Fortune Archives: How Disney went Big Tech

It’s a well-worn cliché that no company these days is what it seems—a bank, media company, or consulting firm, for instance. Instead, they all seem to be self-proclaimed “tech companies”—that happen to offer banking, content, or advice. But in 2014, when Fortune’s Michal Lev-Ram profiled Disney CEO Bob Iger, the techy transformation of the iconic American animation house and theme park behemoth was startling.

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“Iger helped Disney get a headstart on those trends by making big and early bets on new technologies, even some that were seemingly at odds with the company’s business model,” Lev-Ram wrote, citing the company’s investment in releasing TV shows on iTunes, RFID-enabled wristbands at Disney World, and movies being shot by drones. “Indeed, it’s hard to point to one major franchise at Disney that isn’t being shaped, or reshaped, by some inventive new technology.”

Iger, who announced this week that his second stint as Disney CEO will come to a close with the appointment of his successor, Josh D’Amaro, next month, comes across in the 2014 feature as unabashedly in love with technology. He was a close friend and collaborator of Apple’s Steve Jobs. And Lev-Ram first encounters Iger “standing over his office desk, eyes glued to a video streaming on his laptop. In his hand is a dormant iPad. Good Morning America is playing on a large TV screen across the room.” “I’m multitasking,” Iger tells her.

That love affair with technology continued over Iger’s tenure at Disney, and is likely to be a torch that D’Amaro carries into its next chapter. Iger said this week on ABC World News Tonight, “one of the reasons Josh was chosen for this position is [that] I’ve observed him over the years that we’ve worked together as someone that views technology as an opportunity and not a threat.”

At the same time, admirers of the creativity Disney has brought to its storytelling for over a century will be glad to hear an assurance from D’Amaro that while the company is investing in AI for some processes, it’s not pivoting entirely. “The reason this company is so special is because of how creative we are and the human beings that are generating that creativity,” D’Amaro told ABC. “In my mind, that never gets replaced.”

D’Amaro went on to assert that Disney tends to thrive “when technology intersects with brilliant people and creativity.” It’s reminiscent of what John Lasseter, Pixar’s cofounder and chief creative officer, told Lev-Ram: “Art challenges technology, and technology inspires art.”

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