Dana Walden, co-chair of Disney Leisure
Wealthy Polk | Getty Photographs
In 1994, a captain of the media and leisure trade noticed one thing in Dana Walden that made him assume she was able to an even bigger position.
Thirty years later, that will occur once more.
That first time, the manager was Peter Chernin, then president of twentieth Century Fox Filmed Leisure and later president and chief working officer of Rupert Murdoch’s Information Corp. Chernin plucked Walden from Fox’s company communications division and gave her a job in TV.
In 2024, the manager is Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, and the place he is contemplating Walden for is that of his successor, in response to individuals acquainted with the method. The appointment would make Walden the primary feminine CEO of the Walt Disney Co. in its 100-year historical past.
Only a yr into her early profession at twentieth Century Fox, working in publicity, Walden delivered a presentation at an organization retreat in Santa Barbara, California. She was decided to depart a long-lasting impression on Chernin, now chairman and CEO of funding agency The Chernin Group, after a number of encounters through which he’d by no means remembered her.
To get his consideration, Walden determined to be daring. She advised Fox executives, together with Chernin, that they weren’t being aggressive sufficient to safe prime expertise. Fox wanted to take larger swings to generate relationships and land exhibits that would make it to syndication, Walden argued. A spokesperson for Walden confirmed the main points of the presentation.
When the retreat ended, Chernin referred to as Peter Roth, then president of twentieth Century Fox Tv, who later ran Warner Bros.’ TV division.
“The following day she was in my workplace, and we gave her a job in programming,” Roth stated in an interview.
That set Walden on a profession course correction that is led her to the doorstep of changing into Iger’s successor.
Peter Chernin
Getty Photographs for Malaria No Extra 2013
Walden, co-chair of Disney Leisure, is competing internally with Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro, and Alan Bergman, who’s Leisure co-chair with Walden, to be named the subsequent CEO of Disney, stated the individuals acquainted, who requested to not be named as a result of the discussions are non-public.
Iger plans to call a successor after which stick round at Disney to show that individual the job earlier than departing on the finish of 2026, CNBC reported in September. He is combating to take care of management of Disney’s future in opposition to a menace from Trian Companions’ Nelson Peltz.
Peltz has argued he ought to assist spearhead a successor search, contemplating Iger has pushed again his retirement 5 occasions and returned to the job after Bob Chapek, named CEO in 2020, was fired in 2022. Peltz has claimed the Disney board cannot be trusted to deal with succession. Disney shareholders will vote on Peltz’s candidacy to the board at its annual assembly Wednesday.
A number of executives at Disney privately advised CNBC they consider Walden, 59, is the favourite to land the highest job, although they don’t have any inside information of the method, and their proximity to Walden could skew their notion. Her relationship with Iger (she lives simply blocks from his home in Brentwood, California), her monitor report of success as a TV govt, her belief amongst Disney board members, and the symbolism about what it might imply to have a feminine govt all work in her favor.
“She’s the one finest expertise exec to return out of TV within the final 20 years,” Chernin stated in an interview.
“She can be an impressive CEO,” Roth added. “Completely excellent.”
Walden declined to remark for this story. Greater than 20 colleagues and mates spoke with CNBC about her strengths, faults and the perceived chance she’s going to take over for Iger.
Allies of Walden’s advised CNBC she will not even talk about succession with them (although many stated they tease her about it), selecting to deal with the job of working Disney Leisure with Bergman that she’s tasked with in the present day.
She faces stiff competitors within the different Disney division heads. Walden has spent the final three a long time centered on producing TV hits. She hasn’t had the identical vary of duties as Pitaro, who has run the corporate’s sports activities media empire since 2018. And she or he has no expertise working parks and resorts, which Iger and the board could resolve is extra important to Disney’s future than a TV enterprise with hazy monetary prospects within the streaming period.
Six former colleagues — all of whom labored intently with Walden — privately questioned her enterprise acumen in interviews with CNBC.
“There are individuals which are in artistic positions that rise to a degree of administration who determine what a P&L [profit and loss] assertion is, what a steadiness sheet is, what quarterly earnings are,” stated one of many individuals, who requested to stay nameless to talk candidly. “Dana does not actually trouble with any of that.”
A second former coworker stated Walden’s profile merely does not translate to changing into the Disney CEO — a job that entails shut investor interplay, geopolitical offers for parks and resorts, and strategic pondering round acquisition and funding.
“She’ll be eaten up by actual traders,” stated the individual, who likewise requested anonymity. “Does she have the mandatory depth of enterprise information? She will study, however you possibly can’t have somebody educate you a long time of finance, enterprise and techniques in a yr or two.”
Walden supporters dismissed these issues as both merely incorrect or an instance of persistent stereotypes in opposition to feminine executives. Walden has met with many institutional traders by way of her years at Disney, in response to individuals acquainted with the matter.
“There’s one thing about taking a look at feminine execs the place questions are requested that will by no means be requested of males,” stated Jennifer Salke, the top of Amazon Studios and a former colleague of Walden’s. “Can they scale? Can a artistic individual be a enterprise chief? I discover that to be an enormous bugaboo. She’s accountable for billions of {dollars} of property, however she’s not able to being a enterprise chief?”
Jennifer Salke
Stephen Desaulniers | CNBC
Walden defenders brush off criticism from ex-Disney colleagues because the remnants of a grudge in opposition to Fox staff who came visiting as a part of Disney’s $71 billion acquisition of Fox’s leisure property in 2019, or maybe as a part of an ulterior motive to decrease her CEO prospects in favor of their very own most well-liked candidates.
“Sooner or later, everybody working something was one thing earlier than that,” Chernin stated. “Anyone they select can have by no means been the Disney CEO previous to that.”
Hollywood ties
Chernin and Walden each started their careers in public relations, making them two of a small membership of TV executives who began that means — former HBO head Richard Plepler is one other exception. Chernin noticed Walden’s background as a energy, slightly than a weak spot.
“She is aware of nothing is extra essential to a studio than expertise relationships,” stated Craig Hunegs, who labored intently with Walden when he was president of Disney TV Studios from 2019 to 2021.
Walden’s total life has ties to Hollywood. She grew up modestly in Studio Metropolis, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, and attended the non-public Westlake Faculty for Women (a predecessor of the student Harvard-Westlake Faculty), the place she grew to become pleasant with Carol Burnett’s daughter Carrie Hamilton.
Walden’s dad and mom made connections within the leisure trade from their time dwelling in Las Vegas, the place her mom was a background dancer who carried out with George Burns, amongst different artists. Her father grew to become a member of The Friars Membership, well-known for its Dean Martin celeb roasts, and established friendships with entertainers together with Martin and Buddy Hackett. Walden spent her childhood years with celebrities as household mates, attending dinner events and infrequently celebrating holidays at their houses. She went on to marry a member of the leisure trade, producer Matt Walden, in 1995; they’ve two daughters, now of their 20s.
After graduating from the College of Southern California, Walden took a job working for public relations agency Bender, Goldman & Helper, beginning out as a receptionist and an assistant. Inside 4 years, she’d turn into a vp.
At Bender, she represented “The Arsenio Corridor Present” on behalf of her shopper Paramount. The present poached Walden to return work as head of promoting for Corridor’s manufacturing firm. Lower than a yr later, Lucie Sulhany, president of Paramount Home Tv, took a job as a high-ranking Fox TV govt. She requested Walden to return alongside and work in publicity, and Walden joined her with a watch towards ultimately making TV exhibits.
Dana Walden
Jason Laveris | Filmmagic | Getty Photographs
Mastering the TV enterprise
At Fox, Walden and fellow TV govt Gary Newman collectively started working the studio enterprise — the engine of the corporate that makes sequence each for itself and different networks. Beginning in 1999, they stored that place for the subsequent 15 years till they had been promoted to run all of Fox Broadcasting in 2014.
A former lawyer, Newman started his partnership with Walden dealing with lots of the enterprise points, whereas Walden developed a repute for profitable over artistic expertise and having impeccable style for each dramas and comedies.
“Folks used to joke we had been work spouses,” Newman stated in an interview. “She was excellent on the job in a short time. It is only a mixture of being sensible, being actually quick, being curious, being fearless.”
Over time, Walden mastered the enterprise facet of TV, in response to Newman and others who’ve labored together with her.
“The distinction between Dana at first of our partnership, when she leaned on her artistic background, and the place she was just a few years later was evening and day,” Newman stated. “She picked up what she wanted to choose up about enterprise. I had a surgical procedure at one level — the duty fell on Dana to be in there for me. That included being accountable for the enterprise facet of issues.”
Newman recounted one tough negotiation over a Fox-produced present with CBS. It was the day earlier than CBS would announce its fall schedule, and it wasn’t clear if the published community would choose up the sequence. CBS gave Newman and Walden a midnight deadline to revise a deal on its phrases or it might cancel the present. Walden advised Newman that CBS was bluffing, realizing the present was the linchpin for different programming that day. She persuaded Fox to easily ignore the deadline. The following day, CBS included the sequence, proving Walden proper.
“I do not know if she performs poker, however she’d be an excellent poker participant,” Newman stated.
Dana Walden, Ryan Murphy, Bob Iger, and FX Networks Chairman John Landgraf, from left, attend the premiere of Murphy’s restricted sequence “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans,” Jan. 23, 2024.
Credit score: Disney
Fox’s studio started churning out hits, together with “24,” “Homeland,” “How I Met Your Mom,” “Sons of Anarchy,” “Trendy Household,” “That is Us,” “New Lady,” “Bob’s Burgers,” and mini-empires created by Seth MacFarlane (“Household Man,” “American Dad,” “The Cleveland Present”) and Ryan Murphy (“Nip/Tuck,” “Glee,” “American Horror Story,” “9-1-1”).
Walden started making lasting relationships with TV showrunners and producers who’ve repeatedly labored together with her, together with MacFarlane, Murphy, “Trendy Household” co-creator Steve Levitan and “That is Us” creator Dan Fogelman. She earned a repute for her artistic notes on scripts, significantly on shaping “24,” an unusually constructed drama that ran from 2001 to 2014 and earned important reward for its storytelling strategies, in response to Rick Rosen, a accomplice and head of TV of the expertise company WME .
“Folks felt her notes and constructive criticisms helped transfer that present ahead,” recounted Rosen, who represented Howard Gordon, at one time the “24” showrunner. “She helped get it unstuck.”
Walden’s style, her self-discipline round getting expertise to ship on finances, and her honesty about what’s working and what is not have set her aside from different executives, in response to Levitan.
“Hollywood is a enterprise of relationships,” Levitan stated. “What you possibly can’t educate any person is the best way to encourage individuals. She is whip sensible. If there’s a topic that she must take a deep dive on, she’s going to be an professional in that topic earlier than you already know it.”
Becoming a member of Disney
Disney’s acquisition of Fox moved Walden to a brand new firm with a brand new tradition. Iger referred to as Walden on the day of the deal’s announcement in December 2017 to let her know he needed her to return to Disney, in response to individuals acquainted with the matter. Newman deliberate to remain at Fox; he in the end exited the corporate in 2018.
Walden hoped she’d run Disney’s TV unit as a direct report back to Iger, in response to individuals acquainted with her pondering on the time. However Iger needed Peter Rice, Walden’s boss at Fox, for the highest job. Handed over, Walden thought-about strolling away from each Disney and the studio she helped construct for different alternatives, the individuals stated.
Nonetheless, she had a powerful relationship with Rice, who in the end persuaded her to remain regardless of her disappointment. Walden ultimately took Rice’s job when Disney fired him in 2022 after Chapek and a few members of the Disney board concluded he wasn’t a staff participant, particularly noting that he’d privately criticized the corporate’s messaging round Florida’s controversial “Do not Say Homosexual” laws, in response to individuals acquainted with the matter. Chapek advised Rice he wasn’t a tradition match regardless of years of Rice receiving optimistic suggestions, the individuals stated. A Disney spokesman and Rice declined to remark.
“The conversations round promoting a sequence — licensing charges, revenue participation, residuals — or discussions about budgets, and what number of visitor stars we are able to signal, or which platform a sequence ought to air on … all of that I’ve achieved instantly with Dana,” stated Wealthy Appel, the manager producer and co-showrunner of “Household Man.” “No disrespect to Gary [Newman], however for the previous few years, it is solely been Dana.”
At Disney, Walden has hit a number of dwelling runs, together with FX’s “The Bear,” Hulu’s “The Dropout” and “Solely Murders within the Constructing,” and ABC’s “Abbott Elementary.” She has closely invested in advertising kids’s present “Bluey,” which in 2024 has hung out as the most-watched present on all streaming providers. She has additionally centered on increase Disney+’s household programming with originals together with “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” “Spidey and His Wonderful Associates” and “Goosebumps.”
Nonetheless, critics say it is easy to cherry-pick the successes and ignore the failures. One Disney insider stated that grading Walden’s efficiency truthfully would require a strong evaluation of all of the exhibits she’s greenlit.
The anti-Chapek
The final time Iger selected a successor, it did not go properly. As outlined by CNBC in 2023, the connection between Chapek and Iger, who remained Disney’s govt chairman till the tip of 2021, fell aside, and the Disney board in the end fired Chapek and introduced Iger again lower than three years later.
Iger returned as CEO partly to proper the fallacious he believed he made by choosing Chapek as his successor, in response to individuals acquainted with his pondering. If he is in search of the anti-Chapek candidate, Walden matches the outline.
Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek
CNBC
Chapek climbed the company ladder at Disney for 30 years by showcasing his enterprise and finance chops. He studied microbiology at Indiana College and bought his MBA from Michigan State College. He developed experience within the minute particulars of Disney’s parks and resorts, corresponding to how particular resort reductions may have an effect on park attendance and the value elasticity of seasonal ticket charge changes.
However he had nearly no Hollywood relationships. With out a basis of belief, “The City,” as Hollywood is understood, turned on Chapek. Brokers, producers and showrunners blamed him for Disney’s forceful public rebuke of A-list star Scarlett Johansson in a Covid pandemic-related contract dispute and for bungling the corporate’s response to “Do not Say Homosexual,” as CNBC reported in 2023.
Walden’s resume units her up as Chapek’s inverse: a Disney outsider whose Hollywood ties are among the many finest within the trade. Within the latter months of Chapek’s tenure as CEO, as CNBC reported, Disney communications head Kristina Schake started organising conferences for Chapek with Hollywood’s energy gamers — at Walden’s home.
A possible handover from Iger to Walden would additionally look very completely different from the Iger-Chapek transition, predicted United Expertise Company Vice Chairman Jay Sures, a detailed good friend of Walden’s. Chapek noticed Iger as a menace to his energy, in response to individuals acquainted with his pondering on the time. Walden would keep near Iger for so long as doable, Sures stated.
“When Bob Chapek bought the job, he could not look ahead to Bob Iger to depart. If Dana ever bought the job, she’s gonna dread the day Bob Iger leaves,” Sures stated. “She values the ability and management he brings. She is aware of an excellent factor when she sees it.”
Combating feminine stereotypes
If Walden had been appointed CEO, she can be the primary girl to run the century-old firm. Some near Iger say he would look fondly on being the individual to assist break the glass ceiling.
Amazon’s Salke stated she’s had a number of discussions over time with Walden about the best way to survive within the male-dominated leisure world. It requires a deftness of character and skill to keep away from enemies, stated Salke.
“I watched ‘Barbie,'” stated Salke, referencing the Greta Gerwig-created hit 2023 film that skewers parts of recent patriarchy. “That speech from America Ferrera’s character [Gloria], it is true. You must be likable however not too likable. In case you’re too likable, that is seen as threatening to males.”
Whereas Walden has crossed a bridge to turn into shut mates with quite a few her skilled colleagues (she’s the godmother of Murphy’s kids), she is attuned to her picture in methods male executives haven’t got to fret about, in response to individuals acquainted with her persona.
Even when the eye is nonthreatening, Walden is conscious that her look could also be judged as readily as her enterprise efficiency, the individuals stated.
“Once I first met her, the writers would see Dana stroll by occasionally, and we used to name her ‘Why Miss Jones,'” Levitan stated. “As a result of she’d put on these glasses. So it was like in outdated Hollywood motion pictures, when an actress would take off her glasses and one of many characters would say, ‘Why, Miss Jones! You are lovely!'”
Levitan later grew to become shut mates with Walden and praised her professionalism. Of observe, he cited final yr’s cancellation of “Reboot,” a present he created for Hulu.
“I do not agree with the choice that was made there, and I do not agree that it bought a good shake,” Levitan stated. “However Dana and I talked about it. She took me by way of her causes. And it is a real dialog. There is a purpose persons are fairly effusive about the best way Dana handles herself. It is as a result of she genuinely goes out of her solution to deal with individuals with decency.”
Steve Levitan
Peter “Hopper” Stone | Getty Photographs
Walden and her staff have a repute for sending birthday items to Hollywood’s movers and shakers and bottles of champagne to them when their exhibits premiere. Supporters view it as relationship-building. Critics stated her actions generally border on company largesse.
Walden herself has joked that she was “raised by wolves” at Fox, and that she’s needed to consciously regulate to the extra toned-down Disney tradition over the past 5 years, in response to individuals acquainted with her pondering.
She’s additionally needed to toe a line between stereotype and profitable govt. Of the 20 individuals interviewed for this story, almost each one among them referred to as Walden “direct” and “demanding.”
“Sharp elbows, proper?” Salke stated, anticipating the hackneyed criticism of feminine leaders. “So many occasions Dana and I’ve been the one girls within the room. Can she be demanding and maintain individuals to a excessive bar? Sure. However males come on in, and the very first thing they do is hearth individuals, and nobody bats a watch.”
Walden’s champions famous that each profitable govt is demanding of excellence, and stated her directness is a significant energy that separates her from many different TV executives.
“She may be ‘enterprise’ robust,” stated WME’s Rosen. “No person likes to ship dangerous information. A present is canceled, or it is over finances, or this venture did not work. However she’s not harsh. You’re feeling like she’s coming from a spot of optimism — let’s determine the place we go from right here.”
The ultimate choose
Whereas the Disney board can have the final word say on the corporate’s subsequent CEO, Iger will possible be the actual decision-maker, given his historical past on the firm, standing amongst board members, and information of the job.
“The significance of the succession course of can’t be overstated, and because the Board continues to judge a extremely certified slate of inner and exterior candidates, I stay intensely centered on a profitable transition,” Iger stated in a press release in 2023 when he renewed his contract as CEO to the tip of 2026.
Even when Iger agrees with a few of Walden’s critics about whether or not her strengths will particularly match the highest job at Disney, it is doable his recollection of his personal expertise being chosen as CEO in 2005 may affect his determination.
“Return and take a look at the articles that had been written about Bob Iger,” Sures stated. “I used to be mates with Bob then. It was a whole lot of ’empty swimsuit’ — a handsome, tall man who by no means had any expertise within the film enterprise and by no means did something in M&A [mergers and acquisitions] earlier than in his life. Nineteen years later, he is one of many biggest, if not the best CEO the leisure enterprise has ever seen.”
“The identical issues are being stated about Dana now,” Sures stated.
Iger and the board’s choice for a successor could in the end come all the way down to the path they envision for Disney.
D’Amaro may very well be the selection in the event that they resolve the parks are an important a part of the corporate’s future. Pitaro appears logical if ESPN and its upcoming digital transformation are seen as a necessary a part of Disney’s future, versus its previous. Both Walden or Bergman may very well be the selection if artistic style and relationships trump all, although Bergman’s current troubles with Disney’s movie division could also be a knock in opposition to them.
Nonetheless, Chernin stated it is a mistake to view Disney so merely. The magic of the corporate is how all of the elements work together with one another, slightly than emphasizing one unit over all others, he stated.
“The enterprise is altering so quickly. That firm goes to vary a lot,” Chernin stated. “Somebody goes to must think about what a media firm of the longer term seems like. Bob [Iger] goes by way of that proper now. He is actively spending each day pondering that by way of. Crucial a part of that firm is ongoing relationships with prospects.”
WATCH: Carolyn Everson, Disney board member, discusses the query of succession.
