Josh D’Amaro, who was anointed the next CEO of Disney on Tuesday morning, stayed mostly out of the spotlight today but sat down with David Muir on Disney-owned ABC’s World News Tonight alongside outgoing chief Bob Iger to talk about his new gig, AI, working with Dana Walden and more.
Asked about balancing legacy and innovation at such an historic company, D’Amaro said on the broadcast that “I’ve had the great benefit and the great honor of working with Bob [Iger] for all of those years, first from a distance and now much more up close and personal, and I’ve watched probably the best of the best balance those two things. As Bob talks about being close to the fans and the guests, this is something that’s important to me. I spend a lot of time in our beloved parks that hundreds of millions of people enjoy every year and I see firsthand the importance of the brand, what Disney means to them, what it means to these families. And when you feel that and you understand the legacy of this place and the fact that you need to keep pushing forward and being innovative.”
“I think I’m ready for that challenge,” D’Amaro told Muir.
D’Amaro and Iger looked like twins in the interview with salt and pepper hair, dark jackets and white shirts The two men share a birthday: February 10.
Risk taking is part of Disney culture, D;Amaro also noted, highlighting the company’s first theme park in the Middle East, in Abu Dhabi.
And he said he sees AI as a key tool but always second to human creativity. Disney “is so special is because of how creative we are and human beings that are generating that creativity. In my mind, that never gets replaced. And in fact, this isn’t even theory anymore. This is real, it’s something that we’re embracing. If you ever walk over to studios today and see [artists] using AI, harnessing 70 years of history, this is when the Walt Disney Company thrives, when technology intersects with brilliant people and creativity, and we’re in that moment right now.”
D’Amaro called Walden, who will be his No. 2 as president and chief creative officer, “an incredibly powerful executive. She’s got years and years of experience in this in this space. She’s exceptionally creative, and she’s a great human being, and I think it’s absolutely the right step to continue to push us into this next frontier.”
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Disney board chair and succession-planner-in-chief James Gorman spoke with Deadline about what he looks for in a CEO: intimate knowledge of the company, strong personal qualities, strategic thinking and vision. “You look for what people can do as CEOs, not just what they’ve done.”
D’Amaro, 54, was born in 1971 as Walt Disney World opened in Orlando. He grew up in Massachusetts and wanted to be a sculptor, studying art at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY before transferring to Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business for business administration and marketing.
He joined Disneyland in 1998 and work his way up to chairman of Disney’s massive profit center Parks & Experiences, which made up 40% of total revenue and 60% of income last quarter. Annual FY25 revenue for the division was $36 billion.
It has hiccups, during Covid of course and from time to time. Executives in Monday’s earnings call noted softer international visitations, sending Disney shares lower despite solid numbers. Parks are truly Disney’s bulwark, with linear television in decline and streaming still working its way to a steady state.
Speaking at a leadership event at his alma mater last year, D’Amaro said, “In my head, I was going to be an artist — I was painting, sculpting and studying art with a bit of business on the side. I loved it, but I realized I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do when I got out. That’s when I came to Georgetown to study business and marketing.”
But “One of the things I tell my kids is, ‘Just say yes,’” he said. “If someone offers you something a little unfamiliar, say yes. There’s so much serendipity in life — you’ve got to open yourself up and explore.”
“Everything is never lined up perfectly. Sometimes you just have to hold your breath and go for it.”
D’Amaro leads 185,000 Cast Members across 12 theme parks and 57 resort hotels worldwide with plans for a new theme park in Abu Dhabi, a growing fleet of Disney cruise ships, and Disney Consumer Products. He’s overseen the largest global expansion in Disney Experiences history and has led the segment to new heights financially and creatively.
What he lacks is Hollywood relationships. He is not well known in Tinseltown. When he does step out, however, he can crush it, like at a high-wattage event at SXSW last year called “World Building Across Film & Parks.” He joined Robert Downey Jr., aka Tony Stark, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, Bruce Vaughn, president and chief creative officer of Walt Disney Imagineering and Entertainment co-chair Alan Bergman to illustrate the artistry behind attractions and how beloved franchises move from TV and film to theme parks and back.
“A Disney story doesn’t end when the credits roll, or when you walk out the park’s front gate. They keep growing and evolving,” said D’Amaro then.
RELATED: Signs Point To Continuity On Disney Movie Studio Side As Josh D’Amaro Moves Into CEO Role
He has lived with wife Susan, his high school sweetheart, and their children near the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim where he served a stint as president. Gorman says the exec has already started working out of Disney’s Burbank headquarters.
D’Amaro will be working closely with Walden, whose has a strong affinity with talent and deep roots in content. Gorman said the board decided against a co-CEO situation, which he thinks can often be fraught. And the well-respected former Morgan Stanley executive was called in to get succession right this time after a messy last round.
Second Try
D’Amaro rose to his current job in 2020 when his boss Bob Chapek was, very abruptly and to everyone’s extreme surprise, elevated to Disney CEO for a short, inglorious stint. Chapek’s highly public mishandling of Florida, where crown jewel Walt Disney World sits on crucial, sprawling Orlando real estate, was a five-alarm fire. He picked a public fight with Scarlett Johansson and alienated talent as well as top Disney brass by taking away key greenlight authority in a major restructuring that Iger reversed immediately upon returning.
He also had Iger looking over is shoulder for too long.
Chapek was let go by November of 2022 and Iger returned.
This time around things were, and are, different.
There has been nothing sudden or surprising about D’Amaro’s appointment. The board under Gorman has been carefully vetting candidates since 2024. Iger will be stepping down as CEO to an advisor role when D’Amaro steps up, with the handoff set for March 18.
“Whenever you come into these kinds of roles,” said Gorman, “it’s important what you’ve done, really important that you run a very complex business that does what the company does, whether it’s the chemicals business or banking business or a railroad business. Josh has done a lot of what Disney does, both directly but also indirectly. And not really indirect, take the Avatar franchise, which has been built in the park.
“You’re looking for somebody to make an honest assessment and think clearly about where we are. Strategy starts with an understanding where you are. Then you create a vision, And then you find the pathways to achieve that vision. And, obviously, you measure yourself along the way.
“What we were looking for was somebody who had values, who understood culture, who loved the brand, who had the personal qualities that you look for in a leader — that is aspirational, that is positive. But you also look for somebody who’s strategic, who can think about where the industry is going, not just where it’s been, who can forge important partnerships.
“You look for an interest in what people can do as CEOs, not just what they’ve done in whatever job that happened to get them to the table.”
Experience This
That job was key, however. At Disney, parks “not content — remains king,” asserted MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman in a recent note. “While Disney’s IP and the success of its parks and cruises are undeniably intertwined, the market continues to debate how that content ultimately translates into value.”
The firm estimates Disney’s Experiences supports about $205 billion of the company’s enterprise value, or $95 per share, dwarfing the content business, which would be worth $47 billion, or $20 per share. It puts domestic parks at $134 billion, international parks at $48 billion and consumer products at $23 billion.
Disney has 12 theme parks and 57 resort hotels spanning six global destinations in the U.S, Europe and Asia. Founder Walt Disney launched Disneyland among the orange and walnut groves of Anaheim in 1955. Walt Disney World came in 1971. Tokyo Disneyland opened 1983, Disneyland Paris in 1992, Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005, and Shanghai Disneyland in 2016. Plans for Disneyland Abu Dhabi were unveiled last May with early renderings showing a planned waterfront park on Yas Island.
Under D’Amaro’s watch, Disney expanded its iconic franchises with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the Marvel-themed Avengers Campus, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and World of Frozen. The company has announced $60 billion in new investment across the division with upcoming projects stateside including a Monsters, Inc.-themed land at Disney World, an Avatar destination at Disneyland and new areas inspired by Cars and Disney Villains, part of the largest-ever expansion of the Magic Kingdom.
Also planned, a new Zootopia area, a Tangled ride and an Up-themed attraction at Magic Kingdom; a new Anna & Elsa attraction at Epcot; a major expansion at Animal Kingdom known as Tropical Americas, featuring new Encanto and Indiana Jones attractions; a new Coco ride at Disneyland; and an expansion of Avengers Campus with two new rides.
Disney Cruise Lines launched in 1998 with the Disney Magic, followed by Disney Wonder, Disney Dream, Disney Fantasy, Disney Wish, Disney Treasure, Disney Destiny and Disney Adventure coming. The fleet will grow to 13 ships by 2031. Experiences also includes Walt Disney Imagineering, the creative team of artists and engineers behind the design and development of parks, resorts, ships and immersive experiences globally. Disney Consumer Products is a juggernaut global licensing business.
Said D’Amaro at that Georgetown talk: “There’s there’s so much serendipity in life. And if you kind of open yourself up and explore and find those connections, I think you’re going to be a happier soul [and] I think you’ll be a more successful business person.”
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