Disney Announces New Chairman of the BOD
He’s the Executive Chairman of the BOD of Morgan Stanley and frankly was nowhere on my radar for this job.
This announcement was made with a concurrent declaration that Disney would be announcing the new CEO in early 2026.
Meaning the Dark Herald was wrong, but will plead extenuating circumstances.
I had predicted that Walden would be named President and COO of the Walt Disney Company by the end of this year. Effectively making her the crown princess. That is obviously not going to happen now.
I hadn’t counted on Dana Walden getting caught up in a presidential debate scandal. I’m sure this is who Bob still wants but this matter may be out of his hands now. If Kamala Harris “wins” the presidency, then a CEO who is BFFs with the President of the United States is a very valuable thing.
However, if Trump wins, that flips the script. Dana Walden as CEO becomes a serious liability, possibly enough of one that she’ll need to retire from the Walt Disney Company starting the process of finding a new CEO all over again.
On top of the fact that Elon Musk has a murder-on Bob Iger and if Trump is president he will likely be giving ear to Elon’s complaints about media companies.
James Gorman was brought in this year to lead the search committee for Bob Iger’s replacement. A process he has described as “robust”
*eye roll*
Gorman is replacing former CEO of Nike, Mark Parker as Chairman of the Board. He is now retiring from the Disney BOD after nine years. Parker replaced Susan Arnold as Chairman after she committed the unpardonable crime of not undermining Bob Chapek as CEO.
Mark Parker’s primary asset was his relationship with Beijing. Meaning that someone has forced Iger to accept the fact that China is no longer the ideal primary partner for an American corporation. If there is a war between the US and China it’s a safe bet that Hong Kong and Shang-Hai Disneylands will be nationalized. And Beijing has frequently blocked Disney films over the last four years. In fact, the ones that get cleared by the censors are more the exception than the rule.
James Gorman is respected on Wall Street which is nice and he also led a very successful succession transition at Morgan-Stanley. Successful in this case meaning, the CEO-candidates at Morgan Stanley who didn’t win, stayed on afterward. Which is pretty rare.
Gorman’s ascension serves a couple of purposes. One, it lets Disney announce something – anything that looks like progress on the succession question after it was thrown up in the air again. Two, it steadies nerves in the financial sector.
At the end of the day, it means nothing because it would take a series of black swan events to save Disney.
