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

[Chef Mickey]

My advice for Josh D’Amaro, since I’m sure he lucks on WDWMAGIC:

Disney playing for stock price is like politicians playing for donors: it might bring in the money, but it costs you your soul.

On the other hand, making decisions based on guest feedback and market research is like trying to govern based on surveys and polls: when you try to please everybody, the you please nobody.

I say get back to the days of running things by conviction. Let themed entertainment be an art and let the artists create. Invite guests to join in creating magical experiences.

When theme parks and movies are commoditized, guests interact with them as consumers. But when they’re treated like creative storytelling, guests evaluate things differently and act more like, well, guests and participants than mere consumers.

The ship has sailed. They've sold out their customers anyway and the stock still has been trash.

The CEO's job and duty is firstly, increase shareholder value. This is something Disney's has been negligent in executing the last 10 years.

The stock needs to be a BIG focus for Josh and he should be compensated as such.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

The CEO's job and duty is firstly, increase shareholder value.

Very Close but not exactly. Maximize long-term stakeholder value. An important difference.

 

[HMF]

My guess is that Disney leadership does prioritize the desires of the fandom to some extent,

That's news to me.

 

[flynnibus]

When you say “legacy stuff” what are you referring to?

Linear Networks
ESPN


Other unfavorable segments like
video games
even sports production
consumer products

I think DIS should be a content company - not a operator (except in their own DTC channel)

The company spent so long growing through acquisition, while core businesses flatlined or declined that their margins now are poor and they cost themselves so much in servicing debt and prop'ing up their own stock.

DIS became a conglomerate - and while that breadth has served them well to weather change and storms - it has not served them well for showing healthy returns and outlooks - leading to lethargic stock performance. I don't think they can keep this growth expectation up as big and expensive as they are. The company is regularly throwing around write-offs and impairments that can dwarf their total income. They are relying on their mass to be able to do stuff, but aren't able to deliver the returns as the swings are so big.

 

[DisneyHead123]

That's news to me.

I mean they have D23 specifically for fans, if nothing else. They're doing Villains, they're doing the Door Coaster, they did an old school Epcot theme at D23. I don't think that "Where's Harry Potter Land?" families were clamoring for any of that.

I think that's sufficient evidence to say that fans get some kind of consideration in decision making. How much or how little Disney caters to their fandom is very subjective and up for debate, of course, so I won't even try to tackle that point. Just saying I think it's at least something of a factor.

 

[flynnibus]

You can make the customer happy and be a good businessman at the same time. The two are not mutually exclusive.

But they are also commonly related. Disney as a consumer company built generations of loyalists and lifers through customer satisfaction and impressing the customer. It often operated with the mindset that quality will lead to returns. Unfortunately the company lost their way from that and instead used that built up loyalty as a debit card.. one they could keep cashing in without replenishing.

Long gone are the days of Disney being small enough to 'do the right thing' and come out ahead. That's why I'm more in favor of divestment to get the company back to the days of being able to lead with products.

 

[flynnibus]

But what are forward forecasts when we are comparing things retroactively?

I'm speaking to the point that the stock performance simply hasn't been there. A topic driven largely by the company's inability to project confidence in ROI while being an incumbant in many dying or transitioning segments.

Fundamentally Income at the company was 14.68B for fiscal 2015 and 17.55B in fiscal 2025. While that is a 19.5% bump, there is also a 10% stock dilution that occurred over that period of time with the Fox purchase and they’ve added 23% more debt of their current market cap with that purchase.

Like I've said.. I think the amount of money being thrown around and then flushed (through debt or writeoffs) is a wet blanket on any of the actual top line growth stats. Investors aren't ignorant of these huge swings that ultimately are tieing down their actual income. The scale of expenses, debts, and impairments are wild in the last decade.

 

[Pizza Moon]

I think he originally wanted to be a sculptor, so he might be, at least to some extent.



My guess is that Disney leadership does prioritize the desires of the fandom to some extent, although that has to be balanced with the "So where's Harry Potter World?" consumer who's in it for the souvenirs and bright shiny dopamine hits. And honestly that's probably a good thing - some demand for artistry with a strong demand that things be kept appealing and accessible to the average person.

I also think Chapek's tenure may, ironically, help when balancing expense and profit. I'm not sure what metrics Disney was looking at when they rushed him out the door, but they must have had something to show that just going all-in on cost cutting is not overall beneficial. Hopefully D'Amaro can get some leverage out of referencing that time if people are pushing for more cost cutting or bigger profits faster.

Disney has clearly learned many lessons with their last massive round of investment. I mean, how could you not?

The entire company is structured around the parks now

 

[Chef Mickey]

Very Close but not exactly. Maximize long-term stakeholder value. An important difference.

No, it's definitely the money and primarily the stock.

 

[Pizza Moon]

My advice for Josh D’Amaro, since I’m sure he lucks on WDWMAGIC:

Disney playing for stock price is like politicians playing for donors: it might bring in the money, but it costs you your soul.

On the other hand, making decisions based on guest feedback and market research is like trying to govern based on surveys and polls: when you try to please everybody, the you please nobody.

I say get back to the days of running things by conviction. Let themed entertainment be an art and let the artists create. Invite guests to join in creating magical experiences.

When theme parks and movies are commoditized, guests interact with them as consumers. But when they’re treated like creative storytelling, guests evaluate things differently and act more like, well, guests and participants than mere consumers.

Visionary leadership is necessary for true revelatory creativity.



You don’t try to create Walt Disney World unless you know what you’re doing, and being proven right over and over.

I don’t think Josh is on that level, but I do think he has a vision with experiences, and I think it’ll work honestly if they stop trying to push agendas in their movies and use AI to cut their bloated budgets where they can.

 

[HMF]

I mean they have D23 specifically for fans, if nothing else. They're doing Villains, they're doing the Door Coaster, they did an old school Epcot theme at D23. I don't think that "Where's Harry Potter Land?" families were clamoring for any of that.

I think that's sufficient evidence to say that fans get some kind of consideration in decision making. How much or how little Disney caters to their fandom is very subjective and up for debate, of course, so I won't even try to tackle that point. Just saying I think it's at least something of a factor.

I guess you could say it depends on the type of "Fan".

 

[Dreamer19]

I’m a stockholder and I haven’t seen a return on my investment in years. The stock is garbage. I hate to be an armchair quarterback, but what they’ve been doing isn’t working.

 

[Nubs70]

I am sorry, but could someone who wants to use the stock as a measurement of park management please offer a few realistic suggestions on what would make the stock go up that would also be good for us as customers and the parks?

The things I keep hearing from people would generally make the stock drop even more. Every last suggestion has boiled down to either cutting revenue or increasing costs, two things that the market generally does not like. The ONLY way either of those things have any sort of positive impact is if you increase your visitation enough to offset the decreased revenue and for many suggestions, that isn't very realistic.

Split off the underperforming divisions, load them up with debt from retained divisions, then sell off the underperforming divisions.

 

[Chef Mickey]

I’m a stockholder and I haven’t seen a return on my investment in years. The stock is garbage. I hate to be an armchair quarterback, but what they’ve been doing isn’t working.

Finally a real owner speaks out. I was so frustrated, I sold my last shares at $120 and never looked back. Absolutely shameful.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Taking over in March? That's quick. Hopefully he and Dana get on very well because that isn't a lot of time to be shown the ropes in Studios.

I wish him the best of luck. I think it was the best choice.

He was the best choice from a limited group of terrible choices because they didn't do a proper search.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

He was the best choice from a limited group of terrible choices because they didn't do a proper search.

Who would you recommend?

 

[Chef Mickey]

Who would you recommend?

Someone outside the company who is a disrupter. CEO is not easy to find and I'm not pretending it would be easy. For me, that person has to be outside the establishment.

 

[Chi84]

Someone outside the company who is a disrupter. CEO is not easy to find and I'm not pretending it would be easy. For me, that person has to be outside the establishment.

What specific changes would you want this person to make to the parks? Since the site is for WDW fans I think people here would be most interested in that aspect.

 

[Disstevefan1]

What specific changes would you want this person to make to the parks? Since the site is for WDW fans I think people here would be most interested in that aspect.

My hope is Josh wont be afraid of admitting and fixing mistakes. Two come to mind -
Restore the people mover at DLR!!
Bulldoze that ugly planter and broken ground lighting and bring back a form of the fountain of nations at EPCOT!!

I know, I am dreaming.

 

[Chi84]

My hope is Josh wont be afraid of admitting and fixing mistakes. Two come to mind -
Restore the people mover at DLR!!
Bulldoze that ugly planter and broken ground lighting and bring back a form of the fountain of nations at EPCOT!!

I know, I am dreaming.

No I was asking specifically what the person hired to improve stock performance would do in the parks.