New Walt Disney Company CEO Josh D’Amaro made his position clear on CNBC. He says ESPN spinoff rumors don’t apply to him.
What We Know: D’Amaro took over as Disney CEO in March, succeeding Bob Iger. Nearly six months in, he told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin he feels good about the company’s direction. This marks at least his second public rejection of ESPN spinoff talk this year, following similar comments in April. Meanwhile, Disney has cut several hundred jobs at ESPN, Pixar, and National Geographic recently, even as ESPN stays put.
What They Said: (All comments via CNBC):
Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro says no plans to spin off ESPN from The Walt Disney Company: “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.”
Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro on why he’s keeping ESPN under the Disney wing: “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.”
Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro on the approach by ESPN acquiring sports rights: “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.”
What Remains Unclear: How ESPN integrates more sports into the Disney+ platform is unknown. It’s also unknown what sports will be integrated into the platform as well.
What It Means D’Amaro is betting ESPN’s value comes from staying inside Disney’s ecosystem, not from independence. He’s simultaneously pushing more live sports onto Disney+, aiming to turn casual viewers into subscribers. For investors still pushing a split, the message is firm: not now. In the coming years with more continued growth, we will see if D’Amaro’s tone changes.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.