At this point, it’s too early to know what Josh D’Amaro’s promotion to Disney CEO will mean for ESPN. One prominent industry analyst, however, is predicting that it could lead to a major change. Appearing on The Town with Matthew Belloni, LightShed Partners’ Rich Greenfield discussed Disney’s announcement that D’Amaro will succeed Bob Iger as the company’s top executive this March. And while noting the inherent challenges that ESPN faces in the current media landscape, the analyst said he believes the network will ultimately get spun off under the direction of its parent company’s incoming CEO. “I believe Josh D’Amaro understands everything that you and I are talking about,” Greenfield said. “And I believe — I don’t know if it happens in the next six months in their fiscal year — but I would say over the next 18 months, I would be shocked if Disney didn’t move forward with a separation of the company to resemble what Warner did and then use that separation to invest in gaming or some other priority that when Josh looks at it, where he can put his stamp and say, ‘this is what the Disney of the next decade is going to look like.'”
Published: February 5, 2026 5:05 pm
Source: Awful Announcing — Read original