Finally the time has come to Bob Iger resign – the many times CEO of The Walt Disney Company, who completely transformed the entertainment and experiences giant between 2005 and 2020, and returned from retirement in 2022 after being unhappy with the way his replacement handled matters (financially and, well, politically).
As CEO of Disney, Iger has been an ingenious force from the start, bringing back the company’s soul after a series of mostly blah projects during the post-Renaissance era with strong, inventive storytelling and smart IP acquisitions. Under Iger’s wing, Pixar (2006), Marvel (2009), Lucasfilm (20112), and 21st Century Fox (2019) were acquired, Disney+ launched in 2019, and the Disney brand further expanded its presence through cruises and themes parks in Asia.
Iger’s contract ends in early 2026and Disney announced that this time they will follow the succession schedule. While Disney certainly could go with an external candidate to handle the jobthey’re much more likely to choose someone tried and true. Here’s who could end up being Disney’s next boss and why consumers should care about this delicate regime change.
Who is running to replace Disney’s current CEO?
Alan Bergman
Bergman is co-president of Disney Entertainment and has served on senior leadership roles at The Walt Disney Studios since 2001. He has been with the company since 1996. By DisneyBergman was “deeply involved” in leading the integration of Pixar Animation, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and Fox film studios alongside Iger, meaning that, unlike Iger and his first successor Bob Chapek (who had no very 1 : 1 time between each other until the planning and launch phase of the Shanghai Disneyland Park in 2016), Iger knows Bergman’s leadership style and creative process.
Additionally, he oversees Disney’s entire global portfolio of media and entertainment content businesses, specifically leading Disney’s film production and overall film distribution strategy across all of its brands. However, he is not as popular a choice as his other co-president, who Hollywood sources claim is “the anti-Chapek” and another viable candidate.
Dana Walden
Walden is the other co-president of Disney Entertainment, who has been with the Walt Disney Company since 2019; previously she was CEO of Fox Television Group before Disney acquired 21st Century Fox. Walden oversees Disney’s entire global portfolio of media and entertainment content businesses, specifically leading the television (and streaming) side across all Disney brands . By DisneyWalden is the one you should be thanking Bluey, Shōgun, The Bear, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Abbott Elementary, This is Us, and American horror storyamong other beloved titles.
His TV-packed resume has some in Hollywood questioning his credentials, but unlike co-president Bergman, Walden would have been seen as one of the favorites for the positioncomparing Walden’s own studio’s own similar chat skills to Iger’s as an asset, as well as his deep knowledge of the streaming business, which still remains the future of Hollywood. (Bonus, she would be Disney’s first female CEO!)
Josh D’Amaro
D’Amaro is the president of Disney Experiences and has been with the Walt Disney Company since 1998, serving in numerous national and international roles across multiple departments. In his current leadership role, D’Amaro oversees a large portion of Disney’s revenue-generating divisions, including Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney Parks, Disney Signature Experiences and Disney Consumer Products. By DisneyD’Amaro has been instrumental in launching franchise-expanding theme park experiences (such as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge) and growing the Disney Cruise Line (Disney will double its cruise line’s worldwide capacity in 2025 and 2026, and will add a new home port in Singapore).
D’Amaro may not be as in sync with all the things happening on the content side of Disney, but he has successfully led a large slice of the Disney pie with aplomb, generating money and consumer interest in Disney experiences after the peak of pandemic and amid inflation. Like Walden, D’Amaro is another internal Disney exec that Hollywood insiders are convinced will be the next likely to head the House of Mouse, likely due to his long tenure and track record at the company.
Jimmy Pitaro
Pitaro is the president of ESPN and has been with the Walt Disney Company since 2010. Pitaro previously worked at Yahoo, where he was appointed by Sports Business Journal as one of the “Forty Under 40” top achievers in sports media leadership (he would later be recognized by the publication as Sports Executive of the Year in 2020). He recently has secured a joint sports streaming service with Warner Bros.promoting Disney’s growing relationship with streamer WBD Max, which introduced a bundle service that includes Disney+, Hulu and Max last summer.
While Pitaro is a less likely pick than Walden, D’Amaro or even W, don’t rule him out just yet: ESPN is about to release its direct-to-consumer streamer next year, and if it gains traction on the streaming scene it could make (or break) D’Amaro’s candidacy for CEO of Disney.
Disney CEO succession drama, explained
It’s not just that Disney is one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world (not to mention the largest media company in the world by market value and the largest single-site employer in the United States), but all eyes are on who Iger will pass on his Sorcerer’s Hat to in 2026 because of what happened the last time he tried to do so. (Spoiler: it wasn’t pretty.)
Although Iger’s successor’s term lasted only three years, he supposedly called it “hell” tinged with a “relentless fear that Iger wanted his job back.” Meanwhile, Iger was cited saying that one of the biggest mistakes of his illustrious Disney career was choosing Bob Chapek. It wasn’t always high drama between the two: Iger was impressed with Chapek’s astuteness and operational experience in parks, consumer products, and distribution, and he trusted that Chapek would be fine being both a “CEO” and a “CEO-in.” . -training” during Iger’s prolonged 22-month departure.
Unfortunately, Chapek wasn’t as charismatic as Iger, nor as friendly with Hollywood’s hot scenes, and wasn’t as knowledgeable about the content creation of it all. Chapek’s personality – less extroverted, less collaborative, less rationalistic – quickly began to irritate Iger. Irreconcilable differences, coupled with the pandemic and Iger’s regret at stepping away from the throne, were a cocktail for demoralized employees, including Iger’s own demoralization. He threw a lavish farewell party and officially stepped away in November 2021.
Without Iger, Chapek fumbled. Although Disney had some marginal victories during Chapek’s tenure (especially when it came to increasing Disney+ subscriptions), the board begged Iger to return. They removed Chapek from his position in November 2022, nearly three years before his contract was set to expire. The Sorcerer’s Hat was back on Iger’s mind a year after his official departure from Disney.
What this means for The Walt Disney Company and Disney fans alike
Because of everything Chapek’s political mistakes in Florida and social faux pas in Hollywood during his term – not to mention the unpopular theme park policies he implemented to cut costs and a series of box office failures – it can be safely assumed that the House of Mouse will take its time evaluating its options for Iger’s successor and ensuring that said successor is well-equipped to take on and build on the legendary CEO’s achievements.
By setting the relatively vague but distant deadline of early 2026, the company has plenty of time to narrow down its choices (if it hasn’t already) and ensure that Iger is emotionally prepared to bid farewell to the show (and its chic shower/office combo). This time, the transfer of power needs to be seamless – there will be no Iger swooping in to save the day a second time, nor will there be another global pandemic (we can only hope) that can serve as a scapegoat for the poor performance. projects.
When Iger resumed the throne in The Walt Disney Company in late 2022, fans thought that Iger would fix all of Chapek’s perceived mistakesespecially when he announced during a meeting with Disney employees that he would shift his priorities from profit to creativity.
But Iger has been mainly focused on parks (rolling back Disney dining plans and eliminating date-based ticket reservations) and restructuring the company in an effort to cut billions in costs (which led to the elimination of more than 7,000 jobs). It could even be Bob Iger’s successor shift gears in 2026 and start finding creative solutions to existing problems, and taking more creative risks with Disney’s original content, after relying extensively on existing intellectual property over the past decade.