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Disney<\/a> is gearing up for what could become a corporate succession battle, just as soon as it wraps up its proxy war with activist investor Nelson Peltz. Current CEO Bob Iger has pledged to appoint a successor<\/a> to lead the company before he departs<\/a> at the end of his current contract<\/a> in 2026, and investors that supported Disney\u2019s slate ahead of tomorrow\u2019s meeting are likely to hold him to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Disney\u2019s board thought it had already answered the question who would lead the company after Iger. But the answer only received partial credit. Iger had to come back to helm the company in 2022 after his chosen successor Bob Chapek was fired by the board, which has been one of Peltz\u2019s sticking points in his fight with Disney in recent months. For the Disney board and Iger, however it is constituted after the vote results tomorrow, hiring the right CEO<\/a> and executing a transition will be an exercise institutional investors and other potential activists eyeing Disney will closely scrutinize.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, the prospect of leading one of the world\u2019s most influential entertainment companies, not to mention one its most famous brands is a tantalizing prospect for any ambitious executive.<\/p>\n A few of Disney\u2019s most senior executives are expected to be in the running, according to CNBC<\/em><\/a>. The candidates, according to CNBC<\/em>, include longtime ESPN head Jimmy Pitaro, Dana Walden, who joined the company in the 2019 Fox<\/a> megadeal, her entertainment division co-chair Alan Bergman, and the chair of Disney\u2019s parks business, Josh D\u2019Amaro. An external candidate isn\u2019t impossible but seems unlikely given Disney\u2019s bench of executive talent and its well-established company culture, which would make the transition cumbersome for a newcomer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Plus, hiring an external candidate could also give more ammunition to Disney and Iger\u2019s main critics. Peltz<\/a> has been relentless in critiquing the Disney board\u2019s<\/a> succession plans, contending it failed last time around with Chapek in 2020. Chapek, who used to run Disney\u2019s amusement parks division, suffered a number of missteps during his tenure, most notably being unable to gel with the Hollywood creative community. That forced Iger back onto the scene in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n Disney did not respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n With only about a year and a half until Iger leaves, the board\u2019s succession planning has picked up in earnest. Disney appointed<\/a> a special succession planning committee of several highly experienced board members, including Nike<\/a> executive chair Mark Parker, former Morgan Stanley<\/a> CEO James Gorman, GM CEO Mary Barra and Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald, according to company documents. Disney has touted Gorman as being part of the search for Iger\u2019s replacement, given his successful CEO transition at Morgan Stanley, where he serves as executive chair<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Now the four leading internal candidates\u2014Pitaro, Walden, Bergman, and D\u2019Amaro\u2014will have to prove themselves to Iger, the board, and possibly Peltz, should he win his proxy fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n Perhaps the strongest argument in Pitaro\u2019s favor is that he already has experience running<\/a> a massive, global entertainment conglomerate in ESPN. The worldwide leader in sports has a media empire<\/a> that spans the globe with broadcast channels in the U.S., Latin America, Africa, and Europe, its own streaming service, and now a budding sports gambling operation after a $1.5 billion licensing deal<\/a> with Penn Entertainment.\u00a0<\/p>\n As an executive, Pitaro has shown the dealmaking chops<\/a> needed to thrive in the wheeling-and-dealing world of entertainment when he struck a deal<\/a> with Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a> and Fox to create their own standalone sports streaming service. And at ESPN he\u2019s intimately familiar with the delicate process of negotiating talent contracts. He\u2019s kept<\/a> ace broadcaster Stephen A. Smith at the network, while at the same letting other on-air talents go<\/a> in a round of layoffs<\/a> that surprised many in the industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n Working against him, though, is that the cable business, where ESPN makes its nut, has long been on the decline<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another top contender who comes from Disney\u2019s content engine is Walden<\/a>, who leads the company\u2019s television and streaming businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n She joined Disney<\/a> in 2019 after a distinguished career as a television executive at Fox under the auspices of Rupert Murdoch. When the Australian media titan sold<\/a> his studio and television assets to Disney for $71 billion in 2019, she went over to the Magic Kingdom.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Walden\u2019s appointment would be historic, making her the first women<\/a> to be CEO of the 100-year-old company. A longtime Hollywood executive, she would already be plugged into the creative community<\/a> that is so vital to Disney\u2019s movie and television businesses. Walden\u2019s track record with filmmakers, producers, and actors would certainly play in her favor, reassuring the board and investors that she would avoid some of Chapek\u2019s mistakes. She\u2019s had a hand in hit TV shows like \u201c24,\u201d \u201cModern Family,\u201d and \u201cHow I Met Your Mother.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Her perceived weakness is that she may lack the number-crunching prowess of her fellow C-suite peers, sources told CNBC<\/em>. Although her supporters told the outlet those criticisms<\/a> are often leveled at women in corporate leadership roles<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Flanking Walden in the race to replace Iger, as he does in their day-to-day jobs, is Bergman, the other co-chair of Disney entertainment who oversees all of its movies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bergman was elevated alongside Walden in a major executive reshuffle<\/a> in February 2023. At the time he was promoted to oversee all film productions in the U.S. and abroad. Under Bergman\u2019s purview is also the film slate for Disney\u2019s streaming services Hulu<\/a> and Disney+.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some of Bergman\u2019s major responsibilities during his time at Disney included integrating<\/a> major acquisitions into the company. Bergman helped bring Pixar, Marvel Studios, and Lucasfilm on board at Disney. That\u2019s an especially important feather in his cap given the importance M&A<\/a> has played in Disney\u2019s content strategy in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under Bergman\u2019s watch, Disney\u2019s movie studios released Avengers: Endgame, the culmination of the more than decade-long Marvel Cinematic Universe project, which became the highest grossing movie of all time<\/a> in 2019. But a recent string of flops, from Marvel in particular, has put increased pressure<\/a> on Bergman and the movie studio to turn around their performance. That\u2019s in no small part because Peltz has pointed out the movie division\u2019s middling numbers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rounding out the pack is Adam D\u2019Amaro, the head of Disney\u2019s parks business. While perhaps not as high profile or as closely watched by the entertainment press, the parks business is a financial powerhouse. The division turned over $32.5 billion in fiscal 2023, accounting for about a third of the company\u2019s overall revenue, according to company filings. It\u2019s also an especially profitable segment of the House of Mouse with $9 billion in operating income.\u00a0<\/p>\n Aside from the exceptional financial performance, Disney\u2019s parks business is a truly global enterprise with locations in the U.S., China, Japan, and France. D\u2019Amaro will have experience navigating the complex geopolitical maze of building and operating such large infrastructure projects in multiple countries. He exhibited a bit of that this past year during Disney\u2019s high-profile war of words<\/a> with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over<\/a> some of the state\u2019s laws targeting LGBTQ people.\u00a0<\/p>\n The principal knock against D\u2019Amaro might be through no fault of his own. Working against him is the fact that Chapek came up from the parks division, which many said made him inexperienced in the deft sort of relationship management needed for the entertainment industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the succession question remains open, much of Disney\u2019s immediate future will be decided this week. On Wednesday Disney shareholders will vote<\/a> on whether to grant Peltz and a deputy board seats and accept his proposed changes for Disney\u2019s strategy. If Peltz wins, it could throw a further wrench in the board\u2019s succession plans for Iger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nCan ESPN\u2019s Pitaro handle the franchise tag?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Walden could be the first women to be Disney CEO<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Box-office Bergman<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h3>\n
A second chance for a parks exec<\/strong><\/h3>\n