about.

 

[HMF]

I disagree, I actually think it means a great deal. A big part of the CEO role for Disney (specifically) is being a showman, connecting with fans and consumers of Disney in a meaningful way.

Walt was amazing at this, especially with his tv specials speaking directly to the people that would one day be attending Disneyland. Eisner also understood this, and did that part of the job well. Iger was a bit colder, more corporate, but he's an eloquent speaker and could portray someone who cared, at least on camera, and fans did still seem excited to meet him, or speak with him.

Chapek had the charm and charisma of a thumbtack, no one was applauding when he was promoted. He was horrible in parks presentations, and sounded infantile on quarterly calls.

Of course, it's only one piece of the puzzle, but I do believe Josh has the charisma and showmanship that CEO's of Disney should portray. And clearly many fans have connected with him over the years.

Roy was technically CEO in Walt's day. Neither Iger nor Chapek had anywhere near the amount of charisma that Walt and Eisner did.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Merging Consumer Products and Parks was one of the worst ideas in company history.

I agree, I think this is one area where Chapek and D’Amaro get unfairly lumped together as being “parks guys”. Chapek spent the vast majority of his time at Disney selling products of some sort, it was only the last few years pre-CEO that he was involved with the parks, Josh on the other hand spent the first few years of his Disney career in products but has spent the vast majority of his Disney career overseeing the parks in some way.

I think it’s more accurate to say Chapek came from a consumer products background and D’Amaro came from a parks background, the fact they both oversaw a weirdly combined division doesn’t equate to them sharing the same background.

 

[CoastalElite64]

 

[MarvelCharacterNerd]

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

 

[Coaster Lover]

Let’s invite John Lasseter back to the company to run the parks…….

I think he's a solid creative head, but Im not sure how much I'd trust him as a buisness head...

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Peltz is an idiot though I agree D'Amaros selection is not surprising.

Peltz is a cutthroat greedy crook…

…but that’s not a synonym of “idiot”
He was right about Iger last year…and he could very will be right here too

Unfortunately.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Merging Consumer Products and Parks was one of the worst ideas in company history.

That was to muddy the waters…you put the Sweatshops with the parks to hide potential weakness in the Numbers for the parks

Perfectly legal and disingenuous

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Just scroll social media. The amount of people who have taken and are sharing selfies with Josh is telling. He was in the parks. Always. Meeting guests, observing.

This is not the same reaction as when Chapek was announced.

…ohhhh…the way you write this sounds like you have a drawer full of nametags? I hope I’m wrong

He doesn’t even need to a new non IP attraction, imagine if he announced the Imagination redo and a return of Dreamfinder followed by a complete refresh of Dl Tomorrowland with a completely rebuilt Peoplemover and an all electric Autopia. The roof would be blown off.

Imagination would he an easy score…converting abramsland to star was land would be another really easy one

I'm sorry that means nothing. All that matters is if he can fix the mess Iger left. Fix the nickel and diming perception of the parks. Eliminate the IP mandate and synergy.

It means absolutely nothing…it just means he gets a “good guy” rep from employees. As he cuts the budgets in their areas behind the scenes.

 

[Trauma]

Everyone here knows my extreme distaste for Iger.

That being said I hope he is leaving because he feels the time is right, and it’s not some health or family issue.

I wish him the best.

Not gonna lie though I did do a fist pump when I saw the news

 

[Agent H]

I will be shocked if COP is still a thing by the time D'Amaro retires.

I don’t think we have to worry about carousal of progress for at least a decade considering that they’re putting in the Walt audio-animatronic. That will very likely cost a lot of money that I doubt they’d be very eager to spend on something they have plans to replace any time soon.

 

[HauntedPirate]

We won't know Josh's 'direction' for a while. He's still not CEO. He has Iger looking over his shoulder for the rest of the year. Dana's handling content. And the Board isn't going to let Josh pull a Chapek and let him immediately reorganize the company.

Also the $60B in park investment is already at work in all those construction projects for the next 3 years.

Is it $60 billion or $17 billion over the next decade (and maybe a few years more) in Florida? I hope they can scrape enough together this year, after projecting $7 billion alone for stock buybacks.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Is it $60 billion or $17 billion over the next decade (and maybe a few years more) in Florida? I hope they can scrape enough together this year, after projecting $7 billion alone for stock buybacks.

$60B for all parks. $17B for WDW specifically.