Episode summary
Disney Taps Parks Chief Josh D’Amaro to Succeed Iger as CEO | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · 26 min · Hosts: Paul Sweeney, Scarlet Fu · Guests: Geetha Ranganathan, Diksha Gera, Ken Shea, Sam Fazeli
Summary
Disney’s board named Josh D’Amaro to succeed Bob Iger as CEO, ending a three-year search and signaling that parks remain the company’s core growth engine. The analyst said the timing is much better than the failed Bob Chapek succession in 2020, when the pandemic hit parks, movies and the streaming transition all at once. She argued that Disney is now on steadier ground, with clearer mandates across streaming, studio and parks.
A key investor concern is whether Disney can keep its creative leadership intact while the new CEO takes over on March 18. The analyst said the board’s new president and chief creative officer role for Dana Walden should ease fears in Hollywood and help keep top-tier content flowing to Disney’s streaming platforms. She also said Josh D’Amaro effectively already owns much of the company’s current strategy because many park initiatives, including Lightning Lane, Genie and the $60 billion expansion, have been under his watch.
The segment also raised possible structural changes, including a spinout of Disney’s broadcasting and cable networks. The analyst said that option is now clearly on the table, while ESPN still matters because of its sports rights and its role in the Disney bundle. The rest of the show covered PayPal’s weak results and CEO change, PepsiCo’s price cuts and portfolio focus, and Pfizer’s disappointing obesity-drug data.
Key takeaways
- Disney’s board picked Josh D’Amaro because parks are now the company’s main growth engine, not a side business.
- The analyst said Dana Walden’s new creative role should reassure Hollywood and protect Disney’s content pipeline.
- A spinout of Disney’s declining TV networks is “definitely” under consideration, though ESPN still matters to the bundle.
- PayPal’s new CEO comes after a miss and a slowdown in branded checkout, which the analyst said points to a multi-year turnaround.
- PepsiCo is cutting some prices and rationalizing SKUs, but the analyst said the bigger story is sharper portfolio focus under activist pressure.
Notable quotes
“the clear what has really emerged clearly right now Scarlet is that parks is the main core growth engine of the company”
“they specifically created this one for Dana Walden. So, that I think really kind of um I think dispels a lot of fears about what would happen from a creative perspective”
“I think everybody is considering that right now. I mean, we've just seen what uh you know, Warner Brothers Discovery has been able to achieve by kind of separating out its studio and streaming from the TV network's business”
“I think sports is still very core to Disney. I mean they are so so if you just kind of look at the US sports landscape, ESPN actually owns majority of the marquee US sports rights”
“But I think the bigger issue is forward-looking um branded checkout which is the main core high margin business for PayPal that has slowed to 1% in the fourth quarter”
How the episode opens
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Listen on demand wherever you get your podcast or watch us live on YouTube. Walt Disney saying that Josh Dearo will succeed Bob Iger as CEO of the company. This ends a three-year search to replace its long-erving leader who had to come back after the first time around didn't quite work out.
Let's bring in Githa Ranganathan. She is our US media analyst here at Bloomberg Intelligence. And I want to contrast what happened this time around with the succession planning Githa with what happened in the past um when Bob Chapeek, also of the parks division, was named CEO, but didn't last too long on the job.
Can you compare and contrast the different succession efforts? Yeah, I think it was a very different time, Scarlet. So, remember he was appointed in February of 2020, March 2020.
Everything closes down, including, you know, Disney parks, uh, because of the pandemic. So, it was kind of unfortunate. The timing was all wrong, I would say, for Bob Cheek.
H, and what happened then is, of course, mo, you know, movies were shut down. Mo, a big part of Disney's business, movies as well as the parks again. But then what really kind of shot into prominence at that point was the streaming business.
A business that Bob Chapek was not really very familiar with. Um and while he did have some experience in content obviously it was not enough and we had a whole bunch of different missteps with the content uh part of the business which kind of led to the whole uh you know mess that we saw uh you know uh follow.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ceo succession
- disney parks
- paypal earnings
- consumer price cuts
- pfizer obesity treatment
Companies and tickers mentioned
- DIS
- PYPL
- PEP
- PFE
- Walt Disney
- PayPal Holdings
- PepsiCo
- Pfizer
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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