Who will be Disney’s next CEO?

walt disney company We have a new CEO, Josh D’Amaro.

The chairman of Disney’s Experiences division, which includes theme parks, cruise lines, resorts and consumer products, has been named to replace longtime CEO Bob Iger. He becomes Disney’s eighth CEO in its more than 100-year history.

Mr. D’Amaro, 54, joined Disney in 1998 and has held leadership roles both domestically and internationally, including Chief Financial Officer of Disney’s Consumer Products Global Licensing Division, President of Disneyland Resort, and President of Walt Disney World Resort.

“Josh is someone with decades of experience at Disney,” Disney board chairman James Gorman told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin on Tuesday. “He’s a great executive. He’s run large operations across the park and throughout the cruise operation. He also has a great creative touch.”

Mr. D’Amaro’s appointment to the top position once again highlights Disney’s storied history in the parks business, at a time when the division was experiencing significant growth, with Disney pledging to invest $60 billion in parks over 10 years. After a high-profile succession battle, D’Amaro defeated Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden to become CEO.

Since D’Amaro took over as head of experience in May 2020, the division’s revenue has increased nearly 40%, from $26.2 billion in 2019 to $36.2 billion in 2025.

Last year, this business unit accounted for about 40% of Disney’s total annual revenue.

Perhaps more impressive are the gains in this sector. The Experience segment’s operating income jumped from $6.8 billion in fiscal year 2019 to $10 billion in fiscal year 2025, an increase of nearly 50%. Starting in fiscal 2022, the Experiences segment will account for 55% to 70% of Disney’s profits.

Now in his 28th year with the company, D’Amaro has a proven track record with consumers and has been instrumental in growing the Experiences division since taking over in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.

At the time, national and international parks were closed, cruises remained in port, hotels remained empty, and virtually every aspect of the experiential segment was shut down. But during that shutdown, when it was safe to have workers on campus, D’Amaro began work. Construction continued on new Avengers-themed lands at California’s Disneyland Resort, with cosmetic updates across the company’s domestic parks.

Disney has also upgraded the guest technology that is essential to Disney theme parks throughout its rides and attractions. Mobile ordering capabilities have been expanded, and the company has begun work on what will become a new itinerary service and a new way for park patrons to purchase passes to skip the lines for certain rides.

After parks and resorts reopened, Mr. D’Amaro oversaw the launch of new rides such as Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Tron Lightcycle Run, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Ratatouille Adventure, as well as new themed lands such as the renovated Mickey’s Toontown at Disneyland.

International expansion has also expanded, with the opening of Fantasy Springs at Tokyo Disneyland and a Zootopia-themed land at Shanghai Disneyland.

D’Amaro is also a driving force behind the growth of Disney’s cruise line, which plans to double its fleet size by 2031. Three new ships have already sailed, and the fourth will enter service in April.

As for consumer products, Mr. D’Amaro encouraged Mr. Iger to invest $1.5 billion in Epic Games to provide a digital playground within Disney’s online game Fortnite. This space is especially important for attracting younger demographics, which are becoming increasingly difficult for companies to reach.

D’Amaro also has experience outside of the department. He is partnering with the company’s studio heads as Disney incorporates more movie franchises into its theme parks, cruises and hotels. Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, Disney Animation and more are mixed in with D’Amaro’s division.

“Josh is actually very involved in intellectual property,” Gorman said. “He has worked with many producers of IP to add new attractions and rides to parks around the world, and he has played a key role working with Bob on this new development, a very exciting development in Abu Dhabi. [United Arab Emirates]. So Josh definitely has street cred in that regard. ”

It’s Disney’s streaming and linear TV businesses that will face a learning curve when D’Amaro takes over as CEO.

Years of industry-wide code cuts and declining advertising revenues are weighing on all players in the media industry, including Disney.

While traditional television remains profitable, streaming has become a hot topic for media companies looking to win back subscribers and keep their content front and center.

Disney’s flagship streaming service, Disney+, initially gained subscribers quickly, but the company has recently turned to other efforts to combat slowing growth, including bundling its streaming services, offering cheaper ad-supported tiers, and cracking down on password sharing.

When Iger returned to Disney’s executive team at the end of 2022, building out streaming offerings like Disney+, Hulu and ESPN remained a priority.

Disney on Monday reported quarterly revenue for its entertainment division, which includes streaming and theatrical releases, rose 7% from a year earlier to $11.61 billion. However, Disney did not report streaming subscriber numbers in the first quarter.

Maintaining the stability of Disney’s streaming future will be a key focus for the company’s next CEO.

“Looking back at just a few years ago, when our movie business was impacted by COVID-19 and our streaming business was clearly not in an acceptable position, it’s clear that the future of both of these businesses, or let’s call it our entertainment business, is bright and growing,” Iger said on Monday’s earnings call.

D’Amaro also plans to address his predecessor’s legacy. The last time Iger left the company, he returned less than two years later to right the ship.

—CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo contributed to this report.