Josh D’Amaro to get $45 million in first year as Disney CEO, but there’s more

Walt Disney on Tuesday named Josh D’Amaro as CEO, ending years of uncertainty over succession and installing a longtime insider to head the company.

D’Amaro, 54, will take over from Bob Iger, 74, at the company’s annual investor meeting on March 18.

The insider, who is president of Disney’s theme parks, has also been lined up with a lucrative salary package for his first year.

How much salary will the new Disney CEO earn?

According to a report by Fortune, new Walt Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro has been offered a hefty salary package for his first year in the role. The top leader will have the authority to lead one of the world’s most well-known and exciting companies, as well as a total grant historical value of approximately $45 million.

Disney has set D’Amaro’s annual base salary at $2.5 million, and he will be given a long-term incentive award each fiscal year with a target value of $26.3 million.

A clean succession

Josh D’Amaro’s stellar salary package isn’t enough; he will also get something that could be a game-changer in the succession game in Bob Iger’s planned debut.

Succession has long been the famed entertainment giant’s Achilles heel; He delayed Iger’s retirement several times, bringing him back in 2022 to replace his handpicked successor, Bob Chapek, after the pandemic disrupted his business.

But this time, Iger will leave the board’s powerful executive committee following the annual shareholder meeting, and the 74-year-old is scheduled to leave entirely at the end of the year.

Iger will move into an advisory role after D’Amaro is appointed CEO next month and will continue to serve as a board member until his retirement from the company on Dec. 31.

This comes as a major change since Iger’s last resignation as CEO. At that time, he continued to hold day-to-day duties as chairman of the board at Walt Disney and had control over the company’s creative efforts.

However, this time Josh D’Amaro will serve as CEO, while Morgan Stanley veteran James Gorman will serve as chairman.

Experts quoted by Fortune said that this structure, in which D’Amaro became CEO, Gorman became president, and Iger left his position completely, provided a smooth transition to the enemy and a “clean break”.

“There’s always pressure on the new CEO not to make a sudden move while the old CEO is there and to continue the CEO’s legacy,” board advisor and attorney Richard Leblanc said, according to Fortune.

But when the old CEO moves on, “they exit the company so the new CEO can find his way and implement change without feeling like someone is looking over their shoulder,” he said.

With D’Amaro, Disney is turning to a nearly three-decade veteran of the company that runs its biggest profit engine — the experiences unit that includes theme parks and cruises and whose sales are rising every year after the pandemic receded in 2021.