24/7 Wall St. Insights
- Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) has announced a modest restructuring of its board.
- This includes a new executive board chair and a CEO transition.
- So far, investors are not impressed.
- Also: Dividend legends to hold forever.
Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) has announced a modest restructuring of its board and said it would name a successor to Bob Iger early in 2026. Investors traded the stock down—the new board chair’s background is not impressive. Early 2026 is too far away. Iger has dodged exiting the role even when he says he will depart. There is no reason to believe the restructuring will even take place.
James P. Gorman, who is about to depart Morgan Stanley as executive chair, will take over the chairperson role at Disney on January 2. He has no entertainment or news company experience. He will also head the Succession Planning Committee, which hopes to find a chief executive officer early in 2026. Iger’s contract is not up until December 2026. Presumably, he will get a massive exit package.
Iger became CEO for the first time in 2005 and stepped down in 2020. He stayed as executive board chair until the end of 2021, and he returned as CEO in November 2022. Disney has been a train wreck since then. Its share price has been down 5% in the past two years, while the S&P 500 is 56% higher in that time.
What has gone wrong with Disney since Iger returned? The list is long. Until recently, its streaming business lost billions of dollars. It made a tiny amount of money in the most recent quarter. The business unit that includes streaming had revenue of $6.5 billion, on which it made $47 million. It remains in one of the most crowded and competitive entertainment sectors, dominated by Amazon and Netflix.
The most recent quarter in which streaming made some progress also had a warming. Disney’s massive and profitable theme park business might have slowing revenue in upcoming quarters.
Even if Iger does depart in early 2026, he may not leave the company any better than when he returned as CEO.
Walt Disney Company (DIS) Price Prediction and Forecast 2025-2030
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