By Dawn Chmielewski
LOS ANGELES, Feb 3 (Reuters) - No person is too small in Josh D'Amaro's world. The new chief executive of Walt Disney is a celebrity among the Magic Kingdom's recreational devotees and employees alike. Yet the 54-year-old former head of theme parks is stepping into the role as the media and entertainment conglomerate navigates challenges that are the business equivalent of a ride on Space Mountain.
D'Amaro's ability to connect with people is just one of many skills necessary to lead
the Mouse House. On a tour of Disneyland one afternoon, D'Amaro can hardly stroll down a two-block stretch of Main Street U.S.A., a nostalgic recreation of small-town America inspired by the eponymous creator's hometown of Marceline, Missouri, without notice.
A first-time visitor from North Carolina, Margaret Debruhl, asks him for a selfie, recognizing D’Amaro from the hotel welcome videos. Next up is a group of 49 students and parents visiting from Puerto Rico, who approach D’Amaro for a group photo. A longtime Disney choreographer shouts “Hey Josh! You’re back from Tokyo already?”
On Tuesday, D'Amaro was appointed the ninth CEO to oversee Walt Disney in a century. The last five years, however, have been rocky, marred by a disastrous leadership transition in 2020.
AFFABLE STYLE
D'Amaro on paper resembles the company's last boss, Bob Chapek, a nearly 30-year veteran also elevated from the theme park division. His tenure lasted less than three years. D'Amaro may have a similar background but his affable style is more akin to Bob Iger, the man he replaces and whose affinity for cardigans he's adopted.
Disney's board may have gone back to the same well twice because of the increasing prominence of its theme parks. The division that operates 12 theme parks, including Walt Disney World, 57 resort hotels worldwide, and a fleet of luxury cruise ships is the company's most lucrative. It generated an operating profit of $3.3 billion in the quarter ending in December, representing over 70% of Disney's total.
D'Amaro was responsible for other growth initiatives like an ambitious $60-billion expansion of the parks and cruise lines, and is laying the groundwork for a new resort in Abu Dhabi, the company's first in the Middle East.
He also played a hand in plowing $1.5 billion into Fortnite creator Epic Games in an effort to turbo-charge fans' experiences through different media. “We envision this as a world or a universe that I think can be important not only to (the) game space, but to the Walt Disney Company,” D’Amaro said in a 2024 interview.
Those who know D’Amaro describe him as a talented leader who’s smart, engaged, and a good communicator, though perhaps his most important trait is his passion for the Mouse House. “Disney runs through his blood,” said one former Imagineer, the name describing the company's theme park designers.
Even so, D'Amaro will be confronted with several pressure points including the decline of its traditional television business, rising production costs and the fading box office appeal of its Star Wars and Marvel franchises. Shares of Disney are down approximately 40% in five years.
MOUSE HOUSE MENU
The Massachusetts native's path to Disney's upper echelons has been marked by steady advancement. A graduate of Georgetown University, D'Amaro joined Disney in 1998, and held leadership roles across several functions including marketing and creative development over his three-decade career at the company. His past positions with the company include chief financial officer of Disney Consumer Products and president of the Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts.
On the day he was named president of Disneyland Resort in 2018, D’Amaro said the outgoing president, Michael Colglazier, arranged a lunch of grilled cheese -- “which you might know, is one of Walt’s favorite things to eat” -- on the deck of Walt Disney’s apartment above the fire station on Main Street U.S.A.
"I can remember - and to this day, I feel the same thing - feeling the heavy awe of the moment and the responsibility that I had to carry on the legacy of this place," D'Amaro said in an earlier interview.
In 2020, D’Amaro succeeded Chapek as chairman of Disney’s theme parks and consumer products businesses. The timing proved inauspicious, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced widespread closures and workforce reductions across Disney's global theme park operations. D’Amaro used the closures as an opportunity to make improvements to the parks, adding the World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea's Fantasy Springs in Japan.
He also has had missteps. D'Amaro supported a proposal in 2021 to move 2,000 California-based employees, including most of its theme park Imagineers, to central Florida to capitalize on the state’s tax incentives. Iger later reversed the decision, in the heat of Disney’s legal battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Ticket price increases have rankled some as sensitive consumers feel the pinch. Last year, Comcast's NBCUniversal turned up the competitive heat when it opened the doors to Universal Epic Universe, a $7-billion theme park not far from the "Most Magical Place on Earth," Walt Disney World. He also has to wrestle with a drop in international visitors to Disney's U.S. locations.
Like Chapek, D'Amaro has little experience running cable and broadcast television networks, streaming services or making movies. The absence of those skills made Chapek's job all the more difficult, prompting Iger's return in November 2022.
On top of it, Hollywood is wrestling with the creative upheaval of generative artificial intelligence, while rivals Netflix and Paramount Skydance are locked in a battle over Warner Bros Discovery, threatening to grow even bigger.
D'Amaro has been animated by the desire to create the same kind of magic he experienced when he first visited Disneyland as a child with his father, who promised him, "You're going to feel like you're flying."
The adventure stuck with him and framed how he thinks about his responsibility at Disney. "We're thinking about these investments," D'Amaro said, "making sure that the next generation is going to take in something and say, 'I can't believe that experience.'"
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; editing by Jennifer Saba and Nick Zieminski)
