Where would Disney be without Eisner?

[DisneyKidds]

Originally posted by DemoBri1
Thank you Chuck, finally someone reading all the way through.

I don't agree. I don't believe your question assumes that 1984 wouldn't have happened, with the company going down the path it was on with a split up of the company being the only possible conclusion.

As AV pointed out, Roy and the Bass Brothers had already taken the steps necessary to prevent the company from being bought out and split up. So without Eisner, who didn't single handedly save the company himself, we would have had someone else. It's hard to imagine that that someone could have been much worse for the company than Eisner has over the long term.

 

[raidermatt]

Actually, the original question where would the Disney company be today without Eisner...doesn't that imply the OP was wondering what the company would be like if 1984 never happened? If it had continued along the course already in motion...then yes, the company would have been split up, sold off, and made it's income form licensing.

Thank you Chuck, finally someone reading all the way through.

Ok, if that's what you meant, you probably shouldn't phrase your first question this way:

Can any of you anti-Eisnerites, Save Disneyites, or whatever you're calling yourselves these days tell me where the Walt Disney Company would be today without Michael Eisner?

Asking what would have happened if Roy/Stanley had not fought and won has nothing to do with what one thinks of Eisner today.

 

[hopemax]

Of course, it was Frank Wells who brought Eisner's name to the table, so the odds of Eisner coming without Wells would have been small. The most likely non-Eisner outcome would have occurred not because of a corporate raider, Roy and Stan still would have fought them off, but by the board not accepting Eisner. Eisner was a contentious choice, long time board member Phil Hawley didn't think Eisner or Wells had the experience to run Disney, he wanted former Fox executive Dennis Stanfill.

I don't know enough about Stanfill to know what he would have done.

 

[DemoBri1]

Originally posted by raidermatt
Asking what would have happened if Roy/Stanley had not fought and won has nothing to do with what one thinks of Eisner today.

Matt,

You're right about that. My whole initial point, and maybe it was clouded to start with because I was writing it at a late hour, was to enter a thought into this whole Eisner/Save Disney thought process as to whether or not TWDC would exist today if Roy and Stanley had not brought Eisner and Wells in.

It just seems like we're at the same point we were at 20 years ago, albeit with the company now worth 60 billion more than they were back then, according to which Comcast offer figure you believe.

This is going to be my final comment on this issue. I'm sitting here listening to the meeting, and it just seems to me that with the contentious feeling that this meeting has taken on, the only sensible thing, for the good of the company and what it stands for, that a change in leadership needs to happen. I MUST stress, however, that this cannot be an arbitrary change, just for the sake of change. It needs to be well thought out, and orchestrated, so that the company reaps the maximum benefit, and Disney survives so that my children, their children, and their children's children can experience the magic like all of us.

Thank you all for taking the time to respond to this post, and let's remember in the end we are all here for one reason, because we love DISNEY.