Robert Iger/PHOTO: Fortune Conferences (CC)
As mentioned previously, Disney plans to choose CEO Bob Iger‘s successor soon prior to the expiration of his contract at the end of 2026.
The Wall Street Journal reports today that the decision has been likely narrowed to two in-house candidates:
The company is widely expected to promote from within, with parks chief Josh D’Amaro and television head Dana Walden considered the leading contenders by employees and people who work with Disney.
The two executives met with Disney’s board this summer in Orlando, Fla., to discuss their visions for the company should they become CEO, according to people with knowledge of the meeting.
Whoever is named as the next CEO is expected to work alongside Iger for a while to learn the ropes before officially taking over, according to a person familiar with the board’s thinking….
D’Amaro, who chairs Disney’s experiences unit that includes theme parks, consumer products, cruise ships and videogames, is widely considered the leading contender to be the next CEO. His strongest rival is Walden, a veteran television executive who is co-chair of Disney entertainment, which includes streaming.
Supporters of D’Amaro say he is analytical, comfortable talking to Hollywood talent who’ve collaborated with the parks and a charismatic public ambassador for the Disney brand.
Theme parks have become Disney’s most important business in recent years as traditional television has faltered and streaming isn’t nearly as profitable as TV networks once were….
Walden is less of a Disney native, having joined when it acquired the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox in 2019. But her backers say she is the company’s most experienced and accomplished creative executive. Hit film and TV content, they say, is the engine that powers all of Disney’s businesses.
She shares oversight of streaming and helped manage that business’s improving profit margins. She also has experience managing some of the company’s most delicate and important commercial and creative relationships, from the recent carriage dispute with YouTube TV to September’s benching and reinstatement of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
All of Disney’s segments have had their problems, which has driven its share price down by 15 percent from it’s yearlong high (from $124.01 to $105.32) and from the $197.16 it reached less than five years ago. The drop has corresponded with the decline of the company’s reputation in the eyes of the American public during that time, almost entirely on Iger’s watch. Walden has been one of his top content lieutenants (the stuff they put on television and streaming; less so with Disney’s mostly woke recent theatrical releases), overseeing what ends up on its networks and platforms, including left-wing ABC News.
Iger has been a historically generous donor to liberal causes and candidates, and was the compulsive leader, then meddler, who consistently pushed Disney to adopt his preferred political and social justice agenda. As the Los Angeles Times reported a year ago:
Walt Disney Co. and its chief executive have made a sharp pivot since doubling down on diversity and inclusion efforts in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis four and a half years ago. At the time, Disney’s top executives, including then-Chairman Iger, vowed in a message to employees: “We intend to keep the conversation going … for as long as it takes to bring about real change.”
The Magic Kingdom dropped its pomp greeting to fans for its nightly fireworks display. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls” became a gender-neutral salutation to “dreamers of all ages.” Pixar’s animated movie, “Lightyear,” included a brief kiss between two women characters; and Disney’s animated film, “Strange World,” featured the company’s first biracial queer teen hero…
In early 2022, Disney became a target for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after then-Chief Executive Bob Chapek waffled on a response to a Florida law aimed at preventing classroom discussions about sexual identity. Chapek’s instinct was to stay out of the fray and he initially defended the company’s initial silence, saying in a letter to Disney employees that corporate statements “do very little to change outcomes or minds.”
Such proclamations are “often weaponized by one side or the other to further divide and inflame,” Chapek wrote.
But after loud protests from employees and activists — and a Twitter post from then-retired Iger, who warned the Florida legislation “will put vulnerable, young LGBTQ people in jeopardy” — Chapek reversed course.
I’m with the President on this! If passed, this bill will put vulnerable, young LGBTQ people in jeopardy. https://t.co/fJZBzre4yM
— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) February 25, 2022
As NLPC has pointed out, Iger forced Chapek’s hand into the Florida firestorm three years ago.
So, which candidate between D’Amaro and Walden would be more likely to continue Disney down the disastrous woke path that Iger paved? It would appear to be the latter.
D’Amaro has almost no history of political campaign contributions in FEC records compiled by OpenSecrets.org — just $5,000 to Disney’s PAC for the 2021-2022 election cycle.
Walden, however — in addition to what has been described as a close friendship with 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris — has been a generous donor to the party’s candidates. Tens of thousands of dollars have transferred from Walden’s coffers to entities including (of course) Harris, Joe Biden, the Democratic National Committee, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (including a campaign to prevent his recall), Nancy Pelosi, Senators Chuck Schumer (NY), Raphael Warnock (GA), Cory Booker (NJ), and Amy Klobuchar (MN), and thousands of dollars that were divvied up between dozens of state Democratic parties.
Unlike many corporate executives who like to play both sides of the aisle by sending donations to candidates from both major parties, Walden has clearly shown herself to be a committed partisan Democrat.
And she oversees ABC News. And she might be Disney’s next CEO.
(Pictured above: Disgraced #MeToo Hollywood director Brett Ratner with Dana Walden in 2008)
