There is news tonight involving our parent company Disney. The new CEO has been chosen by the Disney board. Josh D'Amaro will succeed Bob Iger on March 18th after Bob's nearly 20 years as CEO. Tonight, our interview here with Bob Iger and Josh D'Amaro on artificial intelligence, the new Disney theme park, streaming Disney Plus, and about Walt Disney's original dream of bringing joy and connection to American life. Gentlemen, thank you for doing this, for sitting down with me. I guess I have to say congratulations to you both. That would be appropriate.
Yeah. An incredible tenure and a new chapter begins. I was thinking about people watching at home and thought I would ask about them first because I think everybody has, you know, a Disney childhood memory, a favorite Disney movie, a favorite Disney character through the years, a trip to Disney World or Disneyland. But people at home also see how quickly things are changing. Technology, society, people with their phones, the competition for our attention. And I'm curious, Bob, what you think the next CEO has to do and soon to make sure that these childhood Disney memories are still a part of American life for years going forward?
Well, I think you touch upon something that is critical in terms of what the next CEO appreciates and what the next CEO is capable of doing, and that is truly, truly appreciating Disney's position in the world and to people. Disney's not just another company. Disney really is a cultural institution that has touched hundreds of millions of people for now over a hundred years. And having that appreciation, knowing the place Disney occupies in people's lives, I think is essential to anyone occupying this position in terms of their ability to move the company forward. That careful balance between legacy and innovation.
Is that the challenge, Josh, for you, that balance?
Well, I think I've been at the company now for 27 years. I've had the great benefit and the great honor of working with Bob for all of those years, first from a distance and now much more up close and personal. And I've watched probably the best of the best balance those two things. As Bob talks about being close to the fans and the guests, this is something that's important to me. I spend a lot of time in our beloved parks that hundreds of millions of people enjoy every year and I see firsthand the importance of the brand, what Disney means to them, what it means to these families. And when you feel that and you understand the legacy of this place and the fact that you need to keep pushing forward and being innovative, I think I'm ready for that challenge. But I've learned from the best of the best.
You know, we sit here in the theater that Walt Disney originally built and we're all familiar with what Walt did. This new documentary, Handcrafted, really shows just the incredible risk-taking that Walt went through. He leveraged everything. He leveraged his home to build Disneyland in a year. You're sitting next to a man who's led this company for nearly 20 years with significant risk-taking, billions of dollars in acquisitions for Pixar, Marvel, Lucas Films, 21st Century Fox. And as you sit here, the new CEO, I'm curious what your appetite is for risk-taking, and how do you meet the moment?
First, you're reminding me that I'm sitting next to Bob Iger, one of the best CEOs of all time. And it's a bit intimidating. We know each other well.
We do know each other well.
Bob's a big risk-taker. I'm a big risk-taker. And that's been true my whole life with how I've approached growing as an individual to how I've approached the business world. And I think you see that on full display today. I mean just several months ago we announced a massive expansion in a new part of the world in Abu Dhabi. We did that quickly. We did it ambitiously and we knew there was a new part of the world to serve and this is the first new theme park in 15 years for Disney.
What's the challenge in building the first in the Middle East and in a place where you don't control everything.
Bob has for quite a long time thought about the Middle East as a place that we'd like to grow. And when he came back we had an opportunity to sit down and say let's go for this, can we find the right partner, is this the right part of the world? And we quickly determined yes, we have a great partner that we're working with and this part of the world represents a population that is young, that is huge. In fact, within a four-hour flight radius of Abu Dhabi, a third of the world's population is there.
I saw that image of you, Bob, that you posted.
Yes, walking on the property that will one day be Disneyland. When Josh and I first visited, we stood on that same property and you look at the water and you look at the sand, you look at the place that you're in, and you dream big, big, big ambition, and you think, well, we can do this.
Let me ask about another bet. Disney recently made news for this billion-dollar bet in OpenAI, artificial intelligence. People at home certainly know about artificial intelligence, the risks, the rewards. It's made some folks, you know, uneasy about where we're headed. It's going to allow, you know, people who are on social media create their own videos with Disney characters from, you know, Star Wars, what have you, from Elsa to Mickey Mouse. I'm just curious, Bob, how you go about stepping in that direction while at the same time protecting the Disney character, protecting the humans behind the character, the actors, while also embracing where we're all headed.
You know, I'm glad you raised that because one of the reasons Josh was chosen for this position is I've observed him over the years that we've worked together as someone that views technology as an opportunity and not a threat. And I believe that is critical because when you look at the history of human beings, no generation of human beings has ever been able to stand in the way of technological advance. It happens. The reason this company is so special is because of how creative we are and the human beings that are generating that creativity, in my mind, that never gets replaced.
And in fact, this isn't even theory anymore. This is real. Like AI, to Bob's point, is here and it's something that we're embracing and you're seeing it supercharge these creatives in amazing ways. And they've embraced artificial intelligence. If you were to walk over to their studios today and see them using AI, harnessing 70 years of history, this is when the Walt Disney Company thrives, when technology intersects with brilliant people and creativity, and we're in that moment right now.
