RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Hollywood & Entertainment From ABC To Abu Dhabi, Bob Iger Changed Disney Forever By Megan duBois ,
Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Megan duBois is a reporter who covers The Walt Disney Company. Follow Author Aug 14, 2026, 07:00am EDT --:-- / --:-- This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . Bob Iger, former CEO of The Walt Disney Company , will be inducted as a Disney Legend this weekend at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. This prestigious award is Disney’s highest honor for those who have made a significant impact on the company, and it’s no question that Iger changed Disney forever during his half-century of service with the Mouse.
Iger’s storied career began in 1974 at ABC, though Disney did not own the company at the time. It wasn’t until 1995 that the acquisition was complete, merging the two media giants. He worked his way up the ranks of ABC to become the head of ABC Entertainment in 1989 before becoming President and COO of ABC’s parent company just five years later.
After Disney purchased ABC and its parent company, Iger officially began moving through the ranks at Disney, first as President of Walt Disney International in 1999, then, one year later, as President and COO of The Walt Disney Company. In 2005, he was selected to succeed Michael Eisner as CEO of one of the world’s largest media companies.
While Iger’s tenure had its ups and downs, his first big success came when he worked to acquire Pixar Animation Studios in 2006 and bring it into Disney’s growing media umbrella.
Other media acquisitions included Marvel Studios in 2009, Lucasfilm in 2012 and 21st Century Fox in 2019. Ultimately, these deals would redesign the company, ensuring that Disney’s media legacy would move past Mickey Mouse and princesses into more adult realms. Additionally, many of the movie powerhouse franchises would lead to major developments in the theme parks, with Toy Story-, Star Wars- and Marvel-themed lands around the world.
Then there’s the launch of Disney+. The global rollout started in late 2019, and in 2024, the streamer became profitable for the first time, thanks in part to a massive wave of new subscribers and price hikes for Disney+ and Hulu.
On the theme parks side of the company (then known as Disney Parks & Resorts), Iger penned the deal to bring a new iteration of Disneyland to China, and in 2016, Shanghai Disneyland Resort opened. The resort has welcomed millions of guests every year since it opened. Then in 2025, Disney announced plans for a new theme park resort in partnership with Miral in Abu Dhabi . Since the initial announcement, not much has been said about the new Disney destination.
In between those major openings and announcements, Iger, with current CEO Josh D’Amaro at his side, has guided Disney into a season of “turbocharging” its parks and resorts. In 2023, Disney announced its plans to invest $60 billion over the next 10 years in its Experiences segment.
Some of these investments have already launched with great fanfare, including new Disney Cruise Line ships and Disneyland Paris’ rebrand of its Walt Disney Studios Park to Disney Adventure World . Additionally, new experiences are still on the horizon, including a Villains-themed land at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, an expanded Avengers Campus at Disneyland’s Disney California Adventure, and a new class of ships coming to Disney Cruise Line.
At the end of Iger’s tenure as CEO, theme parks were the primary revenue source for Disney. In 2025, Disney made $36 billion in annual revenue in the Experiences segment. And just months later, during the first quarter of fiscal 2026, the segment achieved a record-breaking $10 billion in revenue.
When Iger handed the reins to D’Amaro in March 2026, Disney was the strongest it’s ever been from a business standpoint. Earnings are up, and on the most recent 2026 Q3 earnings call, Disney announced revenue was up 7% year-over-year to $25.17 billion. At D’Amaro’s former stomping grounds of Disney Experiences, global guest count rose by 4% and domestic park attendance increased by 3%.
On the studios side, Disney shared that Toy Story 5 surpassed the $4 billion mark at the global box office, with some revenue contributed to one of Iger’s last Disney deals, bringing in superstar Taylor Swift for the movie’s soundtrack and new hit song “I Knew It, I Knew You.”
D’Amaro is leading the company into a bright future, with the groundwork laid by Iger's hands (and contracts). While D’Amaro may have big shoes to fill as Disney continues to push its theme parks forward and generate buzz around movies, the foundations of a steady path forward, where shareholders and fans are happy, are present.
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