Michael Eisner: Difference between revisions
→Post-Disney: Removed silly paragraphs about removal of portraits and the like. Without some reference to an authoritative opinion, this sounds like standard practice with an executive leaves. |
|||
| Line 42: | Line 42: | ||
==Post-Disney== |
==Post-Disney== |
||
On [[October 7]] [[2005]], Eisner hosted [[The Charlie Rose Show]]. His guests were [[John Travolta]] and his ex-boss-turned-rival, [[Barry Diller]]. Months later, on [[January 10]], [[2006]], [[CNBC]] announced that Eisner would be given his own hour-long, prime-time interview show, '''Conversations with Michael Eisner'''. |
On [[October 7]] [[2005]], Eisner hosted [[The Charlie Rose Show]]. His guests were [[John Travolta]] and his ex-boss-turned-rival, [[Barry Diller]]. Months later, on [[January 10]], [[2006]], [[CNBC]] announced that Eisner would be given his own hour-long, prime-time interview show, '''Conversations with Michael Eisner'''. |
||
: |
|||
Although Eisner is the second largest stockholder in the Walt Disney Company, new [[CEO]] [[Robert Iger]] appears eager to reduce Eisner's remaining influence at the company. At the ''One Man's Dream'' attraction at the [[Disney-MGM Studios]] park, Eisner, who previously hosted the attraction's post show biography of [[Walt Disney]], has been replaced as host by unofficial company mascot [[Julie Andrews]]. Also, all corporate portraits of Eisner at official Walt Disney Co. offices around the world have been removed, echoing Eisner's step of removing all portraits of [[Roy E. Disney]] after the "Save Disney" campaign. Eisner was the largest [[shareholder]] in Disney ([http://www.jimhillmedia.com/article.php?id=1772]) until the terms of the [[Pixar]] [[acquisition]] resulted in [[Steve Jobs]] becoming the largest stockholder. |
|||
This course of events was contradicted on [[January 23]] [[2006]] when the board of the Walt Disney Company, on the verge of voting to buy [[Pixar Animation Studios]], unanimously voted to re-name the [[Team Disney]] building at company headquarters ''[[The Michael D. Eisner Building]]''. |
|||
Eisner has recently invested in an Internet video distribution network named [[Veoh]] Networks ([http://www.veoh.com]). |
Eisner has recently invested in an Internet video distribution network named [[Veoh]] Networks ([http://www.veoh.com]). |
||
Revision as of 03:04, 21 March 2007
 | This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. |
Michael Eisner | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Entertainment executive |
| Spouse | Jane Breckenridge (1967 - present) |
Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) was CEO of The Walt Disney Company from September 22, 1984 to September 30, 2005.
Early life
Michael Eisner was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Mt. Kisco, New York and raised on Park Avenue in Manhattan. He attended the Lawrenceville School and graduated from Denison University in 1964 with a B.A. in English. He is a member of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. His grandfather was one of the first uniform suppliers to the Boy Scouts of America.
ABC and Paramount
After two brief stints at NBC and CBS, Barry Diller at ABC hired Eisner as Assistant to the National Programming Director. Eisner moved up the ranks, eventually becoming a senior vice president in charge of programming and development. In 1976, Diller, who had by then moved on to become chairman of Paramount Pictures, recruited Eisner from ABC and made him president and COO of the movie studio. During his tenure at Paramount, the studio turned out such hit films as Saturday Night Fever, Grease, the Star Trek film franchise, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Beverly Hills Cop, and hit TV shows such as Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Cheers and Family Ties.
Diller left Paramount in 1984, and, as his protege, Eisner expected to assume Diller's position as studio chief. When he was passed over for the job, though, he left to look for work elsewhere and lobbied for the position of CEO of The Walt Disney Company.
Disney
Walt Disney Productions had been struggling since its founder's death in 1966 and had narrowly survived takeover attempts by corporate raiders when its shareholders Sid Bass and Roy E. Disney brought on Eisner and former Warner Brothers chief Frank Wells to turn the company's situation around.
During the second half of the 1980s and 1990s, the studio revitalised, and the division had a "golden age" with annual box office hits with such regularity that even their creative structure started to be known as the "Disney formula." Disney also broadened its adult offerings in film when then Disney Studio Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg acquired Miramax Films in 1993. Disney acquired many other media sources, including ABC and ESPN.
During the early part of the 1990s, Eisner and his partners set out to plan "The Disney Decade" which was to feature new parks around the world, existing park expansions, new films, and new media investments. While some of the proposals did follow through, most did not. These include WestCOT, Disney's America, Disney-MGM Studios Paris, and among film projects, sequels for Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Wells died in a helicopter crash in 1994, ending the longstanding feud between the two men. (The Lion King, which is the most successful hand-drawn animated picture, was released over two months later in his memory). Shortly thereafter, Jeffrey Katzenberg resigned and formed Dreamworks SKG with partners Steven Spielberg and David Geffen because Eisner would not appoint Katzenberg to Wells' now available post.
The Save Disney war and Eisner's ouster
In 2003, Roy Edward Disney, also the son of co-founder Roy Oliver Disney, resigned from his positions as Disney vice chairman and chairman of Walt Disney Feature Animation, accusing Eisner of micro-management, failures with the ABC television network, timidity in the theme park business, turning the Walt Disney Company into a "rapacious, soul-less" company, and refusing to establish a clear succession plan, as well as a string of box-office movie failures starting in the year 2000.
On March 3 2004, at Disney's annual shareholders' meeting, a surprising and unprecedented 43% of Disney's shareholders, predominantly rallied by former board members Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, withheld their votes to re-elect Eisner to the corporate board of directors. This vigorous opposition, unusual in major public corporations, convinced Disney's board to strip him of his chairmanship and give that position to former U.S. Senator George Mitchell. However, the board would not immediately remove Eisner as chief executive.
As criticism of Eisner intensified in the wake of the shareholder meeting, Eisner's position became more and more tenuous, and on March 13 2005, Eisner announced that he would step down as CEO one year before his contract expired. On September 30 Eisner resigned both as an executive and as a member of the board of directors, and, severing all formal ties with the company, he waived his contractual rights to perks such as the use of a corporate jet and an office at the company's Burbank headquarters. Eisner's replacement was his longtime lieutenant, Bob Iger.
Eisner's struggle to maintain control of the legendary entertainment company was the subject of journalist James B. Stewart's bestselling book DisneyWar.
Post-Disney
On October 7 2005, Eisner hosted The Charlie Rose Show. His guests were John Travolta and his ex-boss-turned-rival, Barry Diller. Months later, on January 10, 2006, CNBC announced that Eisner would be given his own hour-long, prime-time interview show, Conversations with Michael Eisner.
Eisner has recently invested in an Internet video distribution network named Veoh Networks ([1]).
In March 2007 it was reported that Eisner's investment firm launched a studio, Vuguru, that will produce and distribute videos fo the Internet, portable media devices and cell phones. "The entire concept here is content is king," Eisner said in a phone interview. "What will drive traffic is interest in the subject matter." [2]
Books
Work In Progress (1998)- ISBN 0-375-50071-5
Camp (2005)
Portrayals in film and television
Eisner has been parodied in several films and television shows:
- Famously, there is some speculation that Eisner was the physical inspiration of the character of Lord Farquaad in Shrek, because of producer Jeffrey Katzenberg's animosity towards his former employer.
- Eisner is also shown as a recurring character in the adult cartoon series, Family Guy. He is is voiced by Gary Cole.
Personal life
His sons are Breck, Eric, and Anders Eisner.
Quotes
- "I always went into an area that was in last place, with a philosophy, 'You can't fall off the floor.' And I was lucky, was at the right time and the right place, with the right ideas, and each one of these areas became number one."
- "You can't succeed unless you've got failure, especially creatively."
- "We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only obligation."
Further Reading
- Disney War by James B. Stewart ISBN: 0684809931
External links
- Official site MichaelEisner.com
- Michael Eisner at IMDb
- CNBC show official site with videos and transcripts Conversations with Michael Eisner
- Eisner Foundation [3]