Disney (DIS) plans to announce its next CEO in early 2026 in the first timeline the company has publicly given for appointing a successor to current chief Bob Iger.

The media giant made the announcement on Monday while simultaneously revealing that current board member and former Morgan Stanley (MS) CEO James Gorman will serve as the board's new chairman, effective Jan. 2, 2025. He will exit his role as executive chairman at Morgan Stanley on Dec. 31.

“A critical priority before us is to appoint a new CEO, which we now expect to announce in early 2026," Gorman said in a press release. "This timing reflects the progress the Succession Planning Committee and the Board are making, and will allow ample time for a successful transition before the conclusion of Bob Iger’s contract in December 2026."

Gorman will replace former Nike CEO Mark Parker as chairman. Parker will be exiting his board position after nine years on the job.

Wall Street has expected the entertainment giant to signal a replacement for Iger as early as next year.

"I would think by 2025 we'd see something — either in terms of an expected successor, even if not explicitly named," Matthew Dolgin, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, previously told Yahoo Finance.

The news of Disney's targeted timeline and Gorman's appointment comes after Disney previously announced Gorman would chair the company's succession planning committee.

Gorman, who oversaw his own succession at Morgan Stanley, will be joined by board members Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors (GM), and Calvin McDonald, Lululemon's (LULU) chief executive on the committee. Parker will serve on the committee until his exit in early 2025.

Succession has been one of the most important priorities for the company after Bob Chapek's succession disaster nearly five years ago.

"I think it would be safe to assume that I think about [CEO succession] all the time," Iger said on a podcast with Kelly Ripa earlier this summer. "I could say that 'I'm obsessed with it' would be probably an understatement, and actually, the board and I established when I returned that that would be among our biggest, if not our biggest, [priorities]."

Chapek was hand-selected by Iger as CEO in 2020 but was ousted in November 2022 after less than three years on the job, a period marred by political battles, A-list talent problems, and controversial reorganizations.

"It was not my intention to be pulled back in," Iger told Ripa about returning to the chief executive role. "I owed it to the company that meant so much to me and had been so good to me to answer the call."