As Disney’s Bob Iger Runs Out the Clock, Some Protegés ‘Can’t Wait to Be King’

CEO turnover has reached a record high, according to a report Friday from leadership advisory firm Russell Reynolds Associates. Apparently, the only safe job in Corporate America is being Bob Iger. 

The Walt Disney Company’s never-can-say-goodbye boss is slated to walk away from the top spot (again) at the end of the year, with a successor supposedly to be named in the near future. While no one is necessarily expecting the heir apparent to be named on the company’s earnings call today, analysts began to note last week that the drawn-out replacement process is starting to weigh on Disney’s share price. We know moving on is hard, but we would think, of all people, Bob understood The Circle of Life.

Magic Kingdom Monarch

We do have some clues as to when a new CEO will be named. “Disney’s board has confirmed plans to announce the next CEO in ‘early 2026’ — we expect prior to the Annual Shareholder Meeting on March 18,” JPMorgan analyst David Karnovsky wrote in a note last week seen by Yahoo, though added he isn’t expecting any white smoke to rise from Cinderella’s castle today. And despite Iger’s previous replacement — former parks chairman Bob Chapek — getting thrown to the proverbial hyenas, plenty of Disney higher-ups are still throwing their mouse-eared hats into the ring amid a succession race overseen by current chairman and former Morgan Stanley executive James Gorman. 

Those names include TV head Dana Walden, films chief Alan Bergman, ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro, and head of parks Josh D’Amaro. Each has a case for and against:

• D’Amaro is the current odds-on favorite, according to contracts on predictions market Kalshi; Parks and Resorts is the biggest revenue driver in the Magic Kingdom. But as Chapek’s brief stint proved, talent relations is the core of the CEO gig. “You’ve got to be able to manage creative people and the egos around Hollywood,” Kevin Mayer — Candle Media CEO, former Iger lieutenant and one-time heir apparent — told Yahoo last year. 
• Walden, meanwhile, drew criticism and then praise for her handling of the Jimmy Kimmel suspension fiasco last year (Kimmel eventually endorsed her for the top job), while Bergman has overseen a rocky few years at marquee studios Marvel, LucasFilm and Pixar. Pitaro has had the tough task of saving ESPN from the sinking cable ship.

Big Shoes: Whoever gets named will have the tough job of turning Iger’s late-era ambitions into reality. Disney is in the midst of a five-year, $60 billion expansion of its parks and cruises business. On the content side, it’s still digesting a deal to take over NFL Networks — in exchange for the football league taking a 10% stake in ESPN, forging a new kind of partnership. Meanwhile, a potential pairing of Netflix and Warner Bros. may empower Disney’s chief content rival even more. “While the change is not likely to result in major strategic shifts, we do believe the uncertainty around the process has been an overhang to shares and see a catalyst in the announcement and any visibility into a smooth transition process,” Karnovsky wrote.