The Walt Disney Company is restructuring its Consumer Products division, moving most of its operations out of Disney Experiences and into Disney Entertainment Studios, effective October 2026, according to a joint memo from Thomas Mazloum, chairman of Disney Experiences, and Alan Bergman, chairman of Disney Entertainment Studios.
The move puts Disney’s merchandise and licensing business under the same leadership as the film and television teams creating the stories those products are built around. In their memo, Mazloum and Bergman said the aim is for “storytelling, commerce and experiences come together from the very beginning,” bringing the consumer products side of the company closer to the creative teams driving what ends up on shelves.
No leadership changes have been announced for Consumer Products so far. Lisa Baldzicki was promoted to president of Disney Consumer Products earlier this year, taking over from Tasia Filippatos, who moved to president of Disney Parks International. That change came in March as incoming CEO Josh D’Amaro built out his executive team following his appointment to succeed Bob Iger.
This is the second time in the past several months that Disney has pulled a business out of Experiences and folded it into Entertainment. In March, as part of that same leadership transition, incoming President and Chief Creative Officer Dana Walden moved Disney’s Games and Digital Entertainment division out of Experiences and into Disney Entertainment. That group, led by EVP Sean Shoptaw, runs Disney’s game partnerships, including its collaboration with Epic Games to build a Disney presence inside Fortnite. Games had reported to D’Amaro under Experiences before the switch. Walden said the change would align the games business more closely with Disney+ and Hulu and open up new ways for fans to spend time with Disney characters and stories outside the parks and movie theaters.
Disney remains the biggest name in the licensing business by a wide margin. Just last week, License Global ranked Disney No. 1 in its 2026 Top Global Licensors Whitepaper, with $63 billion in retail sales of licensed consumer products in 2025 across more than 100 product categories in over 180 countries.
Disney said it will share more details on the Consumer Products transition as it moves forward through the rest of 2026. We’ll keep this page updated as more information comes out, including any changes to how it affects Disney Consumer Products lines fans already follow, from park merchandise to collectibles.
