{"id":142591,"date":"2026-02-03T23:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T23:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/142591\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T23:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T23:14:12","slug":"walt-disney-co-selects-josh-damaro-as-its-new-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/142591\/","title":{"rendered":"Walt Disney Co. selects Josh D’Amaro as its new CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former president of Walt Disney World<\/a>, Josh D\u2019Amaro, will replace the retiring CEO of Walt Disney Co.,<\/a> Bob Iger, the company announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n

His appointment seemingly ends a closely-watched and high-stakes succession process, three years after the initial attempt ended with the ouster of the top executive and the return of Iger to Disney\u2019s top job.<\/p>\n

D\u2019Amaro, 54, has been chairman of Disney Experiences worldwide, which oversees the company\u2019s theme parks,\u00a0since May 2020. He was leader of WDW from November 2019 to May 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am immensely grateful to the board for entrusting me with leading a company that means so much to me and millions around the world,\u201d D\u2019Amaro said in a Disney news release distributed Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Walt Disney Co. board of directors announced\u00a0the unanimous pick of D\u2019Amaro, a 28-year Disney veteran, on Monday. His new role is effective March 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cJosh D\u2019Amaro is an exceptional leader and the right person to become our next CEO,\u201d Iger said in the news release. \u201cHe has an instinctive appreciation of the Disney brand, and a deep understanding of what resonates with our audiences, paired with the rigor and attention to detail required to deliver some of our most ambitious projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disney: Theme parks set quarterly revenue record to the tune of $10 billion<\/a><\/p>\n

As chairman of Disney Experiences, D\u2019Amaro has been responsible for 12 theme parks and 57 resort hotels worldwide. He also has been overseeing Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, Adventures by Disney, Disney Consumer Products and Walt Disney Imagineering.<\/p>\n

Industry watchers considered D\u2019Amaro the frontrunner for the CEO job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when his name first came up, people were like, no, no, he wouldn\u2019t \u2014 he\u2019s a parks guy,\u201d said Matt Roseboom, editor and publisher of Orlando-based Attractions Magazine. \u201cBut then I think as time went on, people kind of came around to the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other Disney-owned entities include its movie studios, the ABC network, sports programming and the Disney+ streaming service.\u00a0 The company also has announced plans to build a theme park in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a transitional period for the entertainment business and for Disney \u2014 not so much as the parks, it\u2019s pretty much the same, just new technology and things \u2014 but as far as going from movies [in theaters] to streaming, and the future of movie theaters and Marvel and Disney+, it\u2019s ever-changing,\u201d Roseboom said.<\/p>\n

According to Walt Disney Co. filings with the SEC, D\u2019Amaro\u2019s annual base salary will be $2.5 million plus an annual bonus target of 250% of his base, according to the filing. He will receive a \u201cone-time long-term incentive award\u201d of $9.7 million and there\u2019s another long-term incentive listed with a target value of more than $26 million.<\/p>\n

Under D\u2019Amaro, expansion projects have gotten underway at Walt Disney World, including two \u201cCars\u201d attractions and a villains land for Magic Kingdom,\u00a0plus a Tropical Americas land with \u201cEncanto\u201d and \u201cIndiana Jones\u201d attractions at Disney\u2019s Animal Kingdom.\u00a0 D\u2019Amaro also was Animal Kingdom\u2019s vice president and the VP for resort and transportation operations, plus he was president of Disneyland in California in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n

Walt Disney Co. announced Monday that its Experiences division had a record $10 billion in revenue for the quarter ending in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy money was always on him. I think he has the foundation, the base, certainly with the parks. \u2026 From what I\u2019ve learned, he\u2019s smart enough to pick up the others, and he certainly carries the image of Disney well,\u201d said Dennis Speigel, founder of International Theme Park Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has savoir faire,\u201d Speigel said. \u201cHe has the swagger. He has what people want to see when you think about Disney.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other executive moves, Dana Walden, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, was named president and chief creative officer of Walt Disney Co., also effective March 18. No successor was named for D\u2019Amaro\u2019s position.<\/p>\n

Iger, 74, will remain a senior adviser and member of the Disney board until Dec. 31, his second retirement from the company. He was CEO from 2005 to 2020, then executive chairman through 2021. Bob Chapek was named Disney\u2019s CEO in February 2020 and D\u2019Amaro became his successor in the Experiences role. In November 2022, the Disney board, citing financial struggles, dismissed Chapek and rehired Iger.<\/p>\n

Orlando Sentinel 150: Tourists have long loved Orlando; Disney made it a whole new world<\/a><\/p>\n

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former president of Walt Disney World, Josh D\u2019Amaro, will replace the retiring CEO of Walt Disney Co.,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,6859,2659,28,9571,114,266,5741,115,1335,139,141,140,1976,109,2411,106,1316],"class_list":{"0":"post-142591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-disney","10":"tag-disney-world","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-lake-buena-vista","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-national-news","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-orange-county","18":"tag-orlando","19":"tag-orlando-headlines","20":"tag-orlando-news","21":"tag-osceola-county","22":"tag-social","23":"tag-theme-parks","24":"tag-things-to-do","25":"tag-tourism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}