Disney‘s board said it expects to announce a CEO successor to Bob Iger in early 2026 — but the guessing game about who will take the throne at the Magic Kingdom is already well under way.
The media company enlisted headhunting firm Heidrick & Struggles to vet candidates outside of Disney, and the firm has identified three potential candidates, including Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources.
A source familiar with Disney’s CEO search process, however, said that EA’s Wilson is not a frontrunner candidate. Reps for Disney and EA declined to comment.
In October, Disney named James Gorman, who is leading the board’s CEO search committee, as chairman effective Jan. 2, 2025, taking over the role from Nike executive chairman Mark Parker. The company said the committee expects to announce a CEO successor in early 2026. That signaled that Disney intends to look beyond the four division bosses who have been considered likely candidates: Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro and Josh D’Amaro, head of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.
Wilson, a native of Australia, has served as chairman and CEO of EA since 2013. Prior to becoming CEO, he served as executive VP of EA Sports and Origin where he led the global EA Sports business, as well as EA’s digital PC service. Prior to that he led all aspects of EA’s Online Organization, including the company’s Asia business operations and direct-to-consumer services. Wilson also served as VP and executive producer of all EA Sports FIFA games.
According to the Journal report, Wilson in 2018 interviewed for the top job at ESPN before it went to Pitaro. In addition, when Bob Chapek was CEO of Disney, Wilson engaged in talks “about potentially selling EA to Disney, but the negotiations didn’t lead to a deal,” per the Journal.
Gorman is executive chairman of Morgan Stanley and as previously announced he will be stepping down from that role on Dec. 31, 2024. He oversaw the recent succession process at Morgan Stanley, where he had previously served as the firm’s CEO. In August, the board tapped Gorman to lead the CEO succession committee, taking over the role from Parker.
“A critical priority before us is to appoint a new CEO, which we now expect to announce in early 2026,” Gorman said in a statement last month provided by Disney. “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.”
The issue of CEO succession at Disney was a flash point in the protracted proxy fight launched by activist investor Nelson Peltz, who alleged Disney’s board failed to do its job with respect to CEO succession planning in not vetting Chapek, who was Iger’s personal pick to take over the job in 2020. The board ousted Chapek in November 2022 and Iger returned as CEO. Peltz ultimately lost his bid to shake up Disney’s board (seeking seats for himself and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo) and earlier this year reportedly sold all his Disney shares.
Source link
