February 3, 2026
WHEN: Today, Tuesday, February 3, 2026
WHERE: CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”
Following is the unofficial transcript of a FIRST ON CNBC interview with Disney Chairman James Gorman on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” (M-F, 9AM-11AM ET) today, Tuesday, February 3. Following is a link to the video on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/02/03/disney-chairman-james-gorman-ceo-search-has-been-a-long-exhaustive-process.html.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
JULIA BOORSTIN: Good morning, Carl. That's right, I'm joined now by James Gorman, the chair of Disney's board, which just announced new CEO in Josh D’Amaro. Thanks so much for having us here on the Disney lot. Tell us why Josh D’Amaro for Disney's new CEO.
JAMES GORMAN: Josh is unbelievable. I mean, this has been, as everybody's reported, a long, thorough, exhaustive process. And, you know, we looked at all comers. We wanted – we wanted whoever got this job to be the best person to run what is probably one of the most exciting jobs in the world. Josh is somebody who's got decades of experience at Disney. He's a huge operator. He's run massive operations across the whole parks and cruises businesses. He's also got great creative touch. Bob Iger put it very well in one of the board meetings when he said, it's taste. He – and from the Imagineering effort to all of the products that we offer to the customers who come in. It's unbelievable. He's unbelievable. He's so talented, he's strategic, he's financial, he's got that creative edge, and he's an operator. So very excited. Josh is amazing.
BOORSTIN: And as part of this announcement, you're also elevating Dana Walden into the role of President and a new role, Chief Creative Officer – Chief Content Officer.
GORMAN: Yeah.
BOORSTIN: Why create this new role for her and how do you expect them to work together?
GORMAN: Yeah, she's President and Chief Creative Officer. That's a new role, as you said. Dana, also, unbelievable executive. I mean, we're so blessed at this company. We had four incredible top executives with Jimmy Pitaro and Alan Bergman, Dana and Josh. And, you know, Dana brings, obviously, the background, the experience from TV, from Hollywood, from overseeing the streaming businesses with Alan. They've both been incredible executives and I think if you think about what is the heart of the Disney company, it's the creativity. It's this amazing IP that's been produced over decades, going back to Walt, and the storytelling that comes from that creativity. And I think Dana, working with Josh and ensuring that the best creativity permeates all of our businesses, is what we wanted. So, I'm thrilled for Dana. She's a wonderful person.
BOORSTIN: So when you were at Morgan Stanley, you did a good job of making sure that the people who didn't get the CEO job stuck around. You know, Josh D’Amaro has the operational expertise, but not expertise with actual intellectual property itself, which is where Dana comes in. When you made the choice to go with D’Amaro, were you concerned about losing Dana? How did you manage that balance?
GORMAN: Well, firstly, I'd say, if you – if you, which, I know you have been through the parks, been on one of the cruise ships, you would appreciate just how much the IP is infused in all aspects of what Disney does. So, Josh is actually deep in the IP. He has worked with a number of the producers of the IP in adding new attractions, new rides to parks all over the world. And he's been critical, working with Bob on this new development, very exciting development in Abu Dhabi. So, Josh definitely has his street cred in that regard.
BOORSTIN: Yeah, a question about timing. Bob Iger was set to remain as CEO through the end of this year, but you just announced that D’Amaro is going to take over as CEO on March 18, which is the day of the Disney shareholder meeting. Why make this transition quite soon?
GORMAN: Well, let me just speak about Bob. Bob has had an extraordinary career. He has done things that nobody in this industry has done. He did deals with Steve Jobs, with George Lucas, with Rupert Murdoch, created a seven-studio company, expanded us internationally through China, now through the UAE. He did a legendary job. So, when the company had its challenges a few years ago and called Bob back, there are really two mandates for him from the board. I wasn't on the board, but there were two mandates at that time. One was to get the company ready and fit for purpose, to deal with the strategic challenges taking place, particularly in the streaming space, but generally across all of the assets that the Walt Disney Company has. And the second was to develop the talent to ensure we have another decade of incredible growth. So, Bob came to the point where he had developed the talent, and he said, This is for me to step aside now. Yes, he could technically be CEO through the end of his contract. That wasn't the aspiration. The aspiration was to get the company ready and get the talent ready. Not worry about what a contract says. He said, I want to step aside, and I want to work with this individual and with this team in ensuring we get off for this next decade on the strongest possible foot. And he just felt earlier in the year was better to do it. He said they're ready. Why not? And I thought it was incredibly selfless of him, and it was the right thing for Disney, and honestly, it's going to be the right thing for Josh, Dana, Alan, Jimmy and the rest of the team. So, hats off to Bob for doing that.
BOORSTIN: And David, want to jump in here?
DAVID FABER: Yeah, thanks, Julia. James, it's David. You know, it was a little more than five years ago that Julia was sitting with Bob Iger and the man who ran the parks at the time who took over as CEO. It didn't work out well. And I just wonder – you were not a part of that, obviously, you were not on the board. The board has changed a good amount. But what from that process has informed this process, if anything, to make sure that it doesn't go badly?
GORMAN: Well, good morning, David. Nice to be back with you after a couple of years hiatus here. You know, I wasn't on the board at the time, and I don't really know. I mean, and honestly, I sort of don't care. What I care about is the future. What we have done here is run a very disciplined, structured process. I had a wonderful succession planning committee working with me, Calvin McDonald, Sir Jeremy Darroch and Mary Barra, executives you would all know well. We then worked with the full board. All of the board were actively engaged in this. And as I said, we worked really in partnership with Bob, which was fantastic along this journey. We had outside help. We, you know, I joked at one point it was like in outside my office in Times Square. We had more people put their hands up for this job, it felt like all the people trying to get on one of the busses in Times Square to go around New York. And that's great. That's what it should be. This is the best job, maybe, as I said, in the world right now, to be CEO of The Walt Disney Company. So I don't know what happened last time, and honestly, it sort of doesn't matter. What matters is now. You know what shareholders care about is the discounted value of future earnings. They don't care about past earnings. So that's where we are. And I'm focused on the here and now and the future. And I'm just so happy we've got – we had this talent here.
FABER: Yeah, no, they just want to make sure, obviously, the transition goes well. And I think it is interesting to note that Mr. Iger will be stepping down as CEO, really only a couple of months from now. What about outside –
GORMAN: Well, we structured that around the annual meeting, David.
FABER: Right.
GORMAN: We said, you know, it felt like an elegant transition. I did this at Morgan Stanley, made announcements at the annual meeting. I believe in good corporate governance. There's a certain elegance to it. And Bob felt that sooner was better to get this person up and running before we get too much into this calendar year. And as I said, hats off to him for the job he did and for helping make this transition smooth. This is going to be great. These individuals, they're committed to Disney, and it will be great. We won't have the drama we had last time that I can assure you.
FABER: Okay.
JIM CRAMER: Well, hats off to you, James. Your stock went from 35 to 89 during the period you ran. I was recommending your stock the whole time. Now Disney is unchanged in 10 years. When a stock is unchanged over a 10-year period, isn't it time maybe you guys discussed – you got Mary Barra in there. I mean, you’ve got total hitters – discussed that maybe something is very wrong with the company itself, that it could be unchanged for 10 years? We've seen many companies advance during that period and make shareholders a lot of money.
GORMAN: Yeah. I mean, you know, you've been at this a long time, Jim, maybe even longer than I have. And I would just say you've got to look at, firstly, what's going on the industry structure. And secondly, what's going on inside the company. This industry has been through huge change and continues to with the – obviously, with the addition of AI, which Disney is on the front foot with their contract – their relationship with OpenAI on that. But there's the whole change from linear to streaming has been extraordinary, and where I think Disney is now leaning in is to its IP. They've fixed the streaming business. You saw the profitability yesterday, great numbers. But also investing $60 billion in capital and in – in new ships and the new parks that are being built around the world and new rides and attractions. So, strategically, there's nothing wrong with this company. There are things we can do better. And I think Bob put it beautifully yesterday on the earnings call. He said status quo is not the objective here. Obviously, you change because the world around you is changing. So I think you know, strategically, there are a lot of companies that would like to have the assets that we have at the Walt Disney Company. You think about seven movie studios, parks in Europe, now in the Middle East, in Japan, in Shanghai, two parks in the U.S. Cruise ships – we've only got seven ships out there. We have competitors with 100 ships. Capacity utilization on those ships is running in the mid 90%. This stock is trading at 15 times earnings, Jim. You've seen a lot of stuff. This is nuts. This is a tremendous opportunity for shareholders going forward, so I don't care about the past, I care about the next decade.
CRAMER: I agree with you.
FABER: Gorman says bye. James, Eisner to Iger. Iger to Chapek. Chapek to Iger. Iger to D’Amaro. Always inside. Did you consider outside candidates? And if not, why not?
GORMAN: Yeah, we did. And you know, I think the view of the board was, obviously, we wanted to get this right. You can't only control how any individual behaves once they're in the job, but you can control whether they have the capability to do the job. And there's a lot of focus on, what did somebody do? What did Josh do before this? That's interesting, but it's not definitive. What matters is, what are they capable of doing? Do they have the strategic mind, the resilience, the ability to innovate, the creative touch, all of those things – team building. That's what you're looking for in a CEO. So, yeah, we looked at, I mean, my goodness, we had at the beginning, I mean, it must have been well over 100 people on the list. I personally talked to a number of individuals. We, you know, I wanted to be able to say – and the board wanted to be able to say that whoever got this job beat all comers. This wasn't a rigged game. This was all comers, and Josh did it.
BOORSTIN: And so, in the press release, though, you said one reason he was elected was because of his vision. There's been a lot of speculation about how much of Disney's future is really about the parks and experiences division. What do you see his vision as being for what the future of Disney is?
GORMAN: Well, you’ll undoubtedly, you’ll ask Josh. I don't want to speak for him, but it's the ability to take the intellectual property that has been developed over decades and tell stories, and weave those stories through both cinema, through the streaming product, obviously, through our TV platform – we have it through ESPN – and then through the parks and cruises. To simply say by picking somebody who had a history in a business, that's what the company is going to do. They said that about me at Morgan Stanley by the way. Julia, you're blessed not having to worry about bank – regulated banks. But these folks in New York understand this. They said, because I came out of wealth management, Morgan Stanley was going to become a wealth management company. The revenues in trading and banking are bigger than wealth management at the moment. So, no. This is not – it's not about parks. It's about the total capability of what this company can have, and the incredible moats we have around us because of this extraordinary intellectual property.
BOORSTIN: Well, we appreciate you taking the time to explain this process to us, and we look forward to talking to Josh D’Amaro, I hope, very soon. James Gorman, thanks so much for having us here on the Disney lot this morning.
GORMAN: Thanks for being with us.
