Disney Exec. and Architect of Expansions in Latin America and Europe, Diego Lerner, Passes Away at 71
Many Disney fans might not know his name, but he was pivotal in the Walt Disney Company’s rollout into Latin America and Europe from 1990 to the present day, and according to a report from Variety, he has passed away.
That man was Diego Lerner, who had spent nearly 35 years at The Walt Disney Company, and was largely responsible for expanding the Walt Disney Company’s television operations in Latin America.
During his tenure at the company, Lerner oversaw the expansion of existing operations in the region, including overseeing offices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, and Miami, Florida. He expanded these operations, and created new businesses, including the establishment of Disney’s pay TV business in the region. As part of this, he oversaw the launch of Disney Channel, Jetix, and Playhouse Disney in the region in both Spanish and Portuguese. He was also responsible for the launch of the first Radio Disney in Spanish.
In 2009, he was named President, The Walt Disney Company Europe, Middle East, and Africa, after leading those expansion efforts in Latin America. He was given the task of applying his expertise to Disney’s number one overseas market.
For this, he was based out of London and faced the challenges of linear television growth while streaming began taking over.
In 2018, Lerner returned to Argentina, appointed the president of The Walt Disney Company Latin America, driving an initiative to get more than 70 original Latin American productions onto Disney+, an effort that was revealed back in November of 2020. At the time, Lerner had said “we know how important locally relevant stories are to our audience.”
Industry insiders point to a moment in 2019-21 as his “crowning achievement” - when he got 50% of the the rights to Argentina’s soccer Primera Division, which after Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, amounted to 64% of TV sports rights in Argentina through Fox and ESPN. Though there were a bit of controversies surrounding the ownership, by 2021, Lerner announced that ESPN would go on sharing Primera Division games with TNT with a contract through to 2030.
In November, Lerner segued into more of an honorary president role, with Martin Iraola taking over the division and reporting to Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, co-chairs of Disney Entertainment, and to ESPN’s chair, Jimmy Pitaro.
Weeks after Lerner made the move, he passed away due to an illness at the age of 71. A private funeral was held for Lerner on Friday, December 19th, attended by close collaborators and creatives like Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat, who was creator of The Boss.