August 14, 2026
WHEN: Today, Friday, August 14, 2026
WHERE: CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”
Following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC interview with Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” (M-F, 9AM-12PM ET) today, Friday, August 14. Following is a link to video on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/08/14/disney-ceo-josh-damaro-parks-were-big-surprise-in-q3-company-has-clarity-and-stability.html.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
JULIA BOORSTIN: Good morning. And that's right. I'm joined now by Josh D'Amaro, CEO of Disney, in your first CNBC interview since becoming CEO five months ago. Appreciate you having us here at D23. We are here in the Disney+ Expo. You haven't opened the doors yet, which is why it's a little quiet behind us. My understanding is that hundreds of thousands of people are going to be coming through here this weekend. So, it's been five months. You have reported a full quarter as CEO. What are the things that you're most interested in changing as CEO of Disney?
JOSH D'AMARO: First of all, welcome. This is an incredible event over a few days here. And you're right. The fans are lined up outside ready to come in. I'm feeling really good, first of all, about the earnings call that we just had, you know, great revenue growth, earnings growth 28 percent. The parks, I think, were a big surprise to people, and they just keep generating returns for the company, streaming and expanding margins. We're delivering on everything that we said we're going to deliver on. I think there's clarity inside of the organization in terms of where we need to go next, a lot of stability with the team. So, you know, almost six months in, I'm feeling pretty good about where we are.
BOORSTIN: So, where do you want to go next? How is your strategy going to be different than Bob Iger's?
D'AMARO: Well, first, Bob left me with a very strong business. Streaming is now profitable. It wasn't just a couple of years ago. The parks division, we talked about turbocharging, that has now, that is out now into the world, and you're seeing that pay dividends back to us. ESPN has made the pivot to direct-to-consumer. Our movies and our movie slates are really strong. So, he provided me with a foundation from which we can now grow into this next chapter. And this next chapter is about, number one, telling great stories. We will never forget that. We want to move with more speed and urgency than we have before, embrace technology even more aggressively than we have in the past and, importantly, bring this company together to act like one Disney, which you have heard me say before. There are so many other competitors out there that would love to have the I.P. that we would have, that we have, that would love to have the collection of businesses that we have and the scale. We have all of that. So, if we operate as one consolidated business across everything that we do, that is incredibly powerful.
BOORSTIN: For years, including under Bob Iger, Disney's done a good job of taking brands from one division and exploiting them across all the different platforms. So how is this one Disney strategy different?
D'AMARO: Well, first of all, big change is that we have streaming and we have scale. So we have now all of those direct-to-consumer relationships. We have had them for years and years, to your point, in the theme parks. But now that we have all of that data together, we can unify the data from a technology perspective, and we can start to speak to consumers with one voice. I have also talked about streaming becoming the digital centerpiece of our company. And that means one account, one membership, everything that we have at Disney coming to the streaming platform, so it's a seamless guest experience. We increase lifetime value of our fans and shareholder returns increase.
BOORSTIN: So we will get more into to streaming. But, speaking of shareholder returns, the stock is down 11 percent in the past year, though it is up 4 percent since you became CEO. It has far underperformed the market. What part of your strategy do you see working? And what do you think it'll take to continue to grow the stock?
D'AMARO: Well, first, I'm not happy with where the stock stands right now. Our investors aren't happy with that. But I do believe that we're sitting in a very great space relative to the entertainment industry. As I said a moment ago, if we just continue to execute on what we have committed to, streaming growth, top line and margins, continuing to push the envelope on the experiences, business, make the conversion to direct-to-consumer on ESPN, and just make great films, which make that flywheel spin, if we keep doing that, I think we're going to see the returns come back to us. And just look at the Q3 earnings. We're doing it. It's not just me hoping it's going to happen. We're actually delivering on that. Some of the businesses that investors have questions about, parks, for example, in Q3, I think we kind of are defying gravity on that front, and that's just because of how we're investing in these businesses. And streaming, we're, if we get streaming right, when we get streaming right, which we have proven we can, there's a ton of opportunity here.
BOORSTIN: Yes, you mentioned parks. You, of course, used to run the parks division before you became CEO. And it was a standout performer in the last quarter. But there is so much economic uncertainty right now, putting potential pressure on that division going forward, especially given that you have already raised prices a number of times. What are you going to be able to do to keep growing that division, given the fact that prices have gone up already a lot?
D'AMARO: Well, I mean, the reality is, this economic volatility that you're referencing, that's been happening for years and years and years now. Yet the experiences business continues to move forward. And I think that's a byproduct of a few things. Number one, we invest consistently. You never see us pull back on investments. When we invest, we're doing it intelligently. Every single dollar that gets deployed into our experiences business, we're looking at it to make sure it can either grow capacity, it can grow demand, that it's an efficient deployment of capital. Our commercial strategies are much more sophisticated than they have ever been before. So, when we do see some of that volatility in the marketplace, we can shift. We have seen it with international visitation coming down in, into the U.S. We pivoted. We have more domestic guests coming. So we're not immune, by any means, but we're incredibly skilled and long-term thinkers at driving the business. And, again, that's shown to be true in our earnings report.
BOORSTIN: But can we expect you to continue to consistently raise prices at the parks?
D'AMARO: Well, I think what you can expect us to do is continue to drive value in the parks, to invest strategically in the parks, and drive additional demand. I mean, again, we have been doing that for 75 years now, and we will continue to do it.
BOORSTIN: You mentioned streaming a couple times. You said it's the digital centerpiece of the company. I understand how pulling everything together into Disney+ will make it easier for fans like those here at D23, but what will that mean in terms of the financial performance of the company?
D'AMARO: One of the things we know is that, if a consumer is exposed to multiple parts of our business, they're a theme park visitor that then becomes a Disney+ visitor, Disney+ subscriber, that Disney+ subscriber then buys merchandise. When we look at that cohort of guests, the value that they're delivering back to the company far exceeds anything that a one-touch-point fan would feel. So, our opportunity here is to put on full display everything that the Walt Disney Company has to bear. And there it is right there. From a streaming perspective, instead of just being a streaming platform, why wouldn't we have all of the elements of Disney come to life right there in front of you? And everyone may not participate in every part of the business, but, certainly, if we put the right things in front of the consumer, if it's a seamless fan experience, I think that lifetime value goes up and we drive top line and bottom line.
BOORSTIN: You have said that you're looking into potentially doing a free ad-supported version of Disney+. Does that indicate you're not getting enough growth from the version that has a subscription? And what does that say about who you see as the competition? Does this mean you're going up against YouTube more than you are Netflix?
D'AMARO: First of all, Disney+ standing alone, it's a business that's working, 13 percent margins, revenue growth. We have tremendous scale, growing scale internationally. So, as it is today, I feel very good about where Disney+ is. But there are opportunities, obviously, to keep growing it, the digital centerpiece portion that we just talked about a moment ago. And then the free tier, kind of a front porch to Disney, we think that this is a really smart thing to do. Number one, it gives those that may not have committed to a Disney+ subscription an opportunity to sample everything that we have at the Disney Company. It kind of drives top of funnel, so that ultimately we can convert those guests into a full paid membership. It's an advertising platform for us, so it gives us the ability to drive revenue on that front. And the reality, Julia, is, we participate in some of these FAST channels today. So our thinking is, why wouldn't we do it ourselves in front of Disney+? So, this to me is kind of almost a no-brainer and something that we're looking forward to launching.
BOORSTIN: Sports is another key part of your streaming bundle, but we have seen sports operating income decline by 17 percent in the past quarter, and sports costs are rising across the board. Given all of that, do you see the potential to potentially spin off ESPN or bring in more outside investors, as you did with the NFL?
D'AMARO: Well, I have been clear that I'm not interested in spinning off ESPN. I think that anybody in the industry would look at our sports rights and the fandom associated with sports right now, and you can't help but be jealous of what we have here. I mean, ratings are through the roof. The NBA Finals, the NHL Finals, like, we have never seen ratings like this before. And I have been clear that I think it should be part of the ecosystem. In terms of how it becomes part of the ecosystem, I talked about in the Q3 earnings report that we will start to bring more sports over onto Disney+. So, that casual sports fan will have an opportunity to engage on that front, create more stickiness on the Disney+ platform. And then in terms of sports rights, I think that the ESPN team has been really smart about going after those rights that are most important to our business, the highest-quality sports rights, and we will continue to remain focused on that.
BOORSTIN: There's so much change right now in the media landscape, with Paramount looking to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. If that deal goes through, will that combined company pose a real competitive threat to Disney?
D'AMARO: I don't think so. And, actually, if you look at what's happening, Julia, all around us, companies are trying to acquire scale or acquire I.P. or acquire additional businesses. And the reason that they're trying to do that is because they want to look a little bit more like Disney. I mean, we have the deepest library of intellectual property and characters and franchises by far. Our scale is enviable. The connection that we have with fans, you see it here, right here at D23, is palatable. And so we have everything that we need right now. Putting those things together under a kind of a one Disney frame I think is exceptionally powerful. So I like the hand that we have. That doesn't mean I'm dogmatic. If there are opportunities that show up that make sense to our business, of course, I will be looking at those as well. But, right now, I feel pretty good about where we stand.
BOORSTIN: So does that mean you think that that deal should be approved, the WBD—
D'AMARO: I'm going to, I'm going to leave—
BOORSTIN: OK.
D'AMARO: That to other folks to determine.
BOORSTIN: There's also Comcast spinning off NBCUniversal right now, which reminds me of when Bob Iger said they were evaluating everything, including potentially spinning off ABC. Would you consider that?
D'AMARO: No, right now, I'm not considering that. I think that the linear networks, our broadcast networks, are serving the purpose within the ecosystem. They're still spinning off cash for us. The team has done a great job integrating them into our streaming capabilities as well. So, I feel good about where we stand on that front.
BOORSTIN: When it comes to the movie studio, which you have said is the I.P. engine that drives the rest of the company, you have had big successes like "Toy Story 5," but also films like "Moana" and the "Mandalorian" spinoff falling short of expectations. Looking at that dynamic, are you concerned that the studio's strategy of spinoffs and live action remakes may not work right now?
D'AMARO: No, I'm not concerned about that at all. I think, first of all, the way we think about our movie business and the slate is, we're running a portfolio. I was clear on this in the earnings call. Not everything's going to hit perfectly. But the portfolio does work for us very well. "Toy Story 5" just crossed a billion dollars at the at the box office. And beyond the box office, what that does from a theme park visitation standpoint, what it does from a consumer product standpoint, what it does in the gaming world, these are all very, very powerful synergistic effects. But we will keep focusing on making sure that we're delivering great content. We will think about it from a portfolio perspective. And, again, the movies team, I think, is doing a great job, the slate, by the way, looking out really strong.
BOORSTIN: I have to ask about the FCC's lawsuit with ABC and whether we could take anything about your stance standing up against this administration, whether we can learn anything about what that means about your strategy going forward.
D'AMARO: Well, I think you saw in our FCC filings our position on this is clear. We're very principled on this. We're going to stand up to what we believe is journalistic integrity. And we're not going to be told how to run that side of our business. And, again, our filings, I think, speak for that. I like what we do. We tell incredible stories. I think we do it well. We do it around the world. And we're going to stay committed to that.
BOORSTIN: I know we're almost out of time, but I have to ask you a final question about A.I., because Bob Iger made a big deal with Sora which went away once Sora shut down. Now you have to figure out what your A.I. strategy is going to be. What should we know about how you're going to be thinking about A.I. for the Walt Disney Company?
D'AMARO: Well, I will start with the fact that I'm really excited about the opportunities here. And, Julia, this goes back 100 years. Any time that we have new technology converging with entertainment, magical things happen. And we have been at the forefront every time a major change like this has happened. From an A.I. standpoint, I will tell you I was really surprised that, when I came in and started looking at the studios group, they're already integrating A.I. into everything they're doing to make more and better films. You referenced the Sora deal. Yes, that fell by the wayside. However, what happened immediately after that, Julia, is, my phone starts ringing. There are a lot of technology companies, a lot of A.I. companies, a lot of content companies that want to work with us because we have the best I.P. in the world. So I think we're going to be incredibly thoughtful about how we think about next partnerships in the future. But this is, it's an opportunity for us to take our I.P., put it into the hands of creators and users in ways that make sense to them, and make this flywheel continue to spin.
BOORSTIN: Well, we look forward to hearing about more of those A.I. deals as they emerge. Thank you so much for this interview, your first here on CNBC as CEO of the Walt Disney Company. And now we will let you head off to the rest of the D23 weekend. Josh D'Amaro, thanks so much.
D'AMARO: Thanks, Julia.
For more information contact:
Stephanie Hirlemann
CNBC
