Disney shares weaken: Theme park boss D’Amaro takes over the company’s helm

Amusement park division boss Josh D’Amaro will take over the baton from Iger at the annual general meeting on March 18, the company announced on Tuesday. The step was expected; the day before, the Bloomberg news agency had named D’Amaro as his successor, citing people familiar with the matter.

D’Amaro will become only the ninth boss of Disney in the company’s more than 100-year history. He will take over the baton from permanent boss Bob Iger at the annual general meeting on March 18, as Disney announced. Since 2020, D’Amaro has headed the theme parks, the most profitable line of business, which also includes cruises. Iger will continue to advise Walt Disney until his contract expires at the end of the year.

Mistake with previous Iger replacement

Iger initially led Disney from 2005 to 2020 – and is considered the architect of today’s Disney Group with the purchase of Pixar, “Star Wars”, Marvel and the studio business of Hollywood rival 20th Century Fox. During this time, the foundation for the Disney+ streaming business was laid. In 2020, Iger also handed over leadership to the then theme park boss, Bob Chapek. But the new Bob at the helm had no luck – and was replaced by Iger around two years later. “We won’t have a drama like last time, I can assure you of that,” said former Morgan Stanley boss Gorman after the search for a successor.

Over 100 candidates

In the three-year search for a successor, D’Amaro prevailed against more than 100 candidates, as Chairman of the Board of Directors James Gorman said on the TV channel CNBC. These included external contenders as well as internal competitors such as co-head of studio business Dana Walden. She will move up to a newly created position as creative director.

D’Amaro spent most of his 28 years at Disney in the theme park business. As boss, he was responsible for 12 parks and 57 hotels. His flagship projects included the “Star Wars” worlds in the parks in California and Florida. Disney is currently in the process of expanding the area with investments of 60 billion dollars by 2033. Among other things, the number of cruise ships is to be increased from 7 to 13. In the last fiscal year, the division generated more than half of Disney’s operating profit.

New boss required immediately.

The 54-year-old faces many challenges: competition with Netflix in streaming, the unclear future of film theaters, falling revenues in the once lucrative TV cable business – and above all the shadow of AI software that can generate texts and videos.

At the same time, Disney has capital like no other entertainment company with its classic cartoon characters, “Star Wars”, the Marvel superhero universe, the animation studio Pixar – and the theme parks.

In NYSE trading, Walt Disney shares temporarily lost 1.08 percent to $103.32.

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