LOS ANGELES, March 18 (Reuters) – Josh D’Amaro officially assumes his new role as Disney’s chief executive at the annual shareholder meeting this Wednesday, taking the helm of the entertainment giant at a time of profound change.
Managing the company’s lucrative theme park business, which accounts for 57% of last year’s $17.5 billion in profit, helped elevate D’Amaro to the top job.
Investors are eager for D’Amaro to present his strategy for guiding Disney into the age of artificial intelligence, when tech giants threaten to rewrite the media economy, and to manage potential disruptions to the company’s tourism business caused by the Middle East conflict and rising oil prices.
D’Amaro also inherits a declining television industry, audience fatigue with big entertainment brands like Marvel and Star Wars, and a fragmented entertainment landscape in which Disney must compete with YouTube and TikTok for viewers’ time and attention. He will also have to erase memories of another former parks director promoted to Disney CEO, Bob Chapek, whose brief and unsuccessful tenure resulted in the return of the company’s longtime leader, Bob Iger, in November 2022.
Although both D’Amaro and Chapek exited the parks division, Disney’s board of directors paired D’Amaro with veteran television executive Dana Walden, who was promoted to president and chief content officer. TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz wrote that Walden’s proven creative experience will enhance D’Amaro’s operational strengths.
“However, it will be critical that the two executives are able to establish a solid partnership,” Creutz wrote in an analyst note.
