Media and entertainment giant Disney (NYSE:DIS), which is searching to find a replacement to succeed chief executive Bob Iger early next year, has considered a co-CEO structure like Netflix (NFLX) and Spotify (SPOT), according to a CNBC report on Tuesday.
The report said the two most likely internal candidates to become co-CEOs are Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden, who has decades of Hollywood expertise, and Disney Experiences chairman Josh D’Amaro, who worked in consumer products before his elevation in the theme parks division all the way up to running the unit.
Walden’s and D’Amaro’s complementary skill sets, along with the recent momentum behind co-CEO appointments in media and beyond, could influence Disney’s board to select them both to replace Iger, the report said. In such a scenario, Iger would transition to an executive chairman role like Netflix’s Reed Hastings and Spotify’s Daniel Ek.
However, a co-CEO arrangement at Disney comes with red flags that don’t exist at other companies, the report said.
If Iger sticks around as executive chairman on the board, some employees and external partners may still view him as a CEO. That could undercut the power-sharing structure of two CEOs, especially given Iger’s reputation for wanting to remain the company’s No. 1 leader, the report said.
The CNBC report said Iger has a reputation for wanting to hang around as Disney’s top boss. He’s pushed back retirement five times to remain at the helm, and he came back to replace Bob Chapek in 2022 after hand-picking him as his replacement.
Unlike Netflix, where co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters have years of experience working together, the top two Disney contenders have not worked with each other long enough, the report said. It also pointed out that Disney’s corporate culture is “famously political,” pointing to the succession processes with Iger and Disney’s former CEO Michael Eisner.