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Eisner's average cost at Paramount was only eight million. Despite reduced costs, Paramount moved from last to first place among the six major studios. It would be difficult to create a list of motion pictures with more power, entertainment value, and audience attraction. In , Walt Disney died. It was a loss of epic proportions for the entertainment world. An award-winning editorial cartoon that appeared in many newspapers was a drawing of the earth, with mouse ears and a tear running down.
Audiences who had grown to love the work of Disney wondered what would happen to his pleasant, G-rated films and the theme parks he created. After the death of Walt, many in the industry felt that the Disney Company lacked leadership and direction.
Eisner left Paramount Pictures to become chairman and chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Company in September Stockholders felt he was worth it. In only a few years, he was able to transform the company from an organization that lacked direction into an industry leader.
Every one of them was a huge success and earned millions of dollars for the Disney Company. Eisner was considered to be the savior of Disney-the Prince who had awakened the Sleeping Beauty. Disney stock soared. Eisner had revived the Magic Kingdom. During that time, perhaps in part due to Eisner's love of hockey, Disney made the decision to join the National Hockey League by launching "The Mighty Ducks," named after a well known Disney motion picture.
In May , Disney acquired an interest in and became the general partner of major league baseball's "California Angels" later renamed the "Anaheim Angels. Disney increased its participation in several other sports under Eisner's leadership.
Most of Disney's profits came from its theme parks, and even the parks were not doing as well as they once had. The company's films were not successful, and it did not have a strong presence on television. He began by expanding Disney's television programming, approving the sale of old cartoons, films, and television shows to TV networks. He initiated substantial additions and improvements to the company's U.
While Euro Disney initially performed relatively poorly, the Disney parks in the United States became far more successful than in years past. Disney even took to the seas, establishing the Disney Cruise Line with ships acting as floating miniature theme parks. Disney saw huge profits once it began releasing videotapes—and later, DVDs—of its popular films and flooding the market with toys, clothing, and other products that tied in to the films.
The natural next step was to open retail stores to sell these products, and the Disney Store became a staple at shopping malls all across the United States. Under Eisner's leadership, Disney became a major player in television, purchasing Capital Cities, the company that owned Eisner's former employer, ABC, in Disney also owns the cable networks Lifetime, E!
Entertainment Television, and others. Eisner established the company's own cable network, the Disney Channel. During Eisner's years on the job, Disney also made a comeback in the film department, creating movies for adults as well as scoring new hits with their traditional animated fare for children.
In addition to owning such film studios as Touchstone Pictures, Dimension Films, and Hollywood Pictures, Disney acquired the independent production company Miramax, which went on to create numerous critical and popular successes, including Shakespeare in Love, Chicago, and the Spy Kids series. For several years, it seemed Disney could not miss with its children's fare, releasing one animated smash after another: The Little Mermaid in , Beauty and the Beast in , Aladdin in , and The Lion King in In the mids, animated films created on computers began to edge out the traditional two-dimensional animation of the Disney classics, but Eisner had ensured that Disney had a piece of that pie as well.
Disney found new life for its animated classics on the Broadway stage, achieving huge success with the theatrical versions of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. During , Disney's president and Eisner's trusted partner, Frank Wells, died in a helicopter crash. In the years following, highly public battles between Eisner and such top Disney executives as Michael Ovitz and Jeffrey Katzenberg played out in the press. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, Disney was struggling on many fronts, returning to the pre-Eisner days of relying on the theme parks for a significant portion of its profits.
During , Disney's relationships with Pixar and Miramax soured. Also during , Eisner found himself doing battle with his company's board of directors, some of whom questioned whether he was the right man to lead Disney in the twenty-first century. Chief among his detractors was Roy Disney, nephew of Walt, the same man who had pushed for Eisner's hire back in Roy Disney, as well as many people who own Disney stock, had begun to feel that Eisner's aggressive selling strategies had robbed the company of much of its magic.
Eisner's enthusiasm for "branding"—tirelessly promoting the Disney brand through the creation of sequels for nearly every Disney film or by emphasizing a film's product tie-ins as much as the film itself—had angered devoted Disney fans. At the annual shareholders' meeting in March , thousands gathered to express their displeasure.
Roy Disney spoke to the audience, summing up the feelings of many, as quoted in Newsweek: "Branding is something you do to cows. Branding is what you do when there's nothing original about your product. But there is something original about our products. Or at least there used to be. When it came time to vote, 43 percent of the shareholders refused to vote for Eisner's reelection to Disney's board of directors.
This vote of no confidence resulted in his being removed as chairman. Eisner remained as the CEO, though many in the industry speculated that his grasp on the company had weakened and he would not remain at Disney for long. When Disney encountered difficulties at the turn of the twenty-first century, Eisner expressed his confidence that the company would rebound. In an interview with the Harvard Business Review, Eisner stated that while Disney might occasionally miss the mark, the company has never lost the ability to entertain.
Speaking of Disney's various theme parks, he told interviewer Suzy Wetlaufer: "If you look at people's faces, you'll see that Disney still knows how to sweep people off their feet, out of their busy or stress-filled lives, and into experiences filled with wonder and excitement.
We sell fun and—not to sound arrogant, really just to sound proud—we still do that better than anyone. In the years since he took over, Disney has gone from a beloved but struggling company to a media powerhouse with a significant presence in film, television, radio, publishing, and on the Internet—not to mention the more than seven hundred Disney stores and the hugely successful theme parks. Not every fan appreciates Eisner's influence on the company, but his powerful leadership style has ensured a lasting future for Disney.
Eisner, Michael, with Tony Schwartz. Work in Progress. New York: Random House,
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