Eisner/Full Story??

[OldSchoolDisney]

Someone in the know please explain Micheal Eisner , where he came from previous to Disney etc...........many of us new to the boards would appreciate the insight............

 

[Galahad]

Here's a blurb on his autobiography "Work in Progress":

Work in Progress

Michael Eisner, Tony Schwartz

Book Description
Scores of books have been published about business, but rarely has a CEO as prominent as Michael Eisner of The Walt Disney Company written so intimately about his life and work. In Work in Progress, Eisner describes the daily challenge of a rapidly changing marketplace, countless creative choices, painful setbacks, and dramatic triumphs.
For more than thirty years, Michael Eisner has lived and worked at the center of American popular culture. At ABC, as a young executive, he helped bring to life shows such as Happy Days and the miniseries Roots. As president of Paramount Pictures, he was responsible for films ranging from Beverly Hills Cop and Raiders of the Lost Ark to Terms of Endearment and The Elephant Man. As chairman of The Walt Disney Company for the past fourteen years, he has orchestrated the transformation of a beloved but struggling company into a multimedia giant in movies, television, radio, theme parks, theater, and even cyberspace.

Having spent his life helping other people to tell stories, Eisner now tells his own-with humor, insight, and unstinting honesty. He recounts such significant events as the extraordinary revival of Disney's animation business and the negotiations for one of the largest acquisitions in corporate history-Cap Cities/ABC-which began in an Idaho parking lot. He is just as forthcoming about the early struggles of Disneyland Paris and the fierce opposition that finally helped to derail Disney's America. Blending the personal and the professional, he tells the stories of the tragic death of his partner and closest confidant, Frank Wells; his own emergency quadruple bypass surgery; the high-level personnel changes that followed; and the emergence of a new generation of young leaders at Disney.

Throughout Work in Progress, we watch Eisner grappling with the often paradoxical choices that he faces each day in managing a creative company. What is the proper balance between art and commerce, tradition and innovation, short-term profit and long-term growth, pragmatism and excellence -- the company's good and the greater good? Like no other business memoir, Work in Progress is a riveting tale of high-pressure life at the top--an ongoing drama about risking failure and surviving success.

Michael Eisner...


- On Disney -

At a certain level, what we do at Disney is very simple. We set our goals, aim for perfection, inevitably fall short, try to learn from our mistakes, and hope that our successes will continue to outnumber our failures. Above all, we tell stories, in the hope that they will entertain, inform and engage. These are mine.

- On a Gurney -

I felt unsettled, close to panic. Moments later, I experienced intense pain, not just in my arms, but also in my neck and chest. My anxiety was making the pain worse. The next thing I knew, I was being wheeled into the emergency room. All I could think of was ER, the pilot I'd just watched. Suddenly, I was living it.

- On Ideas -

When an idea can't be articulated simply, crisply, and accessibly, there is usually something wrong with it. When I hear a good idea, it has an effect on my mind and body. Sometimes, I feel it in my stomach, other times in my throat, still others on my skin-a kind of instant truth detector test.


- On Diet -

I grew up thinking vegetarians were weird and that special diets were for old people, like my Aunt Mannie and Cousin Ida. I began my special, nonfat vegetarian diet at half their age. Now I wish my kids would follow suit-just say no to drugs, unsafe friends, and unprotected saturated fat.

- On an Acquisition -

There was something extraordinary about the whole scene. I had run into Tisch, Buffett, and now Tom Murphy literally as I was prepared to leave Herb Allen's Sun Valley gathering. Murphy was about to head off with Buffett and Gates, two of the wealthiest businessmen in America, to play golf. In the meantime, here we were, standing together in a parking lot in the middle of Idaho, talking about a $20 billion transaction.

 

[Nlihte]

I don't know much, but Eisner, I believe was an executive at ABC prior to Disney.

 

[PamOKW]

Here's a link to a full bio. He was at ABC but really made his mark with Barry Diller at Paramount.

Eisner Bio

 

[hopemax]

Check your local library to see if they have "Storming the Magic Kingdom: Wall Street, the Raiders, and the Battle for Disney" by John Taylor. The book details the events of the 1984 failed takeover attempt by Saul Steinberg, including backgrounds of all the players and why Roy was so unhappy with Disney's management.

Those looking to buy the book, will find lots are available on half.com.

 

[Another Voice]

Okay, in short form:

Eisner grew up in an extremely well-to-do family in Manhattan. After college, he landed a job at ABC Television through family connections. He eventually ended up as a programmer for Saturday morning. His big breakthrough came with developing the Donnie and Marie Osmond show (and such are how Hollywood careers are born…).

While at ABC Eisner met Barry Diller. After inventing the concept of made-for-television movies, Diller was named Chairman of Paramount (then owned by Gulf+Western). Diller hired Eisner to act as President of the studio in 1974. Paramount had a string of hits including Saturday Night Fever, Urban Cowboy, Radiers of the Lost Ark, Friday the 13th, etc.

Eisner's friendship with Diller quickly soured. Changes at Gulf+Western left Eisner further and further from the seat of power and Eisner felt he never received enough credit and notoriety for Paramount's success. He was soon looking for a job.

Meanwhile (as they say) on the other side of the Hollywood Hills, there was serious trouble in the Magic Kingdom. After the death of Roy Disney shortly after the opening of Walt Disney World, the company was quickly separated into two camps: the Walt Family (centered on Ron Miller, Walt Disney's son-in-law) and the Roy Family (centered on Roy E. Disney, Walt's nephew). As the company drifted without a strong vision, the two sides of the family squabbled among each other, furthering a sense of paralysis in management. Any strong move in one direction would by blocked by one side or the other out of simple spite.

The battles came to a head in 1983 when Ron Miller was elected president and CEO of Walt Disney Productions. Miller immediately put into place a serious of major innovative plans to start the company again: Touchstone Pictures, more hotels at WDW, revitalize Animation, The Disney Channel. Still, he had one problem, the stock had fallen 10%.

Roy Disney seized at the chance. He resigned from Disney's Board in early 1984 and began buying stock for a take over attempt. He contacted Frank Wells, who had been president and co-CEO of Warner Brothers, to come work for Roy and eventually to run Disney.

This was the early 1980's so when Roy put Disney "in play", a series of other investors swooped in and purchased large blocks of shares. The practice was called greenmail – the object was to hold the shares hostage and force the company to buy them back at a steep premium to prevent them from falling into unfriendly hands. Several runs were made at Disney that seriously drained the company's bank vault. They ended when Roy Disney was able to convince the Bass Brothers to buy a large enough stake to put Walt Disney Productions firmly in Roy's control. Roy then forced Ron Miller out and began to put his own people in place.

Frank Wells was essentially a business man and a corporate leader. He knew he didn't have the "creative" clout in Hollywood that someone running a studio needed. The search began for a person with that kind of clout. Michael Eisner was identified as one of those people. Even though Eisner was offered a co-presidency with Wells, through some brinkmanship Eisner wrangled some nice titles. However, in reality the situation was that Wells was to run the company, Eisner was to be the public face and lure talent to Disney (and Eisner was far from the unanimous pick).

The rest is a tragedy.


The most complete description of the entire series of events can be found in Storming the Magic Kingdom by John Talyor (published in 1987 by Knopf).

 

[wtg2000]

Two other books about Eisner and his early days at Disney are:

Prince of the Magic Kingdom - Michael Eisner and the Re-Making of Disney by Joe Flower

and

The Disney Touch by Ron Grover

 

[mickey4ver]

Originally posted by Another Voice
. Roy then forced Ron Miller out and began to put his own people in place.

I have a question after reading your very informative post. Did Ron Miller who was Walt's son-in-law and Roy ever mend fences after this all happened? And do you feel that if Ron Miller had retained control, things would have been better or worse? I guess when it comes down to the almight $$, family means little.

 

[wtg2000]

And do you feel that if Ron Miller had retained control, things would have been better or worse?

It's hard to say. It was a very heady time then. They had just opened EPCOT turning WDW into a bonafide multi-day resort. Plans were in the works for new hotels, including the Grand Floridian. They'd just opened Tokyo Disneyland (they gave away ownership to pay for the spiraling costs of EPCOT). They started Disney Channel, Touchstone, and the video explosion was in its infancy.

Eisner/Wells modernized the company in that they starting thinking big, advertising on TV (which apparently they were shocked to learn that Disney hadn't done) and bringing in people like Lucas and the King of Pop to had glitz and glamour to the parks.

If Miller had stayed, Disney would likely have been taken over but who knows what effect that would have had on the Disney parks or brand. As it is, Disney was taken over - by Disney itself. The parks and the Disney brand name (and characters) became part of a massive, entertainment conglomerate never again to be the sleepy little company it was previously.

 

[anotherboardnposter]

Continuing with the book sub-topic, I'd recommend "Keys To The Kingdom" by Masters & Griffin. More of the same information, but the paperback edition has some of the more recent Disney developments (if you consider 2000-2001 recent).

Sincerely,

John "anotherboardnposter" Kilduff

 

[Another Voice]

The spilt between the "Walt" and "Roy" side of the family remains extreme bitter on the personal level and over Michael Eisner.

Perhaps you'll noticed Diane Disney's (Walt Disney's daughter and wife of Ron Miller) complete lack of participation in the "Walt's 100th Birthday" marketing campaign and Roy's lack of involvement surrounding the opening of the Walt Disney Concert Hall here in Los Angeles (a project started by Walt's widow, Lillian).

In recent years, however, the two sides have been united in the opposition to Michael Eisner. Diane has let it be known in very clear terms that she think Eisner has ruined "my dad's company" (you should hear the rumors about her comments on California Adventure…they could peel paint off the side of the carny rides).


For the "what if" question - there is no doubt that Ron Miller put into place all the elements that lead to success of the company in late 80's and '90s. Those elements included the move into more mainstream motion picutres, the expansion into cable, international parks (it's interesting to see how much Eisner now loves the Tokyo Disneyland deal) and the rehab of core products like animation. A lot of the growth for Disney also occurred as a result of the Baby Boomers (who had grown up with Disney in the 50's and 60's) having families of their own, the emergence of major new markets like home video, and the general business expansion through the 90s.

I don not think, however, that Ron Miller could have executed the strategy as successfully as Eisner-Wells-Katzenberg did. That team brought a drive and ambition that Ron simply lacked. Disney simple had it too good for too long and people became complacent.

It's also unlikely that Disney would have been taken over by an outside company if Eisner has never darkened the door. All throughout the period that Roy Disney was trying to put together his deal others were trying the same thing. None of them got very far and most of the "financiers" involved were there only to make quick profit from leverage stock purchases. No one could get the backing to take over the parks - they were too big and no one could possible imagine how someone could run them better than even the current management could. Better still, it became clear to anyone who looked at the matter that a whole Disney was a lot more valuable that a divided Disney.