Business
Disney’s Josh D’Amaro era begins following Bob Iger handoff
Walt Disney Co. installed Josh D’Amaro as chief executive Wednesday, beginning a new chapter for the storied Burbank entertainment giant.
Bob Iger passed the reins during Disney’s virtual annual meeting of shareholders, completing the company’s high-stakes and tightly choreographed changing of the guard. After spending two decades molding Disney into a media colossus, Iger segued into a senior advisory role, which will run through December when he officially retires.
The leadership shift comes amid an upheaval in Hollywood as traditional companies wage a desperate battle for survival.
“While others in our industry are consolidating just to compete, or struggling to be relevant in a fragmented and disrupted world, Disney is in a category of one,” D’Amaro said during a recorded segment broadcast at the meeting. “This next chapter will be driven by staying focused on world-class creativity, enhanced by technology, bringing unforgettable stories to audiences wherever they are.”
D’Amaro, 55, becomes the ninth leader in Disney’s 102-year history. He was selected last month by Disney board members after a more than two-year internal bake-off among high-ranking division leaders. Board members were impressed with his business acumen, charisma and his deep love for Disney and its storied history.
D’Amaro inherits a company that is beloved by millions, generates $94 billion a year in revenue and employs 230,000 people.
He faces enormous challenges as he steers the company through a turbulent media environment and tense geopolitics. The war in Iran prompted a sharp increase in fuel costs, which could become a drag on Disney’s critically important tourism business. Executives already have signaled “headwinds” in international visitation at theme parks this year.
Lingering Middle East tensions also could weigh on Disney’s plans for a new Persian Gulf waterfront theme park and resort near Abu Dhabi.
D’Amaro, who served as parks and experiences chief until Wednesday, got his corporate start at Disneyland 28 years ago.
“Like so many of you, my connection to Disney goes back to my childhood, long before I began my career here,” D’Amaro told shareholders. “I grew up in a Disney family. We watched ‘The Wonderful World of Disney’ on Sunday nights. I was 10 years old when my family visited Disneyland for the first time. … Disney has always been a place of imagination, innovation and infinite potential.”
Disney previously announced a $60-billion, 10-year expansion program, but it must strike a balance by keeping attractions true to their nostalgic core. In Anaheim, the expansion could result in at least $1.9 billion of development.
Disney also must turbocharge the animation business, manage revenue declines from its traditional linear television channels, including ESPN and ABC, and fortify its streaming services to remain among the leaders in the field.
“Disney+ will continue to evolve beyond a traditional streaming service to become the digital centerpiece of our company,” D’Amaro said, calling the service “a portal that connects our stories, experiences, games, films, and more in entirely new ways.”
He mentioned the company’s efforts to unify Disney+ and Hulu later this year.
Disney also must learn how to exploit new technologies while safeguarding its characters and franchises.
“We will continue to develop and embrace new technologies to empower our storytellers — but never at the expense of our characters and worlds, our creative partners, or the trust people place in us,” D’Amaro said. “Because Disney at its core is a company that celebrates human creativity.”
Board members recognized that D’Amaro lacks deep connections among Hollywood’s writers and producers so they created a new management structure that elevates longtime television executive Dana Walden to chief creative officer and the company’s first woman president.
ESPN will continue to be managed by Jimmy Pitaro and Disney Entertainment, Studios chairman Alan Bergman will remain in his influential role overseeing film studios including production, marketing and distribution, and sharing oversight for streaming programming with Walden.
D’Amaro’s total compensation package is valued at about $40 million a year, including a $2-million annual base salary, $26.2 million in annual long-term stock incentives, a cash bonus and a one-time promotion award of $9.7 million.
Iger first stepped into the CEO role in 2005; his first 15 years were almost magical.
Iger led acquisitions of Pixar Animation, Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm, the studio behind “Star Wars,” that turned Disney into a blockbuster machine. Sports king ESPN spawned staggering profits, and Disney’s theme parks set industry standards.
Disney’s former Chief Executive Bob Iger will stay on through the end of the year as a senior advisor.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
His decision to buy much of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, a $71-billion deal that closed in 2019, boosted Disney’s television production, refreshed its TV executive bench, and provided a controlling stake in general entertainment streaming service Hulu. The acquisition also gave Disney access to fan-favorite franchises, including “Deadpool,” and James Cameron’s “Avatar.”
But the purchase left Disney saddled with debt just as the COVID-19 pandemic prompted production shutdowns and closures at theme parks and sports venues.
Iger initially passed the CEO baton to Bob Chapek in February 2020. Iger, then chairman, retired the following year but came back in November 2022 to a mess. At the time, the company was losing billions of dollars on its shift to streaming but that unit is now profitable.
Iger spent the next three years focusing on four business pillars, including improving the quality and profitability of its film studios.
During the last two years, Disney has produced five franchise films that racked up more than $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales, including “Inside Out 2,” “Zootopia 2,” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
Disney and Pixar’s latest animated film “Hoppers” has hauled in $46 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend, marking the highest theatrical debut for an original animated film since Disney’s 2017 success “Coco.”
The company is banking this year on several other films with blockbuster potential, including Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5,” Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu” and Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Doomsday.”
“I would want to be known as someone who was given the keys to this kingdom and brought it to a place that even Walt would be proud of — more storytelling, more innovation, more risk‑taking, and more creation of happiness,” Iger said during a “The Rest is History” podcast last year.
During the meeting, D’Amaro saluted his predecessor and longtime boss.
“Bob, on behalf of our employees, cast members, shareholders, and fans around the world, thank you so much for your tremendous leadership, your steadfast support, and your countless contributions to The Walt Disney Co.,” D’Amaro said. “You’ve set an incredible example for all of us. … You will be missed.”
Business
Devin Nunes Departs Trump Media After 4 Years as C.E.O.
President Trump’s social media company, which has consistently lost money and struggled with a flagging share price, announced Tuesday that it was replacing Devin Nunes as its chief executive officer.
The announcement offered no reason for the sudden departure of Mr. Nunes, a former Republican congressman from California. Mr. Trump had tapped him to run the company, Trump Media & Technology, in late 2021.
The announcement was made in a news release by the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who is a company board member and oversees a trust that controls his father’s 115-million-share stake in Trump Media. President Trump is not an officer or director of the company.
Mr. Nunes said in a statement on Truth Social, which is Trump Media’s flagship product, that it was an “appropriate time” for a new leader with experience in media and mergers to “steer Trump Media through its current transition phase.”
Trump Media has incurred hundreds of millions in losses, and its shares have performed poorly since the company went public by completing a merger with a cash-rich special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, in March 2024. The stock, which ended its first day of trading around $58 a share, closed Tuesday at $9.82.
Shares of Trump Media trade under the symbol DJT, which are President Trump’s initials. Truth Social has emerged as the main social media platform for Mr. Trump to communicate his policy decisions and opinions to the world.
Last year, Trump Media took in $3.7 million in revenue and recorded a $712 million net loss.
In December, Trump Media announced a plan to merge with TAE Technologies, a fusion power company. The all-stock deal, which was valued at $6 billion at the time, would create one of the first publicly traded nuclear fusion companies.
Trump Media said in February that it was considering spinning off its Truth Social platform in a merger with another cash-rich SPAC, Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp.
Mr. Nunes is being replaced on an interim basis by Kevin McGurn, who has been an adviser to Trump Media since the end of 2024. Mr. McGurn, a former executive at Hulu, the streaming service, was listed in a recent regulatory filing as the chief executive of Texas Ventures.
The Trump Media release announcing the management change provided no update on the merger with TAE Technologies or the proposed SPAC deal for Truth Social.
Business
Netflix plans to buy historic Radford Studio Center
Streaming entertainment giant Netflix is in negotiations to buy the historic Radford Studio Center lot in Studio City.
Netflix plans to purchase the Los Angeles studio that has been home to generations of landmark television shows, including “Gunsmoke” and “Seinfeld,” according to two people with knowledge of the pending deal who were not authorized to speak about it publicly.
The studio’s previous operator, Hackman Capital Partners, defaulted on a $1.1-billion mortgage in January. Investment bank Goldman Sachs took over the property and is in talks with Netflix to sell it for between $330 million and $400 million.
Representatives for Hackman and Netflix declined to comment on the planned sale.
Culver City-based Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management teamed up to buy the Radford Avenue property from ViacomCBS in 2021 with a winning bid of $1.85 billion, after a competitive battle for the 55-acre studio beloved by the television industry.
At the time, the staggering price tag underscored the value — and scarcity — of TV soundstages in Los Angeles as content producers scrambled for space to shoot TV shows and movies to stock their streaming services. It was one of the largest-ever real estate transactions for a TV studio complex in Los Angeles.
Since then, production has substantially declined in Southern California. L.A. continues to battle the loss of production to other states and countries, as well as the lingering effects on the industry of the pandemic and the 2023 dual writers’ and actors’ strikes. Cutbacks in spending at the major studios after a surge in streaming-fueled TV production have further damped film activity in the region.
Founded by silent film comedy legend Mack Sennett in 1928, the lot became known as “Hit City” in the decades after World War II as popular TV shows such as “Leave It to Beaver,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Will & Grace” were made there. The storied lot gave the Studio City neighborhood its name,
Netflix, which has a market cap of about $455 billion — more than double that of Walt Disney Co. — has maintained its dominance in the global streaming business with more than 325 million subscribers.
The Los Gatos-based company has production offices worldwide, including facilities in Albuquerque, Brooklyn, London, Madrid and Toronto.
Netflix had secured an $82.7-billion deal to buy Warner Bros. studios and streaming services in December, but withdrew from the bidding war in late February after Paramount Skydance offered $31 a share. As part of the switch, Netflix was paid a $2.8-billion termination fee.
Business
Kevin Warsh, Trump’s Pick to Lead Fed, Faces Senate at Tricky Moment
Kevin M. Warsh, President Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve, has spent years refining his pitch for why he should get one of the most powerful economic jobs in the world.
At his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, he will have to convince Senate lawmakers that he is ready to step into the role, which has become politically explosive amid Mr. Trump’s relentless attacks on the institution and its current chair, Jerome H. Powell.
Mr. Warsh, who is scheduled to testify before the Banking Committee at 10 a.m., plans to commit to being “strictly independent” on decisions related to interest rates, according to his prepared remarks. He also plans to tell lawmakers that he is unbothered by Mr. Trump’s incessant calls for substantially lower borrowing costs. And he will use his opening statement to underscore his focus on disrupting the “status quo” at an institution he said just last year was in need of “regime change.”
“In a time that will rank among the most consequential in our nation’s history, I believe a reform-oriented Federal Reserve can make a real difference to the American people,” he plans to tell lawmakers, adding: “The stakes could scarcely be higher.”
Mr. Warsh, 56, faces significant hurdles to winning confirmation. He has broad support among Republicans, who control the Senate and can confirm him along party lines. Yet his candidacy has stalled because of an ongoing investigation by the Justice Department into Mr. Powell and his handling of the Fed’s headquarters renovations.
Mr. Powell’s term as chair ends May 15, but Mr. Warsh looks increasingly unlikely to be in place by then. That’s because Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina — a Republican on the Banking Committee who has expressed support for Mr. Warsh — has vowed to block any attempt to confirm a new Fed chair until the legal threats into Mr. Powell are resolved. For Mr. Tillis, the investigation is a blatant attempt to coerce Mr. Powell into lowering rates, undermining the Fed’s independence and confirming the politicization of the Justice Department.
“I’m not going to condone bad decision-making and bad behavior,” Mr. Tillis told reporters on Monday in reference to the Justice Department’s lack of evidence of any wrongdoing.
The department has vowed to continue its investigation, despite numerous legal setbacks.
“I think ultimately, he will be confirmed,” Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, another Republican on the committee, told reporters on Monday. “I just don’t know what decade.”
Mr. Warsh’s ascent would mark a homecoming for the Wall Street financier, who served as a Fed governor from 2006-11.
Since leaving the Fed, he has amassed assets worth well in excess of $100 million, according to financial disclosures submitted before his hearing. Those have drawn scrutiny because Mr. Warsh repeatedly invoked “pre-existing confidentiality agreements” to avoid disclosing the details behind several of his investments. He has said he would divest a substantial amount of his assets before taking the job.
The global financial crisis dominated Mr. Warsh’s first tenure at the Fed, thrusting him into the middle of discussions about how the central bank should respond to the threat of bank failures, turmoil in financial markets and a painful recession that followed. Mr. Warsh, then the youngest-ever member of the Board of Governors, was initially supportive of the Fed’s efforts to shore up financial markets by buying enormous quantities of government bonds and expanding its balance sheet to ease strains in financial markets and support growth by keeping market-based rates low.
But he soon soured on subsequent efforts to buy more bonds and resigned in protest. That experience has stuck with Mr. Warsh, who has made a smaller balance sheet a pillar of his plans if he takes over as chair.
Mr. Warsh would also be likely to usher in changes to how the Fed communicates its policy views, having expressed misgivings about its strategy of providing so-called forward guidance, or hints about how interest rates may change in the future to guide expectations. He has also suggested that policymakers across the Fed system should speak far less. Mr. Powell held a news conference after each rate decision, or eight a year, and delivered speeches with regularity. Mr. Trump’s pick to join the Fed last year, Stephen I. Miran, often speaks multiple times a week.
“Once policymakers reveal their economic forecast, they can become prisoners of their own words,” Mr. Warsh said in a speech last year. “Fed leaders would be well served to skip opportunities to share their latest musings. The swivel-chair problem, rhetorically waxing and waning with the latest data release, is common and counterproductive.”
What is far less clear is how much Mr. Warsh would heed the president’s demands for lower interest rates. Mr. Trump said he would not pick someone for chair who did not support lower borrowing costs.
Mr. Warsh sought in his opening statement to downplay the costs of a president’s voicing his opinions about rates, saying central bankers must be “strong enough to listen to a diversity of views from all corners, humble enough to be open-minded to new ideas and new economic developments, wise enough to translate imperfect data into meaningful insight and dedicated enough to make judgments faithfully and wisely.”
Earlier this year, many officials at the Fed saw a path to gradually lower rates as the impact of Mr. Trump’s tariffs faded and inflation restarted its slide back toward 2 percent after almost of year of stalling out. The war in Iran — and the energy shock it has unleashed — has upended those forecasts, however, prompting officials to turn wary about lowering rates.
Mr. Warsh will face questions on Tuesday about the economic impact of the war and how it has changed his thinking around the Fed’s ability to lower rates. While at the Fed, he was known as an inflation hawk who often argued against providing policy relief for fear that it could stoke price pressures. He also said the Fed should aspire to engage in rule-based policymaking that stems from formulas that prescribe how officials should set rates based on levels of inflation and employment.
While campaigning to be chair, Mr. Warsh embraced the need for rate cuts, arguing that there was a path for lower borrowing costs because of his plans to shrink the balance sheet, which would lift longer-term rates that then could be offset by lowering short-term ones. He also argued that higher productivity from the boom in artificial intelligence could unleash higher growth without stoking inflation, which could give the Fed more space to lower rates than otherwise would be the case.
In his opening statement, Mr. Warsh made clear, however, that a failure to bring down inflation, which has been stuck above the Fed’s 2 percent target for roughly five years, would strictly be the Fed’s fault, suggesting that he would shoulder the blame if he did not bring it back down during his tenure.
“Inflation is a choice, and the Fed must take responsibility for it,” he will tell lawmakers.
Megan Mineiro contributed reporting.
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