Poll: Jobs 'should run Disney'

[cherrynegra]

Macworld Daily News

Poll: Jobs 'should run Disney'
By Macworld staff

Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of Macworld online readers think that Apple CEO Steve Jobs should take over the leadership of Disney.

This opinion is shared by ex-Disney board member Stanley Gold, who recently suggested that Jobs should take the reins of the animation company.

It isn’t just Macworld readers and ex-Disney staff who think so highly of Jobs' skills as a CEO. He seems to receive almost constant recognition for his expertise at the helm of Apple and Pixar, with awards and accolades celebrating him. It appears Steve Jobs is hot property in the business world.

Jobs has also been named as an economic advisor for Democratic US presidential candidate John Kerry, suggesting that more than just his CEO skills are in demand.

With so much to offer, it seems Jobs could take his pick of a number of lucrative positions in the world of business and politics. But Macworld online readers are split over whether he should become president of Disney (23 per cent), president of Microsoft (22 per cent), president of the world (18 per cent), president of the US (17 per cent), or President Cheese (12 per cent). Another 8 per cent of the 1,101 readers taking part in the poll, think Jobs should set his sites elsewhere, making suggestions in the forum.

One reader suggests: "Jobs should be put in charge of US foreign policy," another that "he couldn't do any worse at launching an all-new iRaq".

Another reader thinks that Jobs' ultimate ambition should be to be canonized. But of course, he would have to die first – something likely to shake up the Mac world far more than the launch of the iPod and iMac combined.

One reader recommends Jobs should "stay where he is and continue to do what he does best: innovate great products," adding, "I'm not sure I'd like Apple's chances without him."

 

[GaryT977]

I think president of the country is a bit much, but I wouldn't mind seeing him at the helm of DisneyCo.

I loved that iRaq line!

 

[Testtrack321]

Well, some of us Apple fans get way to over sentemental over 'God' Jobs, but I do think that his turning around of Apple shows he can turn around Disney too.

 

[BalooChicago]

I have long thought that Jobs would be a perfect fit for Disney. If nothing else he is a man of vision, and that is exactly what Disney can use right now.

 

[cloudboy]

Yeah, but where is he going to run it to?

If he did such a turn around with Apple when he came back, why did it go from actually posing a threat to Microsoft to ever decreasing market penetration - heck even most new schools don't buy Macs anymore!

 

[Woody13]

Originally posted by cloudboy
Yeah, but where is he going to run it to?

If he did such a turn around with Apple when he came back, why did it go from actually posing a threat to Microsoft to ever decreasing market penetration - heck even most new schools don't buy Macs anymore!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I think we should try him out first at a Chuck E. Cheese and (if he does well) move him up to a position with e machines.

 

[cherrynegra]

Originally posted by cloudboy
Yeah, but where is he going to run it to?

If he did such a turn around with Apple when he came back, why did it go from actually posing a threat to Microsoft to ever decreasing market penetration - heck even most new schools don't buy Macs anymore!

I'm going to post a bit of an article where Steve Jobs was named CEO of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle. He topped the list of 200 CEOs. The article does cover the flat sales of Apple computers, but also plays up his strengths in innovation and coming up with new ideas that revolutionize the market. Like Apple's introduction of the iPod and iTunes. Mind you this is when he was CEO of not just one company, but two companies. Apple and Pixar.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/03/BUC200CEO.DTL


But Jobs gets the nod as CEO of the year because he led two separate companies that not only made money, but also made headlines by helping to change two major industries -- music and movies.

Jobs' work situation is so unique that the corporate governance staff at the California Public Employees' Retirement Systems, the nation's largest public pension fund, said they knew of no other executive who is CEO at two different publicly traded companies.

At Apple, 2003 was an exceptional year. The firm generated $6.7 billion in revenue, a 15.4 percent increase from $5.8 billion the year before.

One reason is Apple's iPod portable digital music player, which has become a big hit. Market research firm IDC estimates Apple shipped 1.45 million iPods in 2003. And Apple said it's having trouble keeping up with U.S. demand for its new iPod Mini player, which premiered in February with much fanfare. The company has decided to delay selling the smaller, more colorful music players abroad until this summer.

Apple also made a big splash in 2003 with its iTunes Music Store, an online music service from which consumers can download songs for 99 cents each or $9.99 per album. Then in October, Jobs did the unthinkable by making iTunes software available for Windows-based PCs. He followed that up with an announcement in January that Hewlett-Packard would start selling iPods for PCs.

Apple's iPod-iTunes combo has turned into a big one-two punch for the company, said Josh Bernoff, an analyst at market research firm Forrester Research.

"Steve Jobs single-handedly changed the music industry completely," he said, referring to the executive's successful pitch to sign on the major record labels to sell their music on iTunes.

Apple also pressed on with its ambitious retail store expansion plans, including its first store abroad in Tokyo's famed Ginza shopping district and a flagship store that opened in downtown San Francisco in March.

The firm's financial results have also improved. In its fiscal year 2003, it reported $140 million in net income compared with $19 million the year before.

Still, there is concern about Apple's flat computer sales. "Despite all the success with iPod and iTunes, Apple is still heavily reliant on its personal computer business," said Roger Kay, an analyst at the industry research firm IDC.

Apple's slice of the personal computer pie continues to struggle at a mere 2 percent, he said.

But the strength of Jobs and Apple has been to come up with new ideas that catch on with consumers, said Michelle Gutierrez, an analyst at Schwab Soundview Capital Markets who doesn't own Apple shares and whose firm doesn't have an investment banking business with it.

"In an industry that's getting commoditized by the hour, these guys continue to innovate," she said. "They don't even do focus groups. They generate all of their product ideas internally, and Steve Jobs is a big factor in that."

 

[cloudboy]

Why does everyone act like Jobs actually invented the MP3 player? All he really did was package it up nicely and give it a good name behind it. Nor is iTunes a really different product other than he had enough clout with the Apple Name to actually get the record labels to work with him.

It's things like that that bother me, and exactly why I think he will be no different than Eisner. Takes credit for everything, blows half of what he does bring about, and is so concerned with how he wants things that he drives away a good chunk of his customers. And he has his hands in everything - how many companies has he been CEO of? Apple (twice), NeXT, Pixar - often at the same time!

 

[Testtrack321]

Originally posted by cloudboy
Why does everyone act like Jobs actually invented the MP3 player? All he really did was package it up nicely and give it a good name behind it. Nor is iTunes a really different product other than he had enough clout with the Apple Name to actually get the record labels to work with him.

It's things like that that bother me, and exactly why I think he will be no different than Eisner. Takes credit for everything, blows half of what he does bring about, and is so concerned with how he wants things that he drives away a good chunk of his customers. And he has his hands in everything - how many companies has he been CEO of? Apple (twice), NeXT, Pixar - often at the same time!

He's never said he invented the MP3 player, nor did hey say he created the first one, or the first digital jukebox. But it's widely regarded that Apple created the first well designed MP3 player and the best jukebox. Watch a Keynote, he gives credit where credit is due. Also look at the Mac user base, these people will never leave Apple because of what he offers. It's his use of creativity, detail, and design is why I think he'll be a great Disney CEO. He turned a company around that had a huge debt and tons of backorder.

 

[cherrynegra]

Originally posted by cloudboy
Why does everyone act like Jobs actually invented the MP3 player? All he really did was package it up nicely and give it a good name behind it. Nor is iTunes a really different product other than he had enough clout with the Apple Name to actually get the record labels to work with him.

I think you cannot see the forrest for the trees. Nobody is saying that Jobs invented the MP3 player, or the format that now brings music to your computer at the click of a mouse. However, what Jobs has done, and cannot be disputed, is taking two formats that have already existed, film and music, and giving it to a group of enthusiastic, motivated, imaginative people and letting them come up with ingenious ways of redefining those two formats. I would probably agree with some of your arguments if Pixar and Apple weren't doing so well and weren't growing. However, I believe the numbers for both company speak otherwise.

 

[cloudboy]

User base? What user base? They completely gave up the market to Microsoft! If any of you were dealing with computers, particularly macs back in the mid 90's when Amillio Estaves (sorry, couldn't resist) was running them, they were about to become a recognized system. Fine - they were not making money that well right then, but he was thinking long term about making a well designed operating system. Because there were more than one company selling MAcs then they were starting to get a slight hold in business.

Now, the only people who use them are the die hards. Schools have abandoned them, many design ddepartments have switched becasue they can't afford the technology and they are lagging behind. Sure they are successful on a small basis due to fans, but can Disney survive with just a handful of hardcore fans? Disney is a mass market company - they need a mass market approach.

As far as iPod goes, I will agree he did a good job letting them design a nice device. But how much of it's initial growth came simply beacause it was put out by Apple? And for iTunes - his real strenght in that was that he had the clout and money to put together a system that the record labels would associate themselves with, whicvh they have refused to do for anyone else.

Sure Disney has that clout and Money, but it will have that no matter who is running it. I think people just see his name associated with all this stuff and assume that he came up with it all.

All I see there is another ego that is going to end up doing not what the guests or the people who want to wath the films want, but what he wants. Disney is too big for that.

 

[catinthehat]

What I do like about Jobs is that he's a visionary, adn the next person to lead Disney will have to have that quality.

 

[Testtrack321]

Originally posted by cloudboy
User base? What user base? They completely gave up the market to Microsoft!

I beg to differ, and so do about few million active Mac users out there.

 

[GaryT977]

Originally posted by cloudboy
User base? What user base? They completely gave up the market to Microsoft!

There was an article in Wired a few years back about how Bill Gates went to Apple when Microsoft was struggling with Windows (I don't know about you, but I remember using Windows 1.0) and offered to distribute the Mac OS the same way Microsoft distributed DOS. Apple turned him down, but it wasn't Jobs, it was that idiot from Pepsi. Jobs wasn't at the company at that time. If Apple had agreed, we'd all be running OS-X right now.

I realize that Jobs is a polarizing personality, but it's hard to argue with his results, especially compared to the last five years of the Eisner regime.

 

[cloudboy]

I beg to differ, and so do about few million active Mac users out there.

Mac has about 5% of the market. Compared to Microsofts - what, 85%? And if he was so great at making companies sucessful, why aren't we all using NeXT's?

I agree that Disney needs a real visionary. But they need more than that. They do need someone who can get people excited (Jobs would certainly do that!), but they also need a good marketer and someone who is going to grow the market and spend wisely. And being such a large company of creatives, they need someone who knows how to work with what's left of their valuable cast.

I just worry that he will in the long run turn Disney into a small time operation that appeals only to a small group and being a purely entertainment company that will not let it survive.

 

[GaryT977]

You're ignoring the work he's done with Pixar. There isn't another studio, including Disney, who's got a better track record. He's got a studio full of very talented people, and he stays out of there way and gets them the resources that they need to be successful, unlike Eisner.

Yes, Apple has 5% of the PC market, but as I mentioned earlier, that's largely due to a decision made when he wasn't there. Take Linux. It's just as good as Windows, and it's free! Yet it has less of a desktop percentage of the market than Apple.

Also, Apple created the industry of legal music downloads with iTunes and dominates the MP3 player market. Name another computer company that's as creative.

The bottom line is, the companies he runs put out creative and entertaining products, and they make money. Who could ask anything more of a CEO?

 

[cloudboy]

There isn't another studio, including Disney, who's got a better track record.

But with how many features? And how big a budget and with whose help?

that's largely due to a decision made when he wasn't there.

Actually, this is one of those points that bothers me most, so please pardon my griping, but... Back in what was it 97? Apple was having problems - they couldn't keep up with the manufacturing end, and they were struggling against Windows. I find it funny that so many people say Amilio lacked long-term vision - I think he had more of it that other people did. But anyway, Amilio saw that apple, by continuing to make a closed syetm was never, never going to become a prominent player in the market - it only survived because there was little else in the offering at the time (and he even tried to buy out Be!). His idea was to let other companys make the hardware - that would not only eventually eliminate the big problem Apple had with it's hardware operations - it would also drive the OS development and let them focus on that, and that in turn would give them a real fighting chance. But he got kicked out by the board and replaced eventually by Jobs (I won't go into that here) and he immediately stopped that and decided that he was going to focus just on the dedicated core Apple market. He all but turned his back on education (that ws one of their real core businesses) and made it so difficult for end users to get Macs they wanted for a fair price many of them left, too.

So is this what we want for Disney? Drive away all but the few dedicated fans and be left with a handful of parks because that is all it will support? Sure they give you a few stunning rides but miss other basic needs like good food and resorts?

My problem with Jobs is that he is not really dedicated to putting out a good product for the customers. Yes he likes cool products that he thinks is cool, but that doesn't mean he is doing it because that is what the customer demands. You need a customer service leader for Disney.

P.S. Apple was the first to make a successful legal download system - he did not invent it or anything else, he just had the clout to get it done. So I don't count it among his creative highpoints.

 

[Bluewaves]

It seems to me that the Disney Corporation was founded by one man with a vision , Walt Disney. He didn't do anything new he just did it in a new way. He didn't invent animation, he didn't invent the amusement park , he invented a new way of doing them and taking them to a new level of quality. Steve Jobs is a very similar person, not doing anything new just packaging it in a new and innovative way. Sure Jobs didn't invent the MP3 player but he put together the most popular , user freindly and least expensive per megabyte one and then developing an interface for people to buy music for them. Walt took his animation and then love for the American family and found a synergy in using that in his theme parks and capitalizing on his animation and film business. If anything is certain we don't need a burecrat at the helm, ie Mr. Eisner. Steve Jobs would bring vision and quality back to Walt's company, something that I think is missing right now.