Lachesis00
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- Mar 25, 2003
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Nov 17, 9:29 PM (ET)
By Paul Thomasch
GEORGETOWN, Del. (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co.'s chief executive Michael Eisner on Wednesday was confronted with notes in which Michael Ovitz was called "dangerous" and "a caged animal" as he desperately tried to fire his one-time friend from the entertainment giant.
He also was pressed about an internal memo in which he called Ovitz a "psychopath" who repeatedly lied to other top executives at the company.
Eisner faced the tough round of questioning as he sparred with a lawyer representing shareholders suing Walt Disney's directors over Ovitz' $140 million pay-off after Eisner finally succeeded in booting him from the company.
"I don't want to start off here in an argumentative way," Eisner said in the first minutes of cross-examination by shareholders' lawyer Steven Schulman.
But the questions and responses only turned more pointed. Along with confronting Eisner about the "caged animal" reference, Schulman raised doubts about a November 1996 Disney board meeting in which directors discussed firing Ovitz 14 months after he had been hired at Eisner's urging.
Schulman, an attorney at Milberg, Weiss, represents shareholders who charge that Eisner and the board shirked their duty by hiring Ovitz, who founded Creative Artists Agency and at one time was known as "The Most Powerful Man in Hollywood," but failed as president of Disney.
They claim Ovitz should later have been fired for cause -- pointing to Eisner's unflattering descriptions among other things -- and want the $140 million plus interest returned to the company.
In two days of questioning by his own attorney, Eisner told Delaware's Court of Chancery he kept the board updated on problems with Ovitz, including board discussions at a meeting on Nov. 25, 1996.
Schulman challenged Eisner's recollection of that meeting, asking why there were no records or notes related to it.
At times the attorney even seemed to suggest that it never took place, referring to it as "the meeting you say occurred."
"It did occur and I was part of it" Eisner said.
"We gathered to discuss the Michael Ovitz situation with the directors of the company," he said. "What I recall reporting at that meeting is that we would have to pay the full contract to Mr. Ovitz."
"Unfortunately we had to pay the piper," said Eisner. "We did not have to give him anything else, and we didn't."
Yet even as the board was meeting, Eisner said, Ovitz refused to accept that his time at the company was over.
"Nobody has been fired as many times from one job as Mr. Ovitz," said Eisner.
A frustrated Eisner then asked another board member, Gary Wilson, to make the situation clear to Ovitz during a vacation they were scheduled to take together at Thanksgiving.
Wilson later reported back by telephone that he had spoken to Ovitz, who finally accepted his fate but was worried about saving face, Eisner said.
Notes Eisner took to record his telephone call with Wilson, refer to Ovitz as "dangerous" and "a caged animal," but the Disney CEO said those terms came from the conversation. "Gary Wilson called me on the phone, and I just wrote down what he was saying," he testified.
"Were you concerned that Mr. Ovitz had some way to harm you personally?," Schulman asked.
"No," Eisner said emphatically.
Once Ovitz agreed to leave the company, Eisner said he tried to handle the situation with "dignity" but grew angry when he found out that Ovitz had spoken to the media.
Irate, Eisner said he wrote an internal memo in which he called Ovitz a psychopath -- a term that he called "hyperbole" and an "exaggeration" during testimony on Wednesday.
"I was simply upset," he said.
Soon after, Eisner said, he turned down Ovitz's request that he be allowed to keep his company car, sit on the board and consult for the company after he left his job.
"The next day I called him and told him the board request was not going to work, and then I guess we proceeded to tell him the rest of it was not going to work."
By Paul Thomasch
GEORGETOWN, Del. (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co.'s chief executive Michael Eisner on Wednesday was confronted with notes in which Michael Ovitz was called "dangerous" and "a caged animal" as he desperately tried to fire his one-time friend from the entertainment giant.
He also was pressed about an internal memo in which he called Ovitz a "psychopath" who repeatedly lied to other top executives at the company.
Eisner faced the tough round of questioning as he sparred with a lawyer representing shareholders suing Walt Disney's directors over Ovitz' $140 million pay-off after Eisner finally succeeded in booting him from the company.
"I don't want to start off here in an argumentative way," Eisner said in the first minutes of cross-examination by shareholders' lawyer Steven Schulman.
But the questions and responses only turned more pointed. Along with confronting Eisner about the "caged animal" reference, Schulman raised doubts about a November 1996 Disney board meeting in which directors discussed firing Ovitz 14 months after he had been hired at Eisner's urging.
Schulman, an attorney at Milberg, Weiss, represents shareholders who charge that Eisner and the board shirked their duty by hiring Ovitz, who founded Creative Artists Agency and at one time was known as "The Most Powerful Man in Hollywood," but failed as president of Disney.
They claim Ovitz should later have been fired for cause -- pointing to Eisner's unflattering descriptions among other things -- and want the $140 million plus interest returned to the company.
In two days of questioning by his own attorney, Eisner told Delaware's Court of Chancery he kept the board updated on problems with Ovitz, including board discussions at a meeting on Nov. 25, 1996.
Schulman challenged Eisner's recollection of that meeting, asking why there were no records or notes related to it.
At times the attorney even seemed to suggest that it never took place, referring to it as "the meeting you say occurred."
"It did occur and I was part of it" Eisner said.
"We gathered to discuss the Michael Ovitz situation with the directors of the company," he said. "What I recall reporting at that meeting is that we would have to pay the full contract to Mr. Ovitz."
"Unfortunately we had to pay the piper," said Eisner. "We did not have to give him anything else, and we didn't."
Yet even as the board was meeting, Eisner said, Ovitz refused to accept that his time at the company was over.
"Nobody has been fired as many times from one job as Mr. Ovitz," said Eisner.
A frustrated Eisner then asked another board member, Gary Wilson, to make the situation clear to Ovitz during a vacation they were scheduled to take together at Thanksgiving.
Wilson later reported back by telephone that he had spoken to Ovitz, who finally accepted his fate but was worried about saving face, Eisner said.
Notes Eisner took to record his telephone call with Wilson, refer to Ovitz as "dangerous" and "a caged animal," but the Disney CEO said those terms came from the conversation. "Gary Wilson called me on the phone, and I just wrote down what he was saying," he testified.
"Were you concerned that Mr. Ovitz had some way to harm you personally?," Schulman asked.
"No," Eisner said emphatically.
Once Ovitz agreed to leave the company, Eisner said he tried to handle the situation with "dignity" but grew angry when he found out that Ovitz had spoken to the media.
Irate, Eisner said he wrote an internal memo in which he called Ovitz a psychopath -- a term that he called "hyperbole" and an "exaggeration" during testimony on Wednesday.
"I was simply upset," he said.
Soon after, Eisner said, he turned down Ovitz's request that he be allowed to keep his company car, sit on the board and consult for the company after he left his job.
"The next day I called him and told him the board request was not going to work, and then I guess we proceeded to tell him the rest of it was not going to work."
