The Walt Disney Company on Monday said it will appoint Morgan Stanley Executive Chairman James P. Gorman to as its Chairperson for the Board of Directors, starting in January.
As part of the announcement, Disney and Gorman also set a timetable for the company to name a successor to current Chief Executive Bob Iger, with the permanent CEO expected to be named in 2026.
Gorman is currently the Chairperson of the Disney Board’s Succession Planning Committee, which is exploring Iger’s potential replacement. He will succeed Mark G. Parker in the role of Chairperson of Disney’s Board of Directors on January 2, the company said.
“James Gorman is an esteemed leader who has become an invaluable voice on the Disney Board since joining earlier this year, and I am extremely pleased that he has agreed to assume the role of Chairman upon my departure,” Parker said in a statement. “Drawing on his vast experience, James is expertly guiding the extensive search process for a new CEO, which remains a top priority for the Board.”
Parker said his departure from Disney’s board after nine years will allow him to focus on “other areas of my work.”
“I am proud of Disney’s renewed position of strength and excited for the company’s future, and I want to thank my fellow directors, Bob Iger and his exemplary management team for their continued strong leadership and dedication,” Parker said.
“I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to serve as Disney’s Chairman at this important moment in the company’s history,” Gorman said in a statement of his own on Monday. “In the short time I have had the opportunity to work with Mark, I have come to appreciate and deeply respect his authentic leadership, humility and intelligence. I know all Directors join me in saying we have been honored to serve with him as the Chairman of the Board.”
Gorman joins from Morgan Stanley, where he serves as executive chairman of the investment firm. He intends to step away as executive chairman of that company in December, Disney said. He worked as Morgan Stanley’s CEO from 2010 to 2023, and also held an executive position at Merrill Lynch, among other places.
Gorman said appointing a successor to fill Iger’s role is still “a critical priority” for the Board, and the company expects to announce that successor in early 2026.
“This timing reflects the progress the Succession Planning Committee and the Board are making, and will allow ample time for a successful transition before the conclusion of Bob Iger’s contract in December 2026,” Gorman said.
“The Disney Board has benefited tremendously from James Gorman’s expertise and guidance, and we are lucky to have him as our next Chairman – particularly as the Board continues to move forward with the succession process,” Iger affirmed on Monday. “I’m extremely grateful to Mark Parker for his many years of Board service and leadership, which have been so valuable to this company and its shareholders, and to me as CEO.”
Iger served as Disney’s CEO for more than 15 years before returning in 2020. His surprise return two years later was an indictment on the board’s view of then-CEO Bob Chapek, who was tasked with steering the company through the two-year coronavirus health pandemic.
Chapek’s strategy saw Disney invest heavily in original content for its direct-to-consumer streaming service, Disney Plus, which the company planted its flag on as the future of the Disney brand during and long after the pandemic. Few of those original titles panned out in a way that Disney expected, and Iger was brought in to clean up the financial mess and reorient the company and its products toward profitability.
Numerous Disney executives are being considered to succeed Iger, according to reports published by trade publications over the last two years. Dana Walden, the co-chair of Disney Entertainment, has a “leading edge,” according to sources who spoke with Variety for a report published last month. The top executive of Disney’s theme parks, Josh D’Amaro, is also a leading candidate. Other internal and external executives from the industries of entertainment and finance are also being considered.
There is also the chance that Iger remains in the CEO role beyond 2026, which would involve extending his contract for an unspecified number of years.
Rick Howe, a media analyst who co-hosts the weekly web show “The Editor’s Desk” with this reporter, said he believes Iger staying on long term is “not only a possibility, I think it’s a probability.”
“I think he’s got the skills required to run the parks and the studio,” Howe remarked while taping the program this week, which will be published via LinkedIn on Tuesday.
Those two business segments are critical to Disney’s post-pandemic revenue: The company’s “entertainment” and “experiences” segment earned Disney $18.966 billion during its most-recent financial quarter, which ended June 29. The collective amount was more than three-quarters of Disney’s $23.155 billion in revenue during the quarter. (Sports, which includes Disney’s stake in ESPN, accounted for $4.558 billion in revenue; Disney is expected to refresh its financial earnings report in mid-November.)
Howe views the installation of Gorman as the Chair of Disney’s Board next year as a sign that the company might be willing to return to its core “brand DNA” — one associated with family-friendly fare in terms of content and experiences, and one that would require siloing other brands like FX, Hulu and ESPN into their own standalone businesses.
Those businesses could continue to be owned by Disney, or co-owned between Disney and another company, to keep the entertainment giant’s balance sheets healthy, Howe noted.
“I think they’re just representative of the issue with Disney overall, which is, it’s just too damn big — there’s too much going on,” Howe said.
