Disney CEO Succession Process To Officially Include Outside Candidates

Disney‘s process to identify CEO Bob Iger‘s successor will officially include external candidates as well as four current executives.

A person familiar with the process confirmed as much to Deadline, though most observers had assumed all along that both internal and outside executives would be in the mix. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday morning on the state of the closely scrutinized deliberations.

One particular outside candidate, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson, was called out in the Journal report and pictured prominently in a photo, but the source emphasized that he is not a front-runner. Wilson has been connected with Disney in recent years, interviewing for the ESPN Chairman post now occupied by Jimmy Pitaro and also taking part in merger discussions with Disney. The media company was considering an acquisition of video game giant EA during the relatively brief and bumpy tenure of Iger’s previous successor, Bob Chapek, but a deal never materialized.

No other outside execs were named by the Journal, but its report noted Disney’s appetite in the gaming sector, as evidenced by a major investment in Fornite maker Epic Games earlier this year.

Pitaro, theme parks and experiences chief Josh D’Amaro and entertainment co-heads Dana Walden and Alan Bergman are the internal candidates known to be in the running. The current leadership team’s latest report card will come Thursday morning when Disney posts its financial results for the July-to-September quarter. (Expect pom-poms to be waved about Deadpool & Wolverine and the Emmy dominance of FX.)

Chapek, who had been hand-picked by Iger, was ousted in November 2022, with Iger returning to the CEO role for a second stint. Iger’s current contract runs through December 31, 2026, but the company has declared its intention to name his successor by the early part of 2026. Over the past several decades, including the time when the company was run by Iger’s predecessor, Michael Eisner, succession has been a stumbling block for Disney. Iger changed his mind several times about retiring before finally stepping down in 2020, and a number of top execs wound up leaving the company after Iger either passed them over or reversed his plan to pass the baton.

This time, the succession effort is being overseen by former Morgan Stanley chief James Gorman, who famously executed his own smooth handoff when he exited the bank’s top job in 2023. In January, he will assume the role of chairman of the board, continuing as chair of the board’s succession committee, a role he took on after joining the Disney board earlier this year.

While it remains unusual in corporate America, the notion of a dual CEO setup akin to what Netflix has used in recent years is reportedly on the table at Disney. Iger contacted Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos to get his thoughts about the structure and was told that it works well at the streaming giant because of its culture of transparency and candor, the Journal reported.

One tandem that could prevail at Disney, the report theorized, citing unidentified sources, was D’Amaro and Walden. He brings operational experience from the parks side, while she would bring strong creative relationships. On their own, each candidate is perceived to lack aspects of what is required of the leader of a large and diversified entertainment entity like Disney.