<\/p>\n
Disney has a new captain, and his eyes are on the stars. <\/p>\n
Taking over the reins from Bob Iger on Wednesday, new chief executive Josh D\u2019Amaro signaled a bold shift for the entertainment giant: a future where emotional storytelling remains the \u201cNorth Star,\u201d but cutting-edge technology provides the fuel.<\/p>\n
From ESPN to the Magic Kingdom, D\u2019Amaro said in his first letter to employees as the top boss that his mission is to turn a century of nostalgia into a more personal, high-tech reality for fans worldwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsed thoughtfully, it can empower our storytellers, strengthen our capabilities, and help us create more immersive, interactive and personal ways for people to experience Disney,\u201d he wrote in the Wednesday morning note.<\/p>\n
D\u2019Amaro also said he wants the sprawling company, which includes film and TV studios, a tourism division, streaming services and live sports programming, to operate as \u201cone Disney,\u201d saying the global businesses all play a role in deepening consumers\u2019 relationship with the Mouse House.<\/p>\n
That connection people have with Disney\u2019s brand is key to the company\u2019s future. Consumers have more film, TV and experiences to choose from than ever, meaning Disney needs to distinguish itself among competitors.<\/p>\n
To do that, D\u2019Amaro plans to focus on the emotions consumers feel when they encounter Disney. As an example, he reminisced about his own first visit to Disneyland more than 40 years ago.<\/p>\n
He recalled the joy on his father\u2019s face as the two rode Peter Pan\u2019s Flight together. And when they soared over the miniature version of London on the ride, he remembered his father leaning in and saying, \u201cSee, I told you. It feels like we\u2019re flying!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat feeling of flying I had on Peter Pan all those years ago is still real to me,\u201d he wrote in the Wednesday morning note. \u201cAnd today, I am honored to move forward with all of you \u2014 with ambition, optimism, and absolute confidence in what we can build together.\u201d<\/p>\n
That new era also included a goodbye to Bob Iger, who handed over the reins Wednesday and now moves into a senior advisory role for the rest of the year before his planned retirement.<\/p>\n
The company paid tribute to Iger in a video during Disney\u2019s annual shareholders meeting Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
With clips from his earliest public appearances as Disney\u2019s CEO, a highlight reel of the acquisitions the company made under his tenure and even a nod to his previous career behind the anchor desk, the video highlighted Iger\u2019s legacy at the company and the role he played in bulking up Disney\u2019s franchises, global theme parks, sports and streaming platforms.<\/p>\n
When asked in the video about where he\u2019ll go from here, Iger laughed and replied, \u201cTo Disneyland.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a pre-recorded speech, Iger said his time at Disney has spanned much of his life and that he never expected to become CEO of the company \u2014 much less twice.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the years, we experienced extraordinary change and faced real challenges that were particularly profound in the last three years,\u201d Iger said. \u201cIt was daunting at times, but through it all, what sustained me was the passion I saw every day from great storytellers, innovators, leaders and people around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his parting remarks during that speech, he expressed confidence in the new leadership team of D\u2019Amaro and Dana Walden, who is now president and chief creative officer of the company.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will be cheering on Josh, Dana and all of you as I sail off into the sunset,\u201d he said. \u201cSo thank you for the trust you placed in me, for the memories we created together, and for allowing me the honor of serving. It has meant more to me than I can say.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Disney has a new captain, and his eyes are on the stars. Taking over the reins from Bob Iger on Wednesday, new chief executive Josh D\u2019Amaro signaled a bold shift for the entertainment giant: a future where emotional storytelling remains the \u201cNorth Star,\u201d but cutting-edge technology provides the fuel. From ESPN to the Magic Kingdom, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2335497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2335496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Disneys-new-CEO-says-his-North-Star-is-storytelling-and.com2Fa12F7f2F31271d7440a3a1333475df31.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2335496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2335496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2335496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2335498,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2335496\/revisions\/2335498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2335497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2335496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2335496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2335496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}