Josh D’Amaro, a 28-year Disney veteran with vast theme park experience but little expertise in movies and television, will succeed Bob Iger as Disney’s CEO, ending a nearly three-year search, the company said Tuesday.

Disney’s board voted unanimously to give D’Amaro the job. He will assume power on March 18, when Disney is scheduled to hold its annual shareholder meeting. He will also join the company’s board.

Iger to Serve as Senior Adviser

After D’Amaro, 54, takes control of the company, Iger, 74, will serve as a senior adviser and board member until his retirement on Dec. 31, when his contract expires. At that point, he will leave Disney entirely, the company said.

D’Amaro most recently served as chair of Disney Experiences, a division with $36 billion in annual revenue that includes theme parks, a fast-growing cruise line, and consumer products, including video games. D’Amaro’s unit made up roughly 60% of Disney’s profit last year: Disney, in some ways, has become more of a travel company than a media one.

James Gorman, Disney’s chair, said in a statement that D’Amaro possesses “that rare combination of inspiring leadership and innovation, a keen eye for strategic growth opportunities and a deep passion for the Disney brand and its people — all of which make him the right person to take the helm.”

Disney also promoted Dana Walden to president and chief creative officer, effective March 18. Walden, 61, has been Disney’s top television executive (excluding ESPN) with joint oversight of streaming. Her remit, Disney said, will now include ensuring that “storytelling and creative expression across every audience touchpoint consistently reflect the brand.”

Walden will be the first companywide chief creative officer in Disney’s 103-year history. Iger noted in a statement that Walden “commands tremendous respect from the creative community.” She joined Disney in 2019 after the company’s $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets. She started her career as a Fox publicist, eventually rising to run the Fox broadcast network and associated television studio.

Succession has been hanging over Disney since 2022, when Iger — having bungled the process in 2020 — came out of retirement to retake the company’s reins. This time around, an outsider, Gorman, a veteran Wall Street banker, managed the succession process. He was recruited to serve on the Disney board in 2024 as part of Iger’s response to attacks from activist investors, one of whom, Nelson Peltz, harshly criticized the company for slipshod succession planning.

Although the company considered outside candidates, the search came down to four internal leaders: Walden; Alan Bergman, Disney’s movie chief; Jimmy Pitaro, whose fief is ESPN; and D’Amaro. The question of whether any of them would ascend to the top job captivated Hollywood, which long viewed Walden as the most viable candidate.

Disney History of Bumpy Transfers of Power

Disney has a history of bumpy transfers of power. Iger’s predecessor when he was first elevated to run the company, Michael Eisner, tried to cling to his job, and in the end turned over a struggling company. During his earlier, 15-year stint as Disney’s CEO, Iger delayed his retirement four times and seemed reluctant to leave when he did.

The last time Iger stepped back, he quickly soured on his successor, Bob Chapek, who, like D’Amaro, ascended from the company’s theme park division. The epic power struggle that followed between the two destabilized the company and ended with Iger’s return to Disney.

A Disney CEO is an instant celebrity. He (they’ve all been men) presides over what are perceived as some of the most powerful and glamorous businesses in the world: the Marvel, Disney, Pixar, Lucasfilm and 20th Century movie studios; the ABC broadcast network and news division; cable channels such as ESPN, FX and National Geographic. Its 14 theme parks on three continents attracted an estimated 145 million visitors in 2024. Disney also has a growing cruise line, with eight ships in the water and five more on the way.

Even by CEO standards, the pay is enormous. Iger’s compensation last year totaled $45.8 million. D’Amaro was given a compensation target of roughly $38 million for his first year in the role, including a one-time bonus of about $9.7 million, according to a securities filing Tuesday.

But the challenges facing D’Amaro are vast. He will take over Disney at a time of colossal industry upheaval, from the collapse of traditional TV to the rise of generative artificial intelligence. If the most recent era at Disney was about building up an arsenal of intellectual property — Iger orchestrated Disney’s purchases of Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm and most of 21st Century Fox — the next period will largely be about technology.

Disney will need to harness AI to continue building its streaming empire (Disney+, Hulu and an ESPN service) and compete with Netflix, YouTube and TikTok. To increase its hold on teenagers and 20-somethings, Disney will also need to become a bigger player in games. Disney already licenses its characters for video games, but the company — at D’Amaro’s prodding — is investing billions of dollars in a Fortnite-connected Disney universe.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Brooks Barnes/Mark Abramson
c. 2026 The New York Times Company