How fortunate for the crew at FX and their sister networks that they finally found their way onto the Disney lot as full-time residents last month–a mere six years and ten months after they were acquired. I guess they found enough time to purge and pack efficiently, which likely meant they could hit the ground running without having to deal with the adjustments to a new home that typically accompany such moves.
They’re just in time to have box seats to what may arguably be the most significant drama that will be eminating from the lot all year–and yes, I’m including R.J. DECKER and even BEAUTY, sorry to say. As impressive and potentially impactful to their respective linear networks that they may be, they pale in comparison to the real-world plot that will shift into overdrive toward denouement in the coming days. As the DEADLINE duo of Dade Hayes and Jill Goldsmith teased yesterday:
Disney’s board of directors will meet next week with the drama over longtime CEO Bob Iger’s successor reaching its final act. A person familiar with the situation confirmed the board meeting to Deadline. The board typically meets in close proximity to the company’s earnings reports. Disney will report its fiscal first quarter earnings on Monday.
It took no less than three WALL STREET JOURNAL reporters–Robbie Whelan, Jessica Toonkel and Ben Fritz– to reveal a few more details, which they collectively did on Friday:
The CEO has told multiple associates that he would like to spend more of his time and energy on other things, such as sailing his new and larger superyacht, the Aquarius—which was completed and delivered to him last summer. He has said he would also like to devote more time to work with his wife, Willow Bay, dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and on Angel City FC, the women’s soccer team they bought in 2024.
People close to the company believe the CEO race has come down to two candidates: Experiences chairman Josh D’Amaro, who oversees theme parks, consumer products and videogames, and Dana Walden, a veteran television executive who co-chairs Disney’s entertainment business, including streaming. Both executives presented their visions for the company’s future to the board in August, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. Many believe D’Amaro is the front-runner.Mr. D’Amaro’s unit supplied roughly 60 percent of Disney’s profit last year. It accounts for 80 percent of what Disney is worth as a whole, according to MoffettNathanson, a research firm. Mr. D’Amaro oversees three of Disney’s four most important growth areas. (Cruises, games and parks. Streaming is the fourth.) To put it bluntly: As Mr. D’Amaro’s division goes, so goes the company.
For someone who could be on the cusp of taking over the world’s largest entertainment conglomerate, Mr. D’Amaro has a strikingly low profile in Hollywood. Disney die-hards know him — Mr. D’Amaro has 169,000 followers on Instagram — but his name barely registers in movie and television circles, where he is often dismissively referred to as “the theme park guy.”
Most of you know all about Walden; heck, she’s been photographed and interviewed almost as much as most of her talent, and it’s not just because she rocks the runway better than most. The fact that she emerged as far and away the most successful and impactful import from the FOX deal is testimony to both her tenacity and her talent. But being the numbers nerd that I am, I look at the trajectories of her networks and the relative struggles of her platforms and I can’t help but wonder if her best days might be behind her.
What I personally would love to see is a co-CEO scenario where Walden, as she has so often during her career, gets to again team up with a business-savvy work husband to allow her to thrive as a creative-friendly conduit. She had the benefit of one in Gary Newman during her FOX days and she has reaped the benefits of having John Landgraf as a subordinate-yet-equal since coming to Disney. But given the political climate and the infested waters that Disney is attempting to curry favor in, most with insider knowledge dismiss the possibility of this outcome.