Eisner Successor Speculation Swirls at Disney
1 hour, 49 minutes ago
By Marla Matzer Rose
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - While Michael Eisner appears likely to stay in his role as Walt Disney Co. CEO for another two years, the guessing game over his potential successor immediately reignited Friday after his long-lead retirement announcement.
Disney president and chief operating officer Bob Iger has for some time been considered the internal front-runner for the post. That position was reaffirmed with recent public endorsements of Iger by Eisner.
But the pool of possible contenders mentioned by industry insiders runs the gamut from former Viacom Inc. president and chief operating officer Mel Karmazin and even longtime company critic Roy E. Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs (news - web sites) as well as a clutch of executives employed elsewhere in the industry.
Disney on Friday didn't immediately detail how it expects to conduct the CEO search or within what time frame. However, industry observers said the company will likely go through a full-fledged search process to avoid getting criticized for simply choosing Iger.
"The timing of Mr. Eisner's exit gives Disney's board plenty of time to set in place an orderly succession plan," Prudential Equity Group analyst Katherine Styponias said.
She and other Wall Street observers predict that the Disney board will set the search process in motion when it meets this month.
Styponias said the search could take as long as a year. Others said the very early notice from Eisner could be seen as cutting both ways, good as well as bad.
"It allows Disney to go out and recruit some good people with the knowledge that the top position will be opening up," said Gigi Johnson, executive director of the Media and Management Institute at the UCLA Anderson School of Management (and herself a small investor in Disney stock). On the other hand, "two years is a long time."
Under the direction of George Mitchell, who took over the chairman role from Eisner in early March, the Disney board has said it will focus on making the succession picture clearer in the foreseeable future.
Iger has been Eisner's right hand for some time. The 30-year veteran of ABC was elevated to his current post in 2000. However, some industry observers have suggested that he might be too close to Eisner to get broad support from current Disney critics.
Karmazin couldn't be reached for comment Friday, and a spokesman for Roy Disney declined comment.
Despite having recently signed new employment deals, News Corp. president and chief operating officer Peter Chernin, Viacom co-presidents and co-chief operating officers Tom Freston and Leslie Moonves as well as Jeff Bewkes, chairman of Time Warner's entertainment and networks group, also were mentioned as examples of the types of executives Disney would likely want to look at. When Freston and Moonves were made co-presidents of Viacom three months ago, it was with the understanding that one would succeed octogenarian CEO Sumner Redstone within three years -- which could leave one of them looking for another job.
They are all currently second-in-command at their respective firms, though sources have said they are generally quite happy where they are and that some of them would have to take pay cuts to move to Disney.
A TW spokeswoman emphasized that Bewkes just signed a new long-term employment agreement last year. The other companies and executives in question declined comment Friday.
Comcast chief operating officer Steve Burke also received a good deal of attention as a Disney alumnus and possible Eisner successor earlier this year during the cable giant's bid for Disney. A Comcast spokesman declined comment Friday, but Burke also recently signed a contract to keep him at Comcast through 2008.
Other possible contenders being discussed are eBay Inc. CEO Meg Whitman, Yahoo! chairman and CEO Terry Semel, Gap Inc. CEO (and former Disney parks chief) Paul Pressler and in-house candidate Anne Sweeney, Disney's former cable networks chief whose promotion in April to the post of co-chairman, Disney Media Networks and Disney-ABC Television Group president expanded her domain to include the ABC network as well.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Thought id put it here so people who didnt get a chance to read it will
:wave: :wave: :wave:
1 hour, 49 minutes ago
By Marla Matzer Rose
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - While Michael Eisner appears likely to stay in his role as Walt Disney Co. CEO for another two years, the guessing game over his potential successor immediately reignited Friday after his long-lead retirement announcement.
Disney president and chief operating officer Bob Iger has for some time been considered the internal front-runner for the post. That position was reaffirmed with recent public endorsements of Iger by Eisner.
But the pool of possible contenders mentioned by industry insiders runs the gamut from former Viacom Inc. president and chief operating officer Mel Karmazin and even longtime company critic Roy E. Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs (news - web sites) as well as a clutch of executives employed elsewhere in the industry.
Disney on Friday didn't immediately detail how it expects to conduct the CEO search or within what time frame. However, industry observers said the company will likely go through a full-fledged search process to avoid getting criticized for simply choosing Iger.
"The timing of Mr. Eisner's exit gives Disney's board plenty of time to set in place an orderly succession plan," Prudential Equity Group analyst Katherine Styponias said.
She and other Wall Street observers predict that the Disney board will set the search process in motion when it meets this month.
Styponias said the search could take as long as a year. Others said the very early notice from Eisner could be seen as cutting both ways, good as well as bad.
"It allows Disney to go out and recruit some good people with the knowledge that the top position will be opening up," said Gigi Johnson, executive director of the Media and Management Institute at the UCLA Anderson School of Management (and herself a small investor in Disney stock). On the other hand, "two years is a long time."
Under the direction of George Mitchell, who took over the chairman role from Eisner in early March, the Disney board has said it will focus on making the succession picture clearer in the foreseeable future.
Iger has been Eisner's right hand for some time. The 30-year veteran of ABC was elevated to his current post in 2000. However, some industry observers have suggested that he might be too close to Eisner to get broad support from current Disney critics.
Karmazin couldn't be reached for comment Friday, and a spokesman for Roy Disney declined comment.
Despite having recently signed new employment deals, News Corp. president and chief operating officer Peter Chernin, Viacom co-presidents and co-chief operating officers Tom Freston and Leslie Moonves as well as Jeff Bewkes, chairman of Time Warner's entertainment and networks group, also were mentioned as examples of the types of executives Disney would likely want to look at. When Freston and Moonves were made co-presidents of Viacom three months ago, it was with the understanding that one would succeed octogenarian CEO Sumner Redstone within three years -- which could leave one of them looking for another job.
They are all currently second-in-command at their respective firms, though sources have said they are generally quite happy where they are and that some of them would have to take pay cuts to move to Disney.
A TW spokeswoman emphasized that Bewkes just signed a new long-term employment agreement last year. The other companies and executives in question declined comment Friday.
Comcast chief operating officer Steve Burke also received a good deal of attention as a Disney alumnus and possible Eisner successor earlier this year during the cable giant's bid for Disney. A Comcast spokesman declined comment Friday, but Burke also recently signed a contract to keep him at Comcast through 2008.
Other possible contenders being discussed are eBay Inc. CEO Meg Whitman, Yahoo! chairman and CEO Terry Semel, Gap Inc. CEO (and former Disney parks chief) Paul Pressler and in-house candidate Anne Sweeney, Disney's former cable networks chief whose promotion in April to the post of co-chairman, Disney Media Networks and Disney-ABC Television Group president expanded her domain to include the ABC network as well.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Thought id put it here so people who didnt get a chance to read it will
:wave: :wave: :wave: