This article's "Career" section contains text that is written in a promotional tone .(February 2024) |
Kareem Daniel | |
---|---|
Born | 1974 |
Education | Stanford University (BS) Stanford Graduate School of Business (MBA) |
Occupation | American business executive |
Employer | The Walt Disney Company (2006–2022) |
Title | Chairman, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (2020–2022) |
Board member of | McDonald's |
Kareem Daniel is an American businessman and former media executive at The Walt Disney Company. During his tenure at Disney, he held executive roles in charge of film and television, sports, streaming, theme parks, and consumer products. [1] [2] Prior to Disney, Daniel worked in equity research and investment banking at Goldman Sachs, having begun his career as an electrical engineer. He is also on the board of directors for McDonald's.
Kareem Daniel grew up in Chicago. [3] He attended Morgan Park Academy and went on to earn both a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and an MBA from Stanford University. [4]
After working as a computer programmer during the dot-com boom, [5] Daniel enrolled in business school. [3] His interest in film led him to pursue a career in the entertainment industry, [6] and he interned at The Walt Disney Company while in business school. [7] Upon graduation, he took a full-time position at Disney. [3] He then worked in equity research and investment banking at Goldman Sachs from 2004 to 2007. [8]
After returning to Disney in 2007, he held executive roles in Disney Corporate Strategy, Walt Disney Studios, and Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media. [9] He played a key role in various business initiatives, as well as mergers and acquisitions like the 2009 acquisition of Marvel, [10] and the 2012 Lucasfilm acquisition. [4] [7]
In 2017, Daniel moved to Walt Disney Imagineering. [8] In 2019, he was promoted to President of Operations, [11] where he was responsible for the design and development of Disney's parks, attractions, resorts and cruises. [12] During his tenure, areas like Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, Toy Story Land, Pixar Pier, Avengers Campus and other themed areas were introduced or expanded. [13]
In May 2020, Daniel was named President of Consumer Products, Gaming and Publishing, [14] including the world's largest consumer licensing business, the Disney Store, and Disney's e-commerce shopDisney and videogame business. [15] [3]
In October 2020, Kareem Daniel was promoted to Chairman of Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED), a new division created to oversee Disney's media businesses. [16] The division combined the company's film, television, streaming, and advertising businesses under his leadership. [17] [13]
He managed Disney's advertising and traditional media businesses, including theatrical releases, home entertainment, and television networks such as ESPN, ABC, FX and National Geographic. [13] Daniel was tasked with growing Disney's streaming platforms, including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Star+. [6] On November 14, 2021 Daniel inaugurated Disney+ Day, a virtual event intended to promote Disney's streaming services. [18] In August 2022, Disney's streaming platforms had 221 million subscribers. [19] [20] By November 2022, the number of total subscriptions had reached 235 million, exceeding those of rival streaming platform Netflix. [21] Under Daniel, Disney generated $55 billion in revenue from media and entertainment during the 2022 fiscal year. [22]
In October 2022, Daniel was elected to McDonald's board of directors. [23] He exited his role at Walt Disney in November 2022, during the return of Disney CEO Bob Iger. [24]
Daniel's role within Disney made him one of the most influential media executives, and the most senior Black executive, in Hollywood. [10] Several media publications dubbed him the "czar" of Disney's streaming business, [10] and was ranked among "the 10 most powerful people in Hollywood" in 2023. [25] In 2020 and 2021, Daniel was included on Variety's list of the 500 most influential leaders in global media. [8] He was a keynote speaker at Variety's entertainment and technology summit in 2022. [26]
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that is headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as Disney Brothers Studio; it also operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before changing its name to the Walt Disney Company in 1986. In 1928, Disney established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film Steamboat Willie. The film used synchronized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon, and introduced Mickey Mouse, who became Disney's mascot and corporate icon.
Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in 1971 in San Rafael, California, though most of the company's operations were moved to San Francisco in 2005. It has been a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios since 2012 and is best known for creating and producing the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as its leadership in developing special effects, sound, and computer animation for films.
The Walt Disney Studios is a major division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of The Walt Disney Company best known for housing its multifaceted film studio divisions. Founded on October 16, 1923, and based mainly at the namesake studio lot in Burbank, California, it is the seventh-oldest global film studio and the fifth-oldest in the United States, a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and one of the "Big Five" major film studios.
Disney Experiences, colloquially known as Disney Parks, is one of the Walt Disney Company's three major business segments and a division of that company. It was founded on April 1, 1971, exactly six months before the opening of Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, just outside of Orlando.
Robert Allen Iger is an American media business executive who serves as the chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company. He previously served as the President of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) between 1994 and 1995 and as president and chief operating officer (COO) of Capital Cities/ABC, from 1995 until its acquisition by Disney in 1996. Iger was named president of Disney in 2000 and succeeded Michael Eisner as CEO in 2005, until his contract expired in 2020. He then served as executive chairman until his retirement from the company on December 31, 2021. After his exit from the company, Iger served, at the company's request, as an advisor to his successor. Iger was awarded $2 million per year for such advice. However, at the request of Disney's board of directors, Iger returned to Disney as CEO on November 20, 2022, following the unscheduled and immediate dismissal of his appointed successor, Bob Chapek. In July 2023, Disney renewed Iger's contract until 2026.
Disney–ABC Domestic Television is the in-home sales and content distribution firm of Disney Platform Distribution, a subsidiary of Disney Entertainment, which is a division of The Walt Disney Company. Content distribution responsibilities include domestic television syndication, domestic pay TV, Internet and cable video-on-demand (VOD), and pay-per-view outlets. Disney–ABC Domestic TV replaces the original 20th Television since August 10, 2020, and is currently running as a syndication and distribution arm.
The Muppets Studio, LLC is an American entertainment production company and subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, that owns and produces media content for The Muppets franchise. The division was previously formed as The Muppets Holding Company, LLC in 2004 through Disney's acquisition of The Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House intellectual properties from The Jim Henson Company.
Disney General Entertainment Content (DGEC), formerly ABC Group, Disney–ABC Television Group and the second incarnation of Walt Disney Television, is part of Disney Entertainment, a division of The Walt Disney Company that oversees its owned-and-operated television content, assets and sub-divisions.
Disney Platform Distribution, Inc. is a business unit within Disney Entertainment that manages all third-party media sales efforts for distribution, affiliate marketing and affiliate-related business operations for all of the company's direct-to-consumer services and linear media networks; content sales agreements for Disney Entertainment and ESPN.
Thomas Owen Staggs is an American business executive and investor. He is currently one of the co-founders and co-CEOs of Candle Media. He formerly worked at The Walt Disney Company for nearly 27 years, beginning in 1990, working in finance and later becoming the chief financial officer (CFO), then as chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide and finally as chief operating officer (COO). He also holds directorships on various company boards, including Spotify.
Disney Consumer Products, Inc. is the retailing and licensing subsidiary of the Disney Experiences segment of The Walt Disney Company. Previously, Consumer Products was a segment of Disney until 2016, then a unit of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media (2016–2018).
Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED), formerly Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International (DTCI), was one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments consisting of Disney's streaming services and overseas media businesses, formed in March 2018. As part of the segment's formation, Disney Streaming Services was placed under Direct-to-Consumer & International.
Kevin A. Mayer is an American business executive. He is currently the co-founder and co-CEO of Candle Media. He was briefly CEO of TikTok, and COO of its parent company ByteDance. Prior to joining TikTok, he was a senior executive at Disney for more than 15 years, including as head of Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International.
The acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company was announced on December 14, 2017, and was completed on March 20, 2019. Among other key assets, the acquisition included the 20th Century Fox film and television studios, U.S. cable channels such as FX, Fox Networks Group, a 73% stake in National Geographic Partners, Indian television broadcaster Star India, and a 30% stake in Hulu. One day before the acquisition, 21st Century Fox spun off the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Television Stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business, Fox Sports 1 and 2, Fox Deportes, and the Big Ten Network into the newly formed Fox Corporation. Other 21st Century Fox assets such as the Fox Sports Networks and Sky were divested and sold off to Sinclair and Comcast, respectively.
Fox Corporation is an American multinational mass media company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Incorporated in Delaware, it was formed on March 19, 2019, as a result of the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company, which was closed on March 20. The company is controlled by the Murdoch family via a family trust with 39.6% ownership share, and by Rupert Murdoch himself to the effect of almost 40%.
Robert Alan Chapek is an American former media executive who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from 2020 to 2022. He joined Masimo's board of directors in 2024.
Josh D'Amaro is an American businessman, who is Chairman of Disney Experiences. Before becoming chairman, D'Amaro has had a 22-year career with The Walt Disney Company, particularly in his positions across the resorts sector of the company.
Disney Entertainment is a major business segment of The Walt Disney Company created on February 8, 2023, which consists of its entertainment media and content businesses, including its motion picture film studios, television divisions, streaming services and overseas businesses. Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED) was dissolved and had its divisions and units consolidated into Disney Entertainment upon formation of the latter.
Since the 2000s, there has been persistent and periodic speculation of a potential acquisition of the Walt Disney Company, an American media conglomerate, by Apple Inc., an American technology company. Despite there being no evidence of such plans, the notion has been routinely suggested by analysts and pundits and repeatedly dismissed by both companies.