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By MARK ALBRIGHT, Times Staff WriterDuring his 21-year tenure, Michael Eisner transformed Disney from a small studio to an entertainment behemoth. He leaves today.
Hard to believe in this age of Hollywood hyperbole, but Michael Eisner's stage-managed exit today after 21 years with the Walt Disney Co. promises to be a quiet and humble affair.
He is not granting interviews. He gave a diplomatic farewell speech a few days ago to a group of studio executives where he hinted he won't retire completely from show biz. The 63-year-old expects to e-mail a farewell to 120,000 Walt Disney Co. employees - though few tears will be shed in Orlando - as his tumultuous reign as chief executive comes to end.
While Eisner's exact role beyond being a consultant to Disney remains undefined, he remains a big shareholder with a stake worth more than $300-million. His separation package has not been spelled out, but Business Week a year ago estimated it could top $370-million.
The low-profile finish is all intended to show the world that a new guy has taken firm control at the Mouse House. While the transition has been smooth, Disney is going to become more button-downed, methodical and take fewer big risks.
"I've worked with Michael for 10 years and been his business partner (as chief operating officer) for the past five," said Robert Iger, the one-time TV weather forecaster who rose through the ranks to head ABC-TV and now at age 54 will be Disney's next CEO. "Michael built this company into an incredible media conglomerate, and he has been unbelievably cooperative in the transition."
Recruited by Walt Disney's nephew Roy to beat back corporate raiders in 1984, Eisner took over the smallest of the major studios in Hollywood. Within a decade he had transformed Disney into the industry's dominant filmmaker and the world's third biggest media conglomerate. By the time he was done, Eisner had increased Disney's annual revenues of about $1.5-billion more than 20-fold to $30.8-billion in 2004. The stock price soared by a factor of 15. He expanded the company's collection of three theme parks into 11 at sprawling resorts in five countries.
In Disney's one-time company town of Orlando, Eisner green-lighted a massive building boom at Walt Disney World Resort. The resort draws a visit from more than half of all visitors to the state every year. He christened the Disney Cruise Line, created two new theme parks, developed the city of Celebration and added more than 20,000 hotel rooms.
The allure of Disney is a drawing card that still nourishes the Tampa Bay tourist industry, a 90-minute drive away. One of every four overnight visitors to the Tampa Bay area spends at least one night in Orlando to see a Disney park. One in three drives there for at least an afternoon.
"Eisner made what had been a very strong draw into a megabusiness," said Walter Klages, president of Research Data Services, a Tampa firm that tracks travel for several Florida counties.
Eisner almost tripled Disney's Orlando footprint from 20,000 employees to 57,000 in 2004 and an annual payroll of $2-billion. Daily admission, too, more than tripled, from $17 a day for adults to more than $50.
Occasionally seen on the rides in ball cap and sunglasses at Walt Disney World, Eisner exercised control over even the smallest elements of every attraction. Designers who created the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, for example, said Eisner refused to build another deep drop ride that other parks had. He did not agree to build the $100-million attraction until he heard the right themed story line and theatrical lighting projected ghostly apparitions.
If the 1990s were what Eisner called the "Disney Decade," the years that followed became more of the Me decade.
Eisner's mistakes began to pile up as stories of his dictatorial and imperial nature, well-masked behind a charming public facade, spread through lawsuits, tell-all books and among corporate rivals.
The purchase of a Web portal turned into an $800-million loss and was dumped a year later. A string of expensive box office flops and strained relationships with partners at Pixar and Miramax studios took their toll. The company dropped the last of its 700-person hand-drawn animation staff, which was the creative heart of the old Disney. ABC-TV's ratings plummeted the network to last place and the theme parks had a tough time recovering from the terrorist attacks of 2001.
Eisner's forced departure is part of his legacy to corporate America.
"He was the center of the corporate governance debate and ended up the catalyst for changing the way boards and directors relate to chief executives," said Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.
Eisner's trips to Orlando grew less frequent once Disney acquired ABC. His accessibility became far more controlled as he was whisked around in a chauffeured limo. His distance from rank and file employees and the fact that theme park maintenance was cut are among the reasons there has been little sympathy heard in Orlando over Eisner's departure.
"He made a big difference in both the company and this state's visitor industry and he really revitalized the brand of this destination," said Bill Peeper, chief executive of the Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau, who during his 25-year career met Eisner only once. "Some people here say if he didn't expand Disney World, someone else would have. But the fact is he did do it, and he did it well."
"He has an ego that's larger than life, but Iger is a completely different person," said Abraham Pizam, dean of the tourism program at the University of Central Florida. "He's modest, subtle and doesn't want the limelight."
"I don't think you will see any more new Disney parks here for 20 to 30 years, just refurbishment and freshening, because their focus now is international," Pizam said.
Iger says his role is to stabilize Disney's turnaround, then parlay a strategy for long-term growth in the fast-changing entertainment world.
Eisner urged executives to use creative content to carry Disney rather than fret about what technology will deliver it.
Even at the end, Eisner declined to admit he goofed picking superagent Michael Ovitz as his No. 2 guy, then paying $140-million severance to dump him after 15 months. Eisner said his biggest mistake was paying Mo Vaughn $80-million to play for the Disney-owned Anaheim Angels. Vaughn was injured in his first game.
That "was the worst personnel move I ever made or approved," he said.
--Information from the Los Angeles Times, Business Week and Times wires was used in this report. Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or 727 893-8252.