Lasting Impression

Earlier this year on the morning of Sunday, July 17, Robert A. "Bob" Iger stepped up on a stage in front of Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. He was there to help mark the occasion of Disneyland's 50^th birthday.

On October 1, Bob Iger officially became only the sixth CEO of the Walt Disney Company.
Image courtesy and Copyright Disney.

Microphone in hand, Iger, who had participated in the three previous Happiest Homecoming on Earth events, appeared a bit stiff at first as he began reading his opening remarks from a teleprompter. Only once during his few brief minutes on stage did he smile and seem to be relaxed.

Iger had been introduced by legendary radio and television personality Art Linkletter, who had announced that not only was it Disneyland's 50^th birthday but his 93^rd birthday as well.

Iger was at ease, and a broad smile crossed his face as he joked that later that day Linkletter, who 50 years earlier hosted the live Disneyland opening day telecast, would be climbing the Matterhorn. The smile evaporated and the tone of his voice flattened as he returned to reading his prepared remarks from the teleprompter, telling his audience about his experience earlier that morning watching people enter the park.

"Perhaps you saw what I saw," Iger mechanically read aloud, "a dad, flanked by two little daughters, making a beeline for Adventureland. Teenagers already wearing Goofy hats and a family of six excitedly hunched over a Disneyland guide book planning their day at the park."

A few groans and audible snickers emanated from guests throughout the park, thousands of whom had spent the night waiting in line only to pass through Disneyland's gates like a human tsunami from 7 a.m. all the way up to the moment of Iger's remarks. Knowing exactly where they wanted to be on this day, no one stopped and paused as this flood of humanity raced through Disneyland's town square and up Main Street past rows of Disneyland Cast Members cheering them on and wishing them a happy birthday on behalf of Disneyland. Something Iger apparently didn't witness.

Whose Boy Are You?

At the peak of its success under founders Walt and Roy O. Disney, executives and managers of Walt Disney Productions, were known as either Walt's boys or Roy's boys. Walt's boys were the artists and dreamers, and Roy's boys helped the senior Disney brother keep a tight reign on the company's purse strings.

Hardly perfect, and more often than not resembling a dysfunctional family rather than a successful family business, this arrangement provided a system of checks and balances that provided the Disney brothers with the means to grow and build an entertainment company with a world-renowned reputation for quality and innovation.

Following Walt's death in 1966 and Roy's passing in 1971, it also left the company with the problem of determining what type of executive should run the business they left behind: one of Walt's boys or one of Roy's, a creative or a business executive?

In 1984, when Michael Eisner and Frank Wells were made CEO and President of Walt Disney Productions, it was widely believed that Eisner would take charge of creative matters and Wells would oversee the financial side of the company. After Wells sudden death in 1994 in a helicopter crash, Eisner assumed Wells' duties along with his own.

Under pressure from Wall Street and the Disney Board, Eisner first attempted to replace Wells with his longtime friend and super agent Michael Ovitz. When, after just 14 months, that didn't work out, he fired Ovitz. In 1999, still facing considerable pressure to name a number two and probable successor, Eisner, with the Disney board's blessing, made Robert Iger President and COO of the Walt Disney Company.

After a brief stint as a television weatherman, Iger moved on to begin a career at ABC in 1974, eventually rising through the ranks to become President and COO of Capital Cities/ABC. He joined the Disney senior management team in 1996 as Chairman of the ABC Group following Disney's acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC.

Earlier this year, the Disney Board announced that Iger would replace Eisner as CEO of the Walt Disney Company on October 1, the first day of Disney's new fiscal year. Iger is only the fourth non-Disney to head the Mouse House. Now the question becomes: is he one of Walt's boys or one of Roy's boys?

All the Right Moves

Iger didn't have to wait for October 1 to roll around before being handed the keys to the kingdom. In March, after the Disney board named Iger as the next head of the company, Eisner announced that he and Iger would be "co-CEOs." Shortly after that, he told the press that, "effectively Bob's running everything."

One of the first things Iger did was to dismantle the company's much loathed Strategic Planning division; a move cheered both from within the company and by legions of loyal Disney fans who blamed the division for stifling creativity and killing off new projects and ideas. He garnered still more praise for extending the olive branch to Pixar Animation Studios CEO Steve Jobs. Jobs, who said he'd never work with Disney again as long as Eisner was there, has stated publicly that he's had several productive talks with Iger.

Fans and investors alike also applauded the deal struck by Iger with former directors Roy E. Disney and Stanley P. Gold to halt their Save Disney shareholder revolt. This deal also ended the lawsuit brought by Messer's Disney and Gold against the Disney board of directors that called the selection of Iger as Eisner's successor "a sham."

Wall Street, while still not ready to openly embrace entertainment stocks of any kind, has indicated that it likes what Iger has had to say about the Mouse moving into to new areas of content distribution.

It hasn't all been rose petals and praise, however. Iger incurred the wrath of theatre owners when he suggested Disney, in an effort to counteract film piracy, consider releasing DVDs on the same day they released new films in theatres.

Monday Morning Quarterbacking

During the last two weeks of September, Iger, in contrast to his predecessor, has enjoyed some extraordinarily favorable press.

One former Disney executive, who asked not to be named, couldn't say enough nice things about Iger. "He was always the most accessible guy at the company. You could talk to Bob about anything, and he always wanted to hear what you had to say."

Even James B. Stewart, whose book DisneyWar seemed to paint a less than flattering picture of Iger as an ineffectual lackey holding on to his job by enduring his master's abuse, has had some remarkably positive things to say about Iger.

After documenting Iger's firing of the two ABC executives responsible for bringing Desperate Housewives and Lost, now two of the biggest hits on television, to the network, Stewart was asked what kind of chief executive he thought Iger would make.

"The question is," Stewart said during a conversation at the Los Angeles Public Library, "was that really his idea or Michael's? I think we'll all be surprised by Iger." He went on to say that he felt that Iger was a survivor and was only doing what he felt he had to do to sustain his career.

Kim Christensen, writing for the Los Angeles Times said, "Lately, it seems, everyone loves Bob. In keeping with Hollywood's tradition of 'never kick 'em while they're up,' public criticism of Iger is hard to come by. Even some people who had only good things to say about Iger called his office for clearance before returning a reporter's calls."

In keeping with another fine Hollywood tradition, however, behind the scenes carping about Iger has been fairly easy to come by and, in all likelihood, has never been cleared by his office.

Sources familiar with operations on the Disney lot say that dismantling Strategic Planning was more an act of self-interest and self-defense than a bold management decision. "During the last few years, Michael was isolated by these guys," one source said. "Bob doesn't want to see himself cut off from the rest of company like that."

Members of L.A.'s large community of animators, many of whom once worked for Disney, complain that Iger is getting too much credit for trying to keep Pixar in the Disney fold. Virtually all agree Iger should be given credit for reaching out to Steve Jobs, but most insist that if a new deal is done between Pixar and Disney, which appears likely, it will be due to Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook's Kissinger-like shuttle diplomacy between Burbank and Emeryville.

Even Iger's role in the truce with Roy Disney and Stanley Gold is coming under fire with sources from both sides of the now-ended conflict taking the occasional pot shot at one another. Disney investors, bothered by the secrecy surrounding the details of the final negotiations, have begun openly speculating that Iger had to be dragged to the bargaining table by the four Disney directors not named in the Save Disney lawsuit. Still others say the quick resolution of the matter had more to do with Roy Disney's desire to get on with his life than Iger's negotiating skills.

Then there's the matter of the Muppets. Since 1987, Michael Eisner had been trying to secure a deal, first with Muppet creator Jim Henson, then his heirs, to acquire the felt and fuzzy creatures for the Walt Disney Company. During the middle of a hostile takeover bid by cable giant Comcast, he succeeded. The Muppets were installed in a Disney-owned business, The Muppet Holding Company LLC.

Eisner's former personal assistant, and head of the company's synergy unit, Chris Curtin was placed in charge of The Muppet Holding Company LLC. Last Tuesday, according to a story that first appeared September 30 on JimHillMedia.com, Curtin and all but three of his management staff were abruptly terminated on Iger's orders.

Former head of The Muppet Holding Company LLC and Pepe the king prawn.
Image Copyright obe-mediaone.

Disney has not returned phone calls and e-mails requesting comment on the status of The Muppet Holding Company LLC, although official confirmation is expected to appear in the media sometime today.

While at this time there has been no official confirmation of this action, sources familiar with Disney Company operations have speculated that Iger has sided with forces from within the company that resented the idea of Henson's creations receiving the benefit of their own stand-alone business unit.

The feeling among the rank and file within Disney's existing merchandising and production units was that they already provide a wealth of knowledge and a proven track record for successfully marketing character-driven business. Curtin and his division were seen as being costly and superfluous.

Lasting Legacy

Although he's only officially been on the job three days, Bob Iger's actions over the past six months have left many Disney fans with the first impression of a successor that Roy O. Disney could be proud of. Most are still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and openly hope that even if he lacks creative vision, he'll have the foresight to appoint someone who, as most of them said "gets it" as his replacement as Disney Company President.

"I'd love to see someone like Dick Cook," said a young woman and lifelong self-described Disney fanatic from San Francisco, "who really knows what Disney means to people when it comes to movies and theme parks and merchandise. I think he'd make a great President for the company."

She may have a long wait. After months of referring to Iger as CEO designate, the Walt Disney Company, on its website, lists Iger's new title as "President and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company," indicating that, like Eisner before him, he will hold down both jobs. Unlike Eisner, however, following a rule change at the company earlier this year, he cannot hope to add the title Chairman of the Board to his business cards.

"I don't care what they call him," said a Disney insider from Los Angeles, who was in Disneyland on July 17. "I just hope that wooden image of him blabbering that awful PR crap (about families at Disneyland's gates) isn't what people remember most about him."