Bob Iger says leaving Disney in good shape for Josh D’Amaro is one of the things he is proudest of. Asked about his proudest accomplishment by Robin Roberts on Good Morning America on October 21, the former CEO pointed to the shape of the company he handed off.
Iger said handing the company “to a successor in a very healthy state” would be “up there,” along with knowing that “I did no harm. In fact, I think I actually did some good.”
Bob Iger says Disney is in a “very healthy” state under CEO Josh D’Amaro in a new interview.
Drew Smith (@DrewDisneyDude) October 21, 2026
“And to hand it off to a successor in a very healthy state, for instance, certainly I think that would be up there…”
(Source: @GMA)
Roberts sat down with Iger at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York, where he will be honored next week as PAC NYC’s 2026 Icon of Culture. We previewed the interview last week. Iger also talked about the Lakers, and Roberts said more of the conversation, including his new book, airs next week on GMA. The interview aired one day after Random House announced his second memoir.
Why The Handoff Matters To Iger
Iger’s first exit did not go the way he planned. He stepped down as CEO in 2020, and the board brought him back in November 2022 to replace Bob Chapek. Disney named D’Amaro, the longtime parks chief, as his successor earlier this year.
In a September Harvard Business Review interview, reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Iger said he followed a presidential tradition and left D’Amaro a letter in his desk. “I wanted it to be short. It ended up being six pages long,” he said. One message in it was to be aware of how much influence a CEO has, because “you can exert that influence quickly and sometimes almost inadvertently just by having the title.”
Iger also told HBR that the board asked whether the next CEO was resilient, had the stamina for a state of “almost perpetual crisis” and chose a good team.
What Comes Next For Iger
Iger still sits on Disney’s board but is set to leave it at the end of the year. His next book, One Last Time: Managing Crisis and Building Resilience at Disney, covers his second run as CEO and arrives from Random House on March 2, 2027.
In August, Disneyland honored Iger with a window on Main Street, U.S.A., naming him “Chief Architect for New Century Builders.”
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