Described by The New York Times as "one of the most ferociously ambitious people in Hollywood", Eisner has received the lion's share of the credit for transforming Walt Disney Productions from a well-known but fading brand name entertainment firm into a powerful multimedia juggernaut. When Eisner came aboard as chairman and CEO in 1984, nearly 80 percent of Disney's revenue, then totaling around $1.7 billion, came from its theme parks. By 1994, corporate coffers were bulging with over $10 billion in revenues with an impressive $4.8 billion streaming in from Disney films, a hefty $3.5 billion from theme parks and a neat $1.8 billion in Disney merchandise. Even Uncle Walt would have been astonished at how big his dream had grown.
Fittingly, Eisner first made a name for himself with youth-oriented entertainment. A couple years after graduating from Denison University with a bachelor’s in English, he began his career in TV programming at CBS before shifting to ABC in 1966 where he worked as a production executive in children's programming. Eventually heading up the division, he made ABC the place to be on Saturday mornings by offering such must-see kiddie fare as cartoons featuring the singing groups The Jackson Five and the Osmonds. This success lead to better jobs: by 1968 he was named manager of specials and talent; he was director of program development, East Coast by year's end. Eisner was appointed vice president of daytime programming in 1971. Around this time, he came to the attention of Barry Diller, then in charge of acquiring movies for the network, who would prove to be an important ally. Eisner went on to establish himself in primetime in the 70s in a variety of executive positions, eventually rising to the post of senior vice president of primetime production and development for ABC Entertainment. He favored such mass appeal sitcoms as "Welcome Back, Kotter" and "Happy Days.”
Eisner left television to become president and COO of Paramount Pictures in 1976 under chairman Diller. Paramount's feature output during his tenure included such well- remembered efforts as "Marathon Man" (1976), "Saturday Night Fever" (1977), "Grease" (1978), "Days of Heaven" (1978), "Ordinary People" (1980), "Reds" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (both 1981), "48 Hours" (1982), "Flashdance" (1983) and "Beverly Hills Cop" (1984). Then after his move to chairman and CEO of Walt Disney Productions in 1984 (even serving as avuncular host of TV's "The Magical World of Disney"), Eisner revitalized the company together with Jeffrey Katzenberg (chairman of The Walt Disney Studios during the same period) and Frank Wells (as president and COO). They followed the successful policy of featuring stars with careers on the wane (Bette Midler, Richard Dreyfuss) in mainstream formula comedies with strictly controlled budgets, in an era when other studios were paying escalating fees for the services of top box-office draws. More importantly, they also rebuilt the studio's once legendary animation department. Disney also began devoting more resources to TV production and enjoyed a hit with "The Golden Girls" (NBC, 1985-92), a long-running sitcom targeted at older audiences.
Disney found success by further diversifying into adult fare with its Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures divisions. Video sales and periodic theatrical reissues of the company's classic animated features added to profits with negligible outlay. Moreover the annual release of new feature-length animated films brought in a bonanza in box- office and merchandising receipts. Theme park and resort revenues—despite a well publicized slow start with the French-based EuroDisney—have also contributed to Disney's enormous fiscal success since the mid-80s. By 1994 company assets included the Disney Channel (a cable station scheduled to go international in 1995); Walt Disney Television; Touchstone Television; Miramax Films; Hollywood Records; Hyperion Books; four theme parks (two in the US, one in France, one in Japan); and a hockey team, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Disney was also responsible for two of the most popular sitcoms of the mid-90s, "Home Improvement" and "Ellen,” both on ABC.
Eisner achieved his greatest coup in August 1995 when he made a surprise announcement of Disney's $19 billion takeover of Capital Cities/ABC. The second largest deal in corporate history was pulled off without any leaks to the media. Disney emerged as the world's largest entertainment company with a new jewel capping its collection of assets. The purchase of Capital Cities gave Disney not only the number one TV network but also eight TV stations, 21 radio stations, cable channels including ESPN, seven newspapers, as well as magazines and other ventures. Disney now possessed a ready international distribution arm for its product. Moreover ABC already had a strong reputation for family entertainment. Eisner had come home to the site of his early successes—but now he was in charge.
But sometimes success breeds misfortune. After a grand opening in early 1992, EuroDisney was in financial ruin by August 1993—low attendance, poor management and bitter cultural clashes were to blame (EuroDisney would recover a few years later under its new name Disneyland Paris.) In April 1994, Eisner’s longtime partner, Frank Wells, was killed in a helicopter crash while heli-skiing in the Ruby Mountains in northeast Nevada. While coping with the sudden personal loss and trying to fill the void at Disney, Eisner underwent an angiogram after complaining of chest pains and had quadruple bypass surgery. He made a list of potential successors before being cracked open in case he didn’t make it. But Eisner recovered fine and no one ever discovered whose name made the cut. One suspected heir, Jeffrey Katzenberg, made Eisner’s life more difficult when he announced that he was leaving the company. Though citing publicly he wanted to pursue new business ventures (he started DreamWorks Studios with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in fall 1994), many insiders believed Katzenberg was miffed at Eisner for blocking his ascension to the COO position left vacant by Wells.
In August 1995, Eisner brought in old friend Michael Ovitz from Creative Artists Agency to become president of Disney. The manic, excessive deal broker soon ran afoul of Eisner, however, deluging the CEO with business ventures and ideas that were rejected outright—even one where Disney could have obtained a large percentage of Yahoo, a venture that would have netted a 50-fold increase in value. After sixteen months on the job, Ovitz was pushed out by Eisner after securing a $140 million payout on his contract. Over the next decade, Eisner and Ovitz sparred in court and in print, engaging each other in a high-profile game of tit-for-tat. In the end, Ovitz’s reputation was destroyed, while Eisner remained CEO of Disney. Meanwhile, the Disney machine churned out numerous hits, both animated and live-action, including “Aladdin” (1992), “The Lion King” (1994), “The Santa Clause”(1994), “Pocahontas” (1995), “Toy Story” (1995), “101 Dalmatians” (1996) and “Flubber” (1997).
While on the outside it looked as though Disney was flourishing—the above films alone combined for over $1 billion—a cancer was spreading through the Mouse House, rotting it to the core. Katzenberg took Disney to court for breach of contract, asking over $500 million in compensation, but settled for an estimated $275 million in 1999. The trial became a public soap opera, with cat fighting and insider intrigue dominating an otherwise mundane corporate trial. Eisner made the mistake of ranting to the co-author of his biography, admitting in court that he said of Katzenberg: “I hate the little midget.” The quote was spread far and wide, and largely defined the poisonous atmosphere of the trial. Meanwhile, Eisner was consolidating his power, often to the detriment of relations with the board and shareholders, giving rise to a revolt in the boardroom where animosity among members boiled over. In 2003, Eisner, with the assistance of U.S. senator George Mitchell, forced Roy Disney—the last remaining executive related to Walt Disney—to retire with a mere one percent stake in the company. In response, Disney wrote a damning letter to Eisner and released it to The Wall Street Journal where it was published in full and ended with a call for Eisner’s ouster. Later, Stanley Gold, a veteran director and close friend of Roy Disney, resigned as well, also calling for Eisner to be fired. But as usual, the commanding CEO held on.
In the new millennium, Eisner presided over an ailing company that saw its stock price drop thanks in part to the dot com bust, 9-11 and rampant corporate scandals. The animation division, once at the forefront of fine family entertainment, mainly released straight-to-video fair with the same-old characters that fewer kids cared or knew about. Nothing groundbreaking was being created—Disney’s only innovative animation was released through its partnership with the upstart Pixar Studios. Meanwhile, Eisner faced increasing public scrutiny because of the ongoing trial with Michael Ovitz—Disney attempted to retain the $140 million contract buyout okayed by Eisner, with interest of course. Though Ovitz took the brunt of public tongue lashing, Eisner was himself battered and bruised. In the end, Ovitz won despite a tattered reputation. Eisner further proved himself unable to maintain relations with outside entities when his partnership with Bob and Harvey Weinstein ended after a bitter twelve years in 2005. Though Disney retained their company, the founding brothers were pushed out the door and even forced to give up the name Miramax—a combination of Miriam and Max Weinstein.
Despite a drastic turnaround at ABC, thanks to “Lost” (2005- ) and “Desperate Housewives” (2004- ), calls for Eisner’s head reached a fever pitch and he was eventually forced to leave a year before his contract was up. One of his last ceremonial duties was cutting the ribbon at Disney’s 11th theme park, Hong Kong Disneyland. His resignation became official on October 1, 2005. Speculation was rampant as to what he would do next with his career after 21 years at Disney. Though Eisner remained tight-lipped about his plans, CNBC announced a new talk show, “Conversations with Michael Eisner.” The show was to air once every other month, but no premier date was set. Eisner was to work for one of Disney’s biggest rivals, General Electric’s NBC/Universal, while the show was set to film at the same New York studio where Eisner worked as a page in the 1960s. His life and career had come full circle.