Disney Announces the Wrong Successor. We’re So Tired.

Do you have that one friend who is always late for everything and makes even the simplest tasks overly complicated?

You’ll just ask them to have lunch. They’ll arrive 20 minutes late, overly caffeinated and describing their crazy morning.

First, someone had stolen their car battery. Then, an angry herd of bees had invaded their home. And on the way to lunch, they’d gotten pulled over for 87 unpaid parking tickets?

Some people are born into chaos, and everything that happens in life is one grand adventure.

Others are atrocious planners whose bad habits bleed into every facet of their lives.

Sometimes, I feel like The Walt Disney Company is both. Disney can take the simplest task and turn it into a grueling trial of nerves.

Just the other day, I was describing how much Disney has totally botched its crackdown on password-sharing. And now we have this…

Disney has just announced the wrong successor. We were seemingly at endgame for a choice between the obvious candidates.

Now, Disney has inexplicably chosen to delay the process for at least another year, and I think speak for all of us when I say: We’re so tired.

Disney, it shouldn’t be this hard. Let’s discuss the latest ploy to kick the can down the road rather than making the tough choice.

What Now?

Justin Hermes covered this story for MickeyBlog earlier today, and I’d encourage you to read several other stories about the topic.

We’re going to get into some of what’s happening, and I’ll also make some educated guesses about what’s going on behind the scenes.

But first, let’s quickly cover the basics. Disney brought James Gorman on board in November 2023.

At the time, the move seemed fairly innocuous, with CEO Bob Iger fighting activist investor Nelson Peltz.

Iger recruited two established veteran Wall Street executives for his campaign.

The other one, Sir Jeremy Darroch, garnered many headlines at the time due to his experience at Sky, a business that successfully pivoted to streaming.

Gorman was a known, as he had anchored Morgan Stanley since 2009, first as Co-President but then CEO in 2010.

Morgan Stanley was in transition during the aftermath of the financial crisis of the early 2000s.

Gorman proved the ideal leader for the moment, quickly earning respect for his calm stewardship of massive wealth.

Some executives wilt under that sort of pressure, as we saw with Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Gorman blossomed, and we shouldn’t lose sight of what this announcement means for Disney and him.

As an executive, Gorman was the gold standard at Morgan Stanley and transformed the business into a legitimate powerhouse.

After 14 years, Gorman deftly handled succession at his own company and still holds a spot as Executive Chairman.

He’ll drop that to become Disney’s Chairman of the Board.

Gorman replaces Mark Parker, who has a similarly glowing resume as the former CEO and Chairman at Nike.

Disney’s a revered company, and it can get even the most accomplished people to leave their old jobs. It’s impressive.

Disney Gets It Right

Let me be clear on one point. James Gorman is a dream candidate to run Disney’s Board of Directors.

There are very few people on Wall Street with spotless track records.

For the most part, that statement applies to Gorman. He received some flak a couple of years ago for an incident with the Chinese government.

As a native Australian, his motives weren’t the same as some critics suggested, which brings up another interesting point.

Gorman will become the first non-American by birth to run Disney as its Chairman. Born in Melbourne, he became an American citizen in 2004.

Gorman’s track record is ideal for Disney in that he successfully navigated treacherous waters with his Morgan Stanley succession.

Here’s the part where you should pay close attention. The investment bank had several strong internal candidates for CEO.

Gorman had fostered relationships with all of them and settled on three as the best possible candidates.

If that sounds familiar, it should. Disney currently has four different executives holding the title of Chairman.

As I discussed in August, Disney had previously tasked Gorman with choosing the best of them to run Disney…or selecting an outside candidate.

Realistically, this announcement has likely been in the offing since then. Gorman’s selection suggested that he was in control of the Board.

Disney had previously offered current Board Chairman Mark Parker the title of CEO as well, but he turned it down.

There’s a scenario out there where Disney fired Chapek, temporarily chose Parker to run the company, and then found a successor.

When that didn’t happen, Parker showed his hole cards that his heart wasn’t all-in on Disney, which is understandable for a Nike lifer. He’s leaving Disney to focus more on Nike.

Gorman has chosen differently, which makes his track record fascinating.

Disney Gets It Wrong

Once Gorman whittled his Morgan Stanley CEO candidates to three, he diplomatically uncovered a solution to satisfy all of them.

Ted Pick succeeded Gorman as CEO. However, Morgan Stanley promoted the other two candidates as well.

Andy Saperstein and Dan Simkowitz became Co-Presidents of Morgan Stanley under Pick, with Gorman acting as Executive Chairman of the Board.

That’s the title Gorman will cede on December 31^st, 2024, as he fully commits to Disney, just as Parker departs.

Your mind should be spinning with possibilities as you reflect on Gorman’s handling of Morgan Stanley succession.

Disney’s four current Chairman aren’t executives the company wants to lose.

However, the very nature of CEO succession pits these people against one another. It’s Corporate Squid Game.

In late August, Dana Walden briefly separated herself from the other candidates, which caused the knives to come out.

These situations are often ruthless, which makes Gorman’s accomplishment at Morgan Stanley all the more impressive.

Disney would like something similar to happen here. Since Parker wasn’t invested enough, he’s stepping aside.

A Whole New Ballgame?

This is officially Gorman’s show now, and we should be clear on something. He hadn’t worked with Bob Iger until late 2023.

This is NOT a Bob Iger loyalist like Susan Arnold and Parker were. No, we’re talking about someone even more successful than Iger.

As such, Gorman isn’t beholden to Iger, a necessary step after the Bob Chapek debacle. And yet, we’re already off to a bad start here.

Gorman’s first statement is:

“A critical priority before us is to appoint a new CEO, which we now expect to announce 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.”

I wanted to dig a hole, crawl into it, and die when I read that. Many of you probably felt the same way.

We Get 18 More Months of This

Disney had given every signal that a CEO determination was coming soon. In fact, here’s a New York Times quote:

“In recent weeks, chatter in the gossipy entertainment industry has escalated, with people speculating one day that Ms. Walden had already won the race, and the next day that Mr. D’Amaro was instead the choice, perhaps with Ms. Walden as chief creative officer.”

We’re hearing the same gossip on the subject, as I was planning on writing an article titled “Is Josh D’Amaro going to win after all?” soon.

Well, anything anybody writes is now premature because Disney just kicked the can down the road. Again.

I’m getting flashbacks from when the infamous Thomas Staggs/Jay Rasulo bake-off occurred ten years ago.

That race delayed Iger’s naming of a CEO for a while. Then, after Staggs “won” the battle, he left Disney a year later, delaying the CEO choice again.

Ultimately, Iger stayed through 2020, and this morning’s turn of events raises eyebrows once more.

The New York Times pointedly reminded readers that Iger “publicly said he is ‘definitely’ leaving when his contract expires on Dec. 31, 2026, a vow some people inside and outside of Disney have viewed with skepticism.”

Cynics and even realists cannot help but wonder whether this is yet another stall tactic for Iger to stay longer.

Disney would have been better served to name someone quickly as COO and perform another trial.

Then again, everyone would have also met that announcement with skepticism, given what transpired with Staggs.

Disney has dug a hole from which it cannot escape.

What Should You Expect?

I’ll level with you that I’m disappointed by today’s announcement but definitely not surprised.

Disney has been setting the table for this all year and, really, since Gorman joined the Board.

Iger settled on Gorman for two reasons, one of which was to mollify investors during the Peltz kerfuffle.

The other was to develop a long-term succession plan, one that should occur beyond Bob Iger.

Disney likes its current quartet of executives holding the Chairman title. In a perfect world, it would keep all of them.

Gorman has demonstrated that skill in the recent past. The Morgan Stanley succession played out just last year.

His unspoken goal here is to choose someone as CEO while keeping the others in the fold.

How feasible is that? Well, the answer depends on who becomes CEO.

The Other Possibility

Then, we have the other consideration here, which is that Gorman has a deep Rolodex of contacts, including those previous Morgan Stanley executives.

A longer search opens the door for an outside candidate to become Disney’s CEO.

In truth, after two full years of conversations regarding who will succeed Bob Iger, we’ve now reached a crossroads.

There’s a distinct possibility that Disney’s next leader is someone we’ve never even previously mentioned.

So, this is a terrible day for fans of Josh D’Amaro and Dana Walden.

They were previously perceived as the top two competitors for the job. Now, they likely prefer the other one winning to some outsider.

In short, what seemed like the final drive of the game just ended. Now, we’re heading to overtime, and it may take a while.

And we’re all so tired.

Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!