Followers have been ready 21 lengthy years for Michael Eisner to air his grievances about Disney. Many years after leaving underneath, ahem, inauspicious circumstances, the previous CEO lastly sat down for a wide-ranging interview. This shares the highlights and affords our autopsy on the Eisner period.
The interview coated all the things from Bob Iger initially being rejected by the board, problematic pricing at Walt Disney World & Disneyland, the Chapek mistake, Harvey Weinstein being his greatest remorse, and far more. We’re going to cowl the highlights right here, so buckle up, as a result of Eisner doesn’t maintain again and shares colourful commentary.
Let’s begin with temporary background. For many who weren’t followers again then or haven’t heeded our many suggestions to learn DisneyWar, Michael Eisner was as soon as a fan darling, serving as CEO of The Walt Disney Firm in 1984 and saving Disney from company raiders. Together with Frank Wells as President, Eisner was accountable for large progress of the corporate for in regards to the first decade of his tenure.
Then Frank Wells died in a helicopter accident in 1994. It could be excessive to say it was all downhill from there, because the second half of the Nineteen Nineties did yield loads of success for Disney. Nevertheless it was far more hit and miss, and Eisner was not infallible. No matter how we slice it, the second half of Michael Eisner’s reign as CEO was worse than the primary half. On that, we must always all be capable of agree.
This culminated within the SaveDisney marketing campaign that started in 2003. Shareholders and followers launched a marketing campaign of considerations in regards to the firm underneath Eisner, launching SaveDisney.con and enterprise a media blitz. The face of the Save Disney initiative was Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney, who actually had a face that resembled his uncle.
Roy had beforehand backed Eisner as CEO, however pointed to the premature demise of Frank Wells as a pivotal second for Eisner, and the start of his unraveling as a frontrunner. After that, Roy felt that the corporate had misplaced its focus, inventive vitality, and heritage.
Amongst different issues, the SaveDisney marketing campaign pointed to Eisner’s failure to handle ABC programming and mismanaged relationships with Pixar and extra. It zeroed in on Eisner’s lack of management, which had resulted in inventive mind drain with the lack of gifted staff, in addition to his refusal to determine a transparent succession plan. (Gee, sound acquainted?)
SaveDisney additionally targeted on weak investments within the theme parks enterprise, pointing to constructing Disney’s California Journey, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris “on a budget.” Along with that, the patron notion that the corporate is continually on the lookout for the “fast buck” moderately than the long-term worth, leading to model harm and lack of belief. (Gee, sound acquainted?)
All of that is well-documented in DisneyWar and past. Though reappraisal of the Eisner Period has occurred to some extent lately, it’s largely a matter of recontextualizing the agreed-upon narrative and judging that timeframe towards the Iger Period that adopted. Other than stray tweets, this interview has been the primary alternative we’ve needed to hear from Eisner in a very long time, telling his facet of the story and providing ideas on how issues are going on the Walt Disney Firm at the moment.
What follows is Eisner on all kinds of subjects, with quotes calmly edited for readability.
On the State of Disney At this time
“The corporate’s in nice form. I feel Bob Iger has been a wonderful CEO. I’m joyful that he was an individual that I beneficial. That I obtained it by way of the board. He was not the board’s first alternative at first. He ended up being the unanimous alternative. He got here out of ABC. He was a president underneath me for a decade. He understands the corporate.
“More often than not, succession doesn’t go effectively. More often than not, the satan is healthier than the satan you don’t know. So going to the surface is harmful. You probably have folks the within which are succesful, that’s a greater option to go. However Bob, his predecessor [Frank Wells] died.”
“Bob grew to become the quantity two within the firm after a mistake…which we’ve all made. Bob was nice. He was he did all of the stuff that Frank did and extra. He understood it and he spent a decade with me and our design folks and the parks and he knew it. It was so apparent. So I feel he did a great job.”
On the Blunder that Was Bob Chapek
“That was a wedding made hell. Bob Iger and Bob Chapek was a mistake. Bob Iger actually wasn’t prepared to depart utterly, and Chapek was going to show that he was the boss by doing silly issues. Not mandatory issues. Separating the distribution from the inventive and the film enterprise, and different issues like that. Bob Iger acknowledged it, couldn’t assist himself, in noting it.”
“Chapek was a mistake. I employed him. Nicely, I don’t know if I employed him, however I definitely authorised him to run residence video. He did an important job at residence video. He did a great job with the with the parks, however he was the fallacious alternative for CEO. That’s all.”
On Co-CEOs at Disney
Observe: This interview was filmed earlier than Disney introduced its management change. Josh D’Amaro has since been elected CEO, efficient on March 18, 2026. Alongside him, Dana Walden has been named President and Chief Artistic Officer. On this historic new function for Disney, Walden will report on to D’Amaro.
Upon this transition, longtime Disney CEO Robert A. Iger will proceed to function Senior Advisor and a member of the Disney Board from March 18th till his retirement from the corporate on December 31, 2026. Though introduced by Disney as historic, it’s similar to the profitable partnership Michael Eisner had with Frank Wells. It isn’t a co-CEO partnership.
“It’s ridiculous [to have co-CEOs]. That isn’t to run the bakery. It doesn’t work. [Netflix] is a totally completely different firm. It’s a expertise firm and an leisure firm, and it has been mainly co-CEOs with Reed Hastings being the founder and the guru and Ted Sarandos. It’s not relevant and I nonetheless suppose it’s a nasty thought.
“It could be a extremely large mistake for Disney. Decide the particular person you suppose needs to be the CEO, and hopefully the second particular person look me to be quantity two. When Frank Wells and I had been having that dialog, first our shareholders needed co-CEOs after which they needed Frank. Then I mentioned no, after which Frank mentioned, ‘Michael needs to be the CEO. Disney needs to be run from a inventive standpoint. I’ll be joyful to be quantity two.’ And it was nice.”
Observe that since this interview was recorded, Eisner congratulated Josh D’Amaro on being named CEO and provided him some recommendation in navigating the job. Most notably, he mentioned, maintain shut the phrases of Walt Disney: “We like to entertain kings and queens, however the very important factor to recollect is that this—each visitor receives the VIP therapy.” That’s a line he echoed once more later on this interview when lamenting the problematic pricing at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
On Eisner’s Favourite Character
After discussing Michael Graves because the Steven Spielberg of structure and explaining that they used the Seven Dwarfs on the Disney HQ constructing as a result of they saved Disney, Eisner was requested about his favourite character:
“I like all of them. Are you kidding me? You’re not going to get me. You’re not going to get me there.”
On Returning to the Disney HQ
When requested in regards to the final time he had been again contained in the constructing: “Inside within the places of work, on the day I left. Not that I haven’t been invited. I’ve been invited. When you promote your home, you progress on.”
This video in any other case is heavy in its dialogue of Michael Graves and different ‘starchitects’ who Eisner famously courted and labored with. I discover all of this to be extremely fascinating and one of many underrated lasting legacies of the Eisner period, however most followers most likely gained’t care, so I’m not going to fixate on it.
On Eisner’s Downfall at Disney
Wanting again on that final interval of Eisner’s tenure: “Nicely, there was change happening. I used to be cussed. I didn’t wish to purchase Pixar for a value that I believed was loopy. It wasn’t as miserable because the media made it. We had been nonetheless doing very effectively. We had been nonetheless an important firm. I had determined that we couldn’t lose any extra money with Roy Disney making films. So, I finished that. Most likely a nasty political determination, however the appropriate determination.”
“I attempted and succeeded in eliminating Harvey Weinstein. [Which was unpopular with the board at that time?] No, they went wild about Harvey and he was dropping cash. The one factor that was unpopular was that Harvey and Steve and Roy develop into adversaries to the CEO. One had the title of Disney. I didn’t. One was Steve Jobs, an American considered one of a form. And the opposite was a despicable man who was liked by the media for a very long time due to the films he made.”
“I made the judgment name, most likely proper, however not politically sensible that I used to be not going to place up with it. In order that was disagreeable. However I used to be prepared. 21 years at Disney having each weekend, with 20 scripts by my mattress that I hadn’t learn, and hundreds of emails. Constructing a park in Shanghai and having simply constructed a park in Hong Kong, doing Animal Kingdom, doing a second park in in Paris, and many others.”
“I used to be prepared to maneuver right here [his home, which is also a subject of the interview]. I used to be prepared to maneuver to the one road in Los Angeles that felt like New York. I used to be able to not have 20 unread scripts. I used to be prepared to truly personal myself. I feel change is nice in in administration as a result of it additionally creates alternative to go in new instructions. You possibly can’t simply keep within the previous instructions.”
On Disney Parks Pricing Issues
“I’m not wild about the truth that it’s so costly now to go to Disneyland or Walt Disney World. I’m not wild about the truth that it’s tougher than ever to have everyone be a VIP at a Disney Park, as a result of they’re promoting sure issues.
“There are issues that I might do otherwise, however I don’t suppose I might run Disney in addition to Bob Iger has run it.”
Eisner isn’t the one one to suppose this. There have been reviews that Bob Iger was “alarmed” by Walt Disney World and Disneyland value will increase in the course of the COVID period. “He’s killing the soul of the corporate,” mentioned Iger about Chapek on multiple event.
Studying between the strains, it appears like what Eisner is taking situation not simply with value will increase, but in addition nickel & diming and upcharges which have created completely different lessons of visitors. We’ve mentioned how that is at odds with the previous “each visitor is a VIP” mantra from the Eisner period (and earlier), most just lately in Prime 10 Visitor Complaints About Walt Disney World.
Observe that though Eisner has not returned to Disney HQ, he has been again on the parks many instances. There are images of him over time visiting, together with throughout the final 5 or so years.
On ‘Persona’ Issues
When trying again at his fallout with Michael Ovitz and Jeffrey Katzenberg and whether or not they might reconnect: “Michael Ovitz was the fallacious particular person for that job, from day one. It simply was a mistake. He was an important agent. He had aspirations and it was simply an elephant in a china store from day one.”
“Jeffrey was a unique scenario. Frank had made a deal that he by no means advised me about. I had made a deal that I believed was completely different, and I used to be cussed. I mentioned, ‘Jeffrey, you need to reside with this deal.’ Frank’s conversations with Jeffrey had been very completely different than my conversations with Jeffrey, and I didn’t fairly know that.”
“The lifetime of a film was like a decade. So once you made a take care of an government that obtained a unbroken curiosity, you ended it at a decade. Nicely, that every one modified with streaming, worldwide, and all the remainder of it. I believed that was nonetheless the deal. I used to be suggested to not let the lawsuit occur and to settle. I used to be cussed. Michael Ovitz wonderful as an agent and Jeffrey wonderful as company government. They each served their corporations and me nice.”
On His Hardest Second at Disney
“Each week there was a tough second. I can’t consider anybody single hardest second. Each weekend getting the film grosses, opening of a theme park, our CFO left two weeks earlier than our annual assembly. All these sorts of issues.”
“However the the toughest second was coping with uh Harvey Weinstein. He lied about all the things. How do you take care of anyone who by no means tells the reality? I by no means thought of what I realized, however I might not have made a deal, simply because I obtained a great low-cost deal, for 70 million to purchase Miramax, if I believed that I’m bringing a wolf into the hen home.”
That is just a bit floor coated within the wide-ranging interview. Different subjects embody the Jimmy Kimmel controversy, challenges with ageism in Hollywood, structure, way forward for film theaters, and extra. I extremely advocate watching all of it on: right here’s a hyperlink to the In Depth with Graham Bensinger channel on YouTube, the place you will discover the interview.
Our Commentary
The interview is fascinating for a wide range of causes, the least of which is how a lot he hates Harvey Weinstein as contrasted with everybody else, together with these with whom he’s had a public falling out. In fact, it’s now “secure” to hate Harvey Weinstein in Hollywood, whereas many others nonetheless wield energy.
However Eisner was pretty diplomatic even to Bob Chapek after the preliminary “marriage made in hell” remark, and Chapek has vanished from public view. I additionally suppose it’s telling that, usually talking, Eisner views the best way that each Bobs have dealt with the theme parks positively.
Positive, there’s the headline quote about not being wild about pricing, however he instantly adopted that up with a remark about Bob Iger operating issues higher than he did. He additionally praised Chapek’s management of the parks. A part of this undoubtedly comes right down to publicity.
Eisner sees the monetary success of the parks division (and certain the mainstream media headlines about pricing out the center class), however has restricted expertise really within the parks. When he does go to Walt Disney World or Disneyland, it’s much less incessantly and his household.
Visitors visiting as soon as each 5 years or so are sometimes a lot much less crucial of the expertise than all of us. Heck, even I’m normally much less attuned to points when visiting with Sarah and our daughter versus solo analysis journeys. So it isn’t actually an enormous shock that Eisner largely views each Bobs favorably from the angle of the parks. They’ve added blockbuster new lands and points of interest, and have delivered monetary outcomes, albeit with runaway pricing.
Past that, the interview usually strikes me as candid and considerate.
Eisner remains to be sharp as ever, however he additionally comes throughout as softer and extra reflective. Somebody who realizes his time has come and gone, and largely prepared to maneuver on however nonetheless keen to do an appraisal of his days at Disney. He had a few alternatives within the interview to spotlight successes, however as an alternative dove into the later struggles.
It’s additionally clear that Eisner hasn’t misplaced contact. As an alternative of continually second-guessing at the moment’s selections or judging them by way of the lens of his heyday in the course of the Nineteen Nineties, he’s cognizant of the altering enterprise and media panorama. On a number of events, he contemplates how he would have achieved issues otherwise–or equally–if having to navigate at the moment’s local weather.
I feel that is significant. Followers usually don’t do that, and as an alternative decide current selections by previous requirements, or assume leaders from the previous would do issues otherwise at the moment. Eisner might’ve simply as simply taken a “again in my day” posture, however opted towards it.
There’s no turning again time or the various methods the world has modified, for higher or worse. It’s a idiot’s errand to view all the things by way of the rose coloured glasses of a unique period; one which not exists.
I’ve lengthy puzzled whether or not Eisner might’ve had a profitable ‘second act’ had he merely taken a yr off to recharge and recalibrate. This interview did nothing to place that thought to relaxation; it solely heightened it. Whether or not he spiraled or one thing after Frank Wells’ passing or simply obtained burnt out, Eisner wasn’t the identical on the finish of his tenure as firstly.
Eisner now appears modified, and for the higher. He could also be at peace with transferring on (though his comment that he and Barry Diller explored buying Paramount suggests in any other case), however he doesn’t strike me as somebody that point has handed by.
My private ‘nutshell’ appraisal of the Eisner Period is that the Walt Disney Firm as we all know it wouldn’t exist however for Eisner. What he did throughout his first decade was transformative, and far of at the moment’s successes are nonetheless using on that basis laid by Eisner and Wells, and the goodwill generated.
That is very true at Walt Disney World, which grew tremendously and had its finest and most consequential years in the course of the Eisner period. All the things that adopted, and there was loads of dangerous, is totally forgivable given the great.
A remaining factor that I discovered fascinating is how this underscores the ‘diploma of variations’ in management. One of many widespread refrains proper now amongst followers who’re crucial of the D’Amaro determination is that there’s no distinction between him and the Bobs.
Nicely, I’m sufficiently old to recollect when the identical was mentioned about Eisner and Iger. There have been critical considerations on the time about Iger being Eisner’s protege, strategically handpicked to cease the SaveDisney marketing campaign however proceed as ‘shadow CEO’ or no matter. That there could be no significant variations between the 2.
These critics couldn’t have been extra fallacious. No matter Iger’s eventual legacy finally ends up being, and the argument might simply be made that he did observe in Eisner’s footsteps in tainting the primary half of his legacy by sticking round too lengthy for a second half, his first decade or so largely concerned repairing relationships and fixing the issues of the late Eisner period.
Personally, I’m not anticipating as dramatic of a departure between Iger’s Disney vs. D’Amaro’s Disney, however the level nonetheless stands that new management could make a big effect. Look no additional than Disney’s final CEO, Bob Chapek, for additional proof of that. Right here’s hoping that Disney’s darkest days are behind it.
Want Disney journey planning ideas and complete recommendation? Be certain to learn Disney Parks Trip Planning Guides, the place you will discover complete guides to Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and past! For Disney updates, low cost data, free downloads of our eBooks and wallpapers, and far more, join our FREE e mail publication!
OUR THOUGHTS
Ideas on something Michael Eisner mentioned in the course of the interview? Agree with him about Walt Disney World and Disneyland’s wild overpricing? What’s your opinion of the Eisner Period? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we may also help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
