Kareem Daniel facts for kids

Kareem Daniel is an American businessman who used to be a top leader at The Walt Disney Company. During his time at Disney, he helped manage movies, TV shows, sports, streaming services, theme parks, and even toys and games. Before working at Disney, Daniel was an electrical engineer and also worked in finance at Goldman Sachs. He is also on the board of directors for McDonald's.

Early Life and Education

Kareem Daniel grew up in Chicago, a big city in Illinois. He went to a school called Morgan Park Academy. After that, he studied at Stanford University. He earned two degrees from Stanford: a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and an MBA, which is a business degree.

Kareem Daniel's Career Journey

After college, Kareem Daniel worked as a computer programmer. This was during a time when many internet companies were starting up. He then decided to go to business school.

While in business school, Daniel became very interested in movies. He got an internship at The Walt Disney Company. An internship is like a temporary job where you learn about a company. After finishing school, he started working full-time at Disney.

Working at Goldman Sachs

From 2004 to 2007, Daniel worked at Goldman Sachs. This is a big company that helps other companies with money matters, like investing.

Returning to Disney and Big Deals

Kareem Daniel came back to Disney in 2007. He took on important roles in different parts of the company. He helped Disney make big business decisions. He was also key in major deals where Disney bought other companies. For example, he helped with the deal to buy Marvel in 2009. He also helped when Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012. Lucasfilm is the company behind Star Wars.

Leading Disney Parks and Attractions

In 2017, Daniel moved to Walt Disney Imagineering. This is the team that designs and builds Disney's theme parks and attractions. In 2019, he became President of Operations. In this role, he was in charge of designing and developing Disney's parks, rides, resorts, and even cruises.

During his time, many exciting new areas opened or grew. These include Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, Toy Story Land, Pixar Pier, and Avengers Campus. These are popular places where visitors can experience their favorite stories.

Managing Consumer Products and Games

In May 2020, Daniel became President of Consumer Products, Gaming and Publishing. This job meant he oversaw many things. He managed Disney's huge business of licensing products, like toys and clothes. He also managed the Disney Store and Disney's online shop, shopDisney. Plus, he was in charge of Disney's video game business.

Leading Disney's Media and Entertainment

In October 2020, Kareem Daniel received a big promotion. He became Chairman of Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED). This was a brand new part of Disney. It brought together all of Disney's media businesses under his leadership. This included movies, TV shows, streaming services, and advertising.

He managed Disney's traditional media, like movies shown in theaters and TV networks. These networks include ESPN, ABC, FX, and National Geographic. Daniel also worked to grow Disney's streaming platforms. These are Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Star+.

On November 14, 2021, Daniel launched Disney+ Day. This was an online event to promote Disney's streaming services. By August 2022, Disney's streaming platforms had 221 million subscribers. By November 2022, the total number of subscriptions reached 235 million. This was more than rival streaming platform Netflix. Under Daniel's leadership, Disney earned $55 billion from media and entertainment in the 2022 business year.

Current Board Roles

In October 2022, Daniel was chosen to join the board of directors for McDonald's. He left his role at Walt Disney in November 2022. In December 2023, Daniel was also elected to the board of directors for Simon & Schuster, a well-known publishing company.