Michael Eisner - Chmn, Pres, CEO of The Walt Disney Co - The Power Players

Discount Store News, Dec 4, 1995 by Dawn Wilensky

Like many of Disney's well-known characters, Michael Eisner has triumphed over adversity, faced and defeated conflict, fended off enemies and suffered disappointments, yet prevailed bigger and stronger than before.

As chairman and ceo of The Walt Disney Co. for the past 11 years, Eisner, used these experiences as the building blocks for what has become one of the most powerful entertainment companies in the world.

"When I became ceo of Disney, I didn't have to look very far to find models who understood how to lead a creative company. If ever two individuals personified the entrepreneurial spirit such leadership demands, it was Walt Disney and his brother, Roy. They believed in the power of ideas, the nurturing of talent and the pursuit of excellence," says Eiser.

These beliefs have helped build a franchise so strong at retail that almost every store doing business today stocks some sort of Disney-inspired merchandise. The company has also blazed trails as a leader in employee training and customer service through its renowned Disney University.

When Eisner joined the company in 1984, he couldn't have forecast the impact that Disney would someday exert. However, he had firsthand knowledge of the power of entertainment, having proven himself a hot property with big screen hits like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Saturday Night Fever" while president and chief operating officer at Paramount Pictures. He also made his mark in the 1970s by developing successful TV shows like "Happy Days" and "Welcome Back Kotter" while vice president, prime time production and development for ABC Entertainment.

His enthusiasm certainly didn't wane when he came to Disney. With partner and friend Frank Wells, president and chief operating officer at his side, he spent the next decade transforming what some considered an also-ran company doing about $1 billion in sales into a $10.1 billion behemoth that many of today's companies use as a yardstick against which to measure their success.

The company is certainly a good blueprint. It reported record revenues and earnings in 1994, with revenues climbing 18%, operating income up 14% and net income rising 25%.

"These results say to the watching world that Disney is stronger than most have given us credit for, that we can withstand all kinds of adversities and still produce the financial results of a winner. They prove that Disney is far bigger than any star player, any single individual, that there are many and varied weapons in our business arsenal, and that we are not dependent on any single segment of our business," says Eisner.

Under his tutelage, Disney has become the 25th largest company in America and the leader in animated and live-action film and TV production, cable and broadcast TV, theme parks and resorts, merchandise licensing, consumer product retailing and book and music publishing.

There is no stopping the New York-bred Eisner who is breaking ground on opportunities like Celebration, a 5,000-acre town with single-family homes and townhouses in Orlando, Fla., which will have an ambience of Main Street USA.

Being No. 1 is not foreign to Eisner. He was recently ranked first on Entertainment Weekly magazine's list of the 101 most influential people in the entertainment industry.

The father of three, Eisner has come a long way within the past year, having suffered some real life drama of his own.

The first blow came on Easter Sunday when his friend and business partner Frank Wells tragically died in a helicopter crash near Elko, Nevada, at the age of 62.

Just three months later, Eisner underwent emergency quadruple bypass heart surgery. Shortly after, Sam Williams, a director at Disney, passed away following a heart attack.

Things didn't get much better in August when Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of Disney's movie unit, was passed over for Wells' job.

This didn't sit well with Katzenberg, who left and teamed up with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen to form DreamWorks SKG and in the process lured away two top executives from Disney's highly profitable TV animated unit.

In most cases, these experiences would cause another man to take pause or perhaps to take a step backwards.

Not Eisner.

These events seemed to light a fire under him. Only one year later, he engineered the $1.9 billion purchase of Capital Cities/ABC in July 1995, and much like Simba in "The Lion King," has completed his own "Circle of Life."