Disney's 2026 Shareholders Meeting Live Blog: What Does The Future Hold As Bob Iger Steps Away And New CEO Josh D'Amaro Takes The Stage

That ends the meeting. It was certainly interesting hearing Josh D'Amaro answer all the Q&A questions. It's a new voice and a pretty new approach. A couple of major release date updates was nice, but I was hoping for a little more. Still, with D23 coming up this summer, we'll get plenty of news on upcoming movies, series, and theme park attractions. The Josh D'Amaro era hasn't started with a bang, but it has begun. It will be exciting to see what happens next.

The last question is about Figment. Could there be a movie or other Figment content? D'Amaro laughs and mentions the recent Disney+ animation short that included Figment. D'Amaro says there's nothing new to announce, but indicates that Disney is always exploring new ways to use characters. There is certainly a hint that there may be a future for Figment, who was voiced by Neil Patrick Harris in the short.

A question about the amount of legacy content that Disney has access to, and how the company decides what to put on Disney+, since a lot of that content isn't there. D'Amaro doesn't really answer or indicate that any more legacy content will be going up anytime soon.

Question about the differences between Lighting Lane offerings at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. D'Amaro says that guest experience at each resort is very different, so Lighting Lane is handled differently to best match the way people use the parks.

D'Amaro says he's "looking at the landscape," but doesn't indicate any plans for new mergers.

A question about changing the disability access at Disney Parks. D'Amaro says the current approach was come to by working with experts and professionals. Doesn't indicate any plan to revisit.

The next question is about Disney's use of AI. D'Amaro talks about the efficiency that AI can bring, but insists that AI will be used to "empower creativity, not replace it."

An Experiences question about balancing theme park revenue with making the experience great for everybody. D'Amaro says he looks at experience ratings and "intent to return" to be sure guests are having the great experience they want. D'Amaro mentions the kids' ticket offer at Disneyland as a way that the parks try to make it affordable.

The next question is about where to find information about the backgrounds of the Board of Directors, which is a somewhat surprising question for this sort of meeting.

Question four is about how D'Amaro is incorporating the principles of Walt Disney into the company.

It's honestly amazing how often this sort of question is asked. Nobody asks David Zazlav how he incorporates the principles of Jack Warner at Warner Bros. D'Amaro focuses on Walt's embrace of technology and his ability to look to the future.

D'Amaro is on hand, and the first question is about changing out the Pixar films in the Imagination pavilion at Epcot. D'Amaro says there are "no plans to bring new shorts" to the theater, which was not at all the question. Something new needs to be done with that theater.

The second question is about the decision-making process behind making original movies versus sequels. D'Amaro talks about Disney's ability to build on stories between the different aspects of the company. D'Amaro says there will be more new and existing stories.

Unsurprisingly, the three proposals from Disney were approved, and the three shareholder proposals were not. We now shift to the Q&A

The first three votes for the Shareholders meeting are standard: re-electing the board of directors, affirming the company's accountants, and confirming the executive compensation package. They will pass without issues.

The other three proposals are from shareholders. These are usually pet causes from individuals with an ax to grind. Shareholder proposals almost always fail, but not always. These proposals are about Disney's charitable giving policies, changing the method for board member elections, and reviewing Disney Parks' disability policies. This last one might succeed.

That wraps D'Amaro's portion of the meeting, which means we're now shifting to the actual voting portion of the meeting. The 2028 release dates for Lilo & Stitch and Incredibles are certainly going to be important. Those are two blockbuster franchises that will almost guarantee that 2028 will be a solid year for Disney at the global box office.

On Experiences, D'Amaro calls out World of Frozen at Disneyland Paris and the expansion of Avengers Campus. I was hoping for a bit of new theme park info, but it doesn't look like anybody is ready for that yet.

D'Amaro does announce the name of the ninth ship in the Disney Cruise Line fleet, the Disney Believe

The first IP gets dropped when D'Amaro starts talking about Toy Story. We're getting a look at a scene where Jesse confronts Lilypad.

D'Amaro runs through the 2026 and 2027 movie slates. Then we got release dates for live-action Lilo & Stitch 2, May 26, 2028, and Incredibles 3, June 16, 2028. That's really fast work for Stitch.

And Josh D'Amaro was just "welcomed" as the Chief Executive Officer of the Walt Disney Company. The new era has begun.

D'Amaro's main message is that Disney is in a class by itself in the industry. There's a lot of use of the word "one" already today. D'Amaro released a memo earlier where he referred to the different parts of the company as One Disney. Expect that to be a major branding concept going forward.

We're getting a pre-recorded message from Iger saying goodbye. Clearly, we won't be seeing Bob again during this meeting, otherwise, they'd probably leave this goodbye for later. It's Josh D'Amaro's company now.

Iger says "leaders don't create the magic" and he thanks those he worked with for making it. He ays he "believes" in Josh D'Amaro as the new CEO. Calls Dana Walden's area "critical."

Goodbye Bob, thanks for everything.

Chairman of the Board James Gorman opens the meeting in a pre-recorded message. He was the man who led the CEO hunt. He calls out D'Amaro as the new CEO and Walden as President. He also thanks Bob Iger for his time as CEO.

We're now getting a second sizzle reel that is basically a thank you to Bob Iger, showing off all his achievements. And to be fair, there are a lot. He transformed Disney in a big way. The addition of Pixar, marvel, Lucasfilm, and Fox, changed entertainment.

Disney's Shareholders Meeting gets under way with a sizzle reel showing many of the company's biggest hits on screen and in theme parks. Everything from Hoppers to Avatar and small pieces of stuff to come like Toy Story 5. Ill tell you, stuff like this makes it really exciting to be a Disney fan. They are so good at this.

In just a few minutes, the Shareholders Meeting will be getting underway. The first question of interest is how much of Bob Iger we'll see. He is staying with Disney through the end of the year, and technically, this meeting is about the prior year's performance, so he may still be a big part of it, but since this is essentially the coming-out party for Josh D'Amaro and Dana Walden, I expect they'll be the main focus.

As such, I'd expect a bit more in the way of "new" announcements as it will get Disney fans excited and hopefully signal to Wall Street, the people this event is really about, that Disney will continue to make money going forward.