Brands
Disney appoints Josh D’Amaro as new CEO, succeeding Bob Iger
BURBANK: The Walt Disney Company has named theme parks chief Josh D’Amaro as its next chief executive officer, marking the end of an era and the start of a carefully scripted new chapter for the entertainment giant.
D’Amaro, 54, will formally take over from Bob Iger on 18 March 2026, following Disney’s Annual Meeting. The board’s decision was unanimous, a rare show of confidence that underlines just how central D’Amaro has become to Disney’s modern story.
For the past five years, D’Amaro has run Disney Experiences, the company’s biggest business by revenue. It is the division behind the magic kingdoms, cruise ships and resorts that collectively pull in around 36 billion dollars a year and employ nearly 185,000 people worldwide. Under his watch, Disney has embarked on the largest theme park expansion in its history, pairing beloved characters with new technology and record guest satisfaction.
Disney chairman James Gorman said D’Amaro brings together creative instinct and operational muscle, a combination the board believes is vital as Disney navigates a fast-changing entertainment landscape. Bob Iger echoed that sentiment, praising D’Amaro’s ability to blend imagination with discipline, a hallmark of Disney at its best.
Alongside the CEO announcement, Disney also unveiled a new creative structure. Dana Walden, currently co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, will become president and chief creative officer, a newly created role. Reporting directly to D’Amaro, Walden will oversee storytelling across the entire company, from film and television to streaming, parks and beyond.
Creativity, Iger noted, remains Disney’s beating heart, and Walden’s appointment is designed to keep that pulse strong while aligning it more closely with business goals.
Iger himself is not disappearing just yet. After steering Disney through two decades of growth, disruption and reinvention, and returning in 2022 to steady the ship, he will stay on as senior advisor and a board member until his retirement at the end of 2026. His recent tenure has focused on restoring financial discipline, reshaping streaming, sharpening ESPN’s digital future and accelerating growth in parks and experiences.
D’Amaro, a Disney veteran of nearly 30 years, joined the company in 1998 and has held senior roles across finance, strategy, marketing and operations. He has overseen landmark attractions such as Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, Avengers Campus and World of Frozen, with more on the way including new lands inspired by Monsters, Inc., Cars and Disney Villains, plus a planned theme park in Abu Dhabi.
“I am immensely grateful for the trust placed in me,” D’Amaro said, adding that Disney’s greatest strength has always been its people and its stories.
The appointment follows a long and deliberate succession process launched in 2023, with D’Amaro and Walden both undergoing extensive preparation and mentorship. For Disney, the message is clear. This is not a sudden plot twist, but a handover carefully written well before the curtain rises on the next act.
Brands
Godrej clarifies ‘GI’ identifier after logo similarity debate
Says GI is not a logo, will not replace Godrej signature across products.
MUMBAI: In a branding storm where shapes did the talking, Godrej is now spelling things out. Godrej Industries Group (GIG) has issued a clarification on its newly introduced ‘GI’ identifier, addressing questions around its purpose and design following a wave of online criticism. At the centre of the debate were two concerns: whether the new mark replaces the long-standing Godrej logo, and whether its geometric design mirrors other corporate identities.
The company has drawn a clear line. The Godrej signature logo, it said, remains unchanged and continues to be the sole logo across all consumer-facing products and services. The ‘GI’ mark, by contrast, is not a logo but a corporate group identifier intended for use alongside the Godrej signature or company name, and aimed at stakeholders such as investors, media and talent rather than consumers.
The need for such a distinction stems from the 2024 restructuring of the broader Godrej Group into two separate business entities. With both continuing to operate under the same Godrej name and signature, the identifier is positioned as a way to differentiate the Godrej Industries Group at a corporate level.
The rollout, however, triggered a broader conversation on design originality. Critics pointed to similarities between the GI mark’s geometric composition and logos used by companies globally, raising questions about distinctiveness.
Responding to this, GIG said its intellectual property and legal review found that such overlaps are common in minimalist, geometry-led design systems. Basic forms such as circles and rectangles appear across dozens of brand identities worldwide, the company noted.
It added that the identifier emerged from an extensive design process and was chosen for its simplicity, allowing it to sit alongside the Godrej signature without competing visually. While acknowledging that elemental shapes may appear less distinctive in isolation, the group emphasised that the mark is part of a broader identity system that includes a custom typeface, sonic branding and other proprietary elements.
Following legal and ethical assessments, the company said it found no impediment to using the identifier, reiterating that the GI mark is a corporate tool not a consumer-facing symbol.
In short, the logo isn’t changing but the conversation around it certainly has.
