Who Will Lead Disney Next?

Bob Iger is regarded as one of the greatest executives of the past few decades, leading Disney into the digital age and saving the company’s butt more times than we can count.

But, as time goes on, and with Iger’s contract set to expire in 2026, Disney has been forced to look for his eventual successor… and it isn’t going so well.

No one really knows who’s gonna take over.

Disney's board has already selected four internal candidates: entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman (as seen in the photo below), ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro, and Disney theme parks CEO Josh D'Amaro.

However, none of these 4 candidates are considered locks to get the job just yet.

So far, the media has treated Walden and D’Amaro like the frontrunners, but we’re not sure how accurate that is.

Bob Iger has been counseling each of the four individually, along with “executive coaches,” to help them become more comfortable in unfamiliar areas.

After all, this is 'one of the biggest jobs in corporate America,' so Disney knows they can’t afford to screw the pooch on this decision.

Each candidate obviously has their weaknesses; they all lack the necessary experience to run a multifaceted company like Disney, for now. Walden has no experience in running a theme park, D’Amaro has never produced a film, Bergman is solely a movie person, and Pitaro is exclusively focused on sports.

If the decision were to be made in a month, Disney would be in shambles. Thankfully, for the company and Iger, they have a couple of years to get this thing right.

Hopefully, that is enough time for Iger & company to whip some of these candidates into shape. If any of them lead Disney astray, we'll have a global catastrophe on our hands.