Disney Chair Gorman on Why D'Amaro Is the Next CEO

It is Josh D'Amara. Good morning, Ed. He is a fantastic executive. He is strategic. He has run a huge operation, one which Disney has now invested $60 billion of capital into. He has great creative instincts. He has what Bob Iger calls exceptional taste. He is a leader who has operated all over the globe, including the recent expansion that will happen in the UAE which he did with Bob. He is the person for this time. Josh is a standout executive. We looked all over the world. We wanted to do this right and make sure whoever got the job beat all comers, and he beat all comers. We are thrilled.

We have not set goals in terms of his contract. He has not started. He will take over at the annual meeting which is March 18. Bob will be working with him through 2026, guiding him, mentoring and helping further develop him. He laid out a vision for the board and the various discussions we had, which we had numerous ones. We got to know Josh and all the other top executives: Dana Walden, Alan Bergman. Just a tremendous group of executives we had to consider in the process. Over time, we will work with him as he settles into the job to lay out what the right route to take is, what moves will be, and how we are going to measure ourselves against those. I'm highly confident in Josh and the team working with him.

Let's just talk about Bob. He has had effectively two jobs at Disney. He did deals no one could have done. You are at George Lucas, Rupert Murdoch to buy a bunch of studios which we now oversee seven studios. Produced under Alan's and working with Dana has produced over $6 billion with the movies in the last few years. Bob did a phenomenal job and the company got in trouble before I joined the board. The invite about to come back. There were two mandates. One was to get us through the very difficult post-COVID period and the changes taking place with what was going on in streaming and now AI. He did that and got the company fit for purpose. The second was to make sure if we were to go internal, that the lead executives—we have four to consider—would be ready for prime time if and when we went in that direction. We ultimately did. Bob came to us and said they are ready. Josh is ready. He's ready to take over. If the board's will, stay on the board for the end of the year. It is not about the length of the contract he was under. It's about his role as CEO and then mentor for the next CEO. Hats off to Bob. It was selfless and frankly what is great for the company.

Bob will stay on as an employee advisor and board member until the end of 2026, then step off the board. He will not be an employee and will continue to consult with the company consistent with what former executives do. I'm doing that at my former institution, Morgan Stanley. No, Bob was not interested in remaining as a chair or co-chair. We needed a completely clean start here, which is what we are having. He will be there to support and mentor, and we have the right structure for the future. We are thrilled. You look at what's going on now that we have appointed Dana as president and the chief creative officer. That is to ensure that the leadership team at the heart of the company is creativity and storytelling. It is to ensure the leadership team brings their absolute best every day, leveraging our IP, telling stories across all of our properties, whether it is cruises or parks, TV, ESPN platform and obviously the studios. We are set for the next decade and very excited about it.