Disney CEO’s no good, very bad week: Josh D’Amaro is dealing with 3 major headaches

Josh D’Amaro stepped into the corner office at Walt Disney with a clear goal, pledging the company would focus “on coming together as one Disney to deliver a more connected, personalized, and immersive experience to our consumers.”

D’Amaro described a world of Disney entertainment that consolidates its vast intellectual property of movies, games, experiences, and more under one roof. It took a week for some of the biggest bets underpinning that concept to collapse.

The vision of a sweeping field of Disney content relied on multiple external partnerships worth billions of dollars. Several of them unraveled entirely. 

D’Amaro, a veteran leader of Disney’s theme park division, was brought in to steady the ship after a period of uncertain leadership. But three major developments, mostly stemming from decisions made far away from the Magic Kingdom, have made his debut as CEO memorable for all the wrong reasons.

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