Disney’s biggest wins this year — from a triumphant proxy war to getting back on track at the box office

• Disney brought the magic in 2024, but it isn’t out of the woods just yet.
• Streaming turned a profit for the first time, and it righted the ship at the box office.
• While CEO Bob Iger won a proxy battle, Trump’s second term now looms.

After a string of challenges, Disney brought the magic in 2024.

It wasn’t long ago that CEO Bob Iger was battling an expensive proxy fight, creative challenges, and streaming business losses.

Iger has put many of those concerns behind him. Disney fended off activist shareholder Nelson Peltz. And he addressed two areas that have been a big concern for Wall Street: returning the film division to profits with “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine,” and turning the corner in its streaming business.

On a fourth-quarter earnings call in November, a confident Iger projected rosy earnings all the way out to 2027 and was rewarded with a 9% surge in Disney’s stock price.

Perhaps most important, after a botched succession in 2020, the company reassured critics that it’s on track to name Iger’s replacement in early 2026.

Disney isn’t out of the woods just yet. It still faces the ongoing decline of its linear TV business. With another ESPN streamer in the works, its streaming offerings are multiplying, which risks consumer confusion. And some insiders have worried that a returning President Donald Trump could lead to retribution — or a chilling effect on the company’s creative output and journalism — after Iger and Trump publicly sparred during Trump’s first term.

Meanwhile, here’s a look back at Disney’s biggest wins of the past year: