Former Apple COO Jeff Williams Joining Disney's Board of Directors

[MacRumors]

Former Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams may soon join Disney's board of directors. The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors nominated Williams to be a new independent director, and he will stand for election at the 2026 annual shareholders meeting.

Williams was Apple's chief operating officer from December 2015 to November 2025, when he retired from Apple. Williams was in charge of Apple's worldwide operations, customer service, and support. He also led the Apple Watch engineering and health initiatives, and headed up the design team from 2023 until his retirement.

In a statement, Williams said that he looks forward to contributing to Disney's growth.

"I have long admired Disney's legacy of pairing imagination with innovation--leveraging new technologies in bold, creative ways to bring to life timeless stories and entertain its guests," said Williams. "It is an honor to be nominated to the board of this storied company. I look forward to working with Disney's talented leadership team and contributing to the company's ongoing journey of creativity and excellence."

Disney's board will expand to 11 members with Williams, and he is set to join Bob Iger, GM CEO Mary Barra, former Morgan Stanley Executive Chairman James Gorman, former Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch, Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald, and others.

Article Link: Former Apple COO Jeff Williams Joining Disney's Board of Directors

 

[Robert.Walter]

Nice gig if one can get it.

Congrats to him.

 

[mrhick01]

Ah, now it's time to run with the big big dogs now

 

[Lioness~]

That is a real promotion - from Cook to Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse 🥳

 

[ridgero]

Follow the money

 

[MacFan782040]

If the Netflix deal goes through, what are the chances Apple buys Disney?

 

[Justin Cymbal]

Now that he has more influence within Disney, one feature that would be awesome for Jeff to advocate for would be to potentially incorporate future seamless integration between Apple hardware & Disney’s park infrastructure

Some possible ideas I have would be a (guest-opt-in) option for a user to add a (secure) Wi-Fi profile to their iPhone that would not only greatly enhance their security (over existing captive-portal networks) but also simultaneously allow for seamless, customer input/friction-free high-speed connections - allowing guests of remove the time consuming & unwanted distraction of continuously reconfiguring Wi-Fi when traversing various parks

Another potential feature would be the ability for users to use their AirPods when using headphones 🎧 is needed on rides or tours - With the potential technological integration built upon the that when flying on a ✈️

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[JohnWick1954]

If the Netflix deal goes through, what are the chances Apple buys Disney?

None

 

[WarmWinterHat]

If the Netflix deal goes through, what are the chances Apple buys Disney?

Zero. Same as it was before Netflix.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

If the Netflix deal goes through, what are the chances Apple buys Disney?

Very low unless they completely split up the way Warner Brothers did.
I can see Apple managing that historic library of content, I cannot see them wanting to take on the challenges of all of Disney’s side projects.

 

[Happy_John]

If the Netflix deal goes through, what are the chances Apple buys Disney?

Zero. If that were ever going to happen it would have happened with the Pixar Disney deal. It didn’t then, and Disney is a far less attractive proposition now.