Josh D’Amaro has been selected to succeed Bob Iger

Disney It has named Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Experiences, as its next CEO, succeeding Bob Iger and settling a closely watched succession race at the Mouse House.

Investors, industry insiders and onlookers have long awaited the announcement of who will take over as the next leader of one of America’s most famous companies. The appointment marks the second time in six years that Disney has selected a successor to Iger — his previous choice of parks chief Bob Chapek turned into a corporate governance spectacle that saw Iger regain the CEO role and restart the clock after retirement.

D’Amaro’s appointment will be effective March 18 at Disney’s annual meeting. Iger will serve as a senior advisor and member of the Disney Board of Directors until his retirement from the company on December 31.

“Josh D’Amaro is an exceptional leader and the right person to become our next CEO,” Iger said in a statement. “He has an instinctive appreciation for the Disney brand, a deep understanding of what resonates with our audiences, along with the precision and attention to detail required to deliver some of our most ambitious projects. His ability to combine creativity with operational excellence is exemplary and I am thrilled for Josh and the company.”

For the past several years, Disney’s board — led by former Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman — has been vetting candidates for the top job, especially among Disney’s executive ranks. Iger’s four direct reports — D’Amaro, ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro and Entertainment co-presidents Dana Walden and Alan Bergman — have been interviewed by the succession committee as early as 2024, CNBC previously reported.

Speculation has narrowed to D’Amaro and Walden in recent months.

“We looked at all the comers, and we wanted everyone who got this job to be the best person,” Gorman told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin on Tuesday, adding that there were more than 100 people on the list of potential candidates.

Meanwhile, Walden was named president and chief creative officer on Tuesday as part of the transition announcement. Also effective March 18, Walden is set to report directly to D’Amaro and focus on Disney’s storytelling and content engine in the newly created role.

“If you think about what Disney is about, it’s creativity. It’s amazing [intellectual property] “It’s been produced over decades,” Gorman said Tuesday.

D’Amaro takes the position at Disney after a period of leadership uncertainty and a mixed reception from Wall Street about the state of Disney’s business. Disney on Monday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat expectations — boosted by its theme parks and streaming — yet the stock lost 7%. Iger told investors that he is confident in the changes made at Disney over the past three years and its path to future success.

Notably, its Experiences unit, which includes parks, resorts and cruises, reported quarterly revenues of more than $10 billion during the period for the first time. The growth of the department has left a lot of room to run.

The company is planning to develop a new theme park and resort in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates — separate from its commitment to invest $60 billion in its theme parks over the next decade — and is looking to capitalize on its box office dominance in 2025. But the state of the entertainment business remains front and center, as Disney navigates the erosion of traditional TV, puts its efforts behind marquee content and bolsters profitability in its streaming business.

It will be up to Iger’s successor to guide Disney to its next phase.

Leading a media and theme parks group like Disney is no easy task. Neither of them is responsible for Iger.

The famous CEO has been at the helm of Disney for nearly 20 years, stitched together over two stints. Iger first served as Disney CEO for 15 years — after a career at Disney’s broadcast network, ABC, and then in leadership roles at its parent company — before stepping down for the first time in 2020.

In one quick announcement, Disney announced that Chapek, who most recently served as chairman of Disney Parks, will take over as CEO. Iger’s announcement came earlier than expected, and the selection of his successor took the industry generally by surprise.

During Iger’s first term at the helm of the company, he oversaw acquisitions and revitalized the company into a powerhouse. When he left in 2020, his list of accomplishments was long and included the recently launched Disney+ streaming service, which initially gathered subscribers at a rapid rate.

However, the delivery to Chapek was mired in drama and overshadowed by the Covid pandemic, which led to stay-at-home orders that closed movie theaters and amusement parks, though it was a boon for streaming.

Disney shares rose early during the pandemic as streaming subscriber numbers surged. But by late 2021, under Chapek, Disney’s stock price began to decline as the company reported earnings misses and slower streaming growth compared to Wall Street expectations.

In late 2022, as criticism of Chapek’s management of Disney mounted, Iger regained the top job. The announcement sent the company’s shares soaring, although Iger’s agenda will include restructuring the company he left behind less than two years ago.

In his second term as CEO, Iger focused less on acquisitions and more on a massive restructuring that resulted in $5.5 billion in cost cuts, layoffs and the creation of three main divisions of the company: Disney Entertainment; ESPN and Sports; parks, experiences and products.

“I am extremely proud of everything we have accomplished over the past three years to put Disney on a path to continued growth,” Iger told investors on Monday. “I am inspired and motivated by the opportunities ahead for this great company.”

Iger also took on an activist campaign, steered its TV and streaming businesses to profitability, returned Disney to the top of the box office and announced a sweeping investment in its theme parks, arguably its most aggressive business.

As Iger worked to get the business back on track, the question of succession loomed again.

Shortly after returning to the CEO role, Iger told CNBC that he did not intend to stay in the role longer than two years.

As is the case on previous occasions that Iger has said he intends to step down, his initial departure date has been postponed. By mid-2023, Disney extended Iger’s contract by two years and said it would name a successor by early 2026.

The CEO previously said as part of his contract extension that he wanted to “make sure Disney is in a strong position” for the next person to take on the role. “The importance of the succession process cannot be overstated,” Iger said in the statement at the time.

Gorman on Tuesday described it as a “long, comprehensive and comprehensive process.” Gorman said the entire Disney board was involved in the process and worked closely with Iger, and also had outside oversight.

Chapek, who previously served as D’Amaro’s president, has not been contacted to participate in the process and offer his thoughts on Disney’s next CEO, according to a person close to the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

Iger was initially scheduled to hand over the reins at the end of 2026, but Tuesday’s announcement puts that transition much sooner than expected. After directing and developing Disney’s next successor, Iger decided to “step aside,” Gorman recounted.

He added: “He said: I want to step down and I want to work with this person, with this team, to ensure that we emerge from the next decade on the strongest foot possible.” “He felt earlier in the year it was best to do it,” Gorman said.

In 2020, Iger handed over the CEO role to Chapek effective immediately, though he will remain CEO of the board through the end of 2021. CNBC previously reported that the two executives had power struggles well into their tenure during Chapek’s tenure.

Gorman noted Tuesday that he was not part of Disney’s board during CEO Iger’s first handover, but said he was confident of a smooth transition this time around.

“We won’t have the drama we had last time, I can assure you,” Gorman told CNBC on Tuesday.

“I don’t know what happened last time, and frankly, it kind of doesn’t matter. What matters is now,” he said.

— CNBC’s Julia Boorstin and Alex Sherman contributed to this report.