Michael Eisner

Michael Eisner
Eisner in 2010
Born
Michael Dammann Eisner

(1942-03-07) March 7, 1942 (age 82)
Mount Kisco, New York, U.S.
EducationDenison University (BA)
Occupations
  • Businessman
  • media executive
  • author
Years active1966–present
Board member of
Denison University[1]
The Tornante Company
Spouse
Jane Breckenridge
​
(m. 1967)​
Children3, including Breck and Eric
Relatives
Websitewww.michaeleisner.com
Signature

Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942)[2] is an American businessman[3] and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005.[4][5][6] Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film studio Paramount Pictures from 1976 to 1984,[7] and had brief stints at the major television networks NBC, CBS, and ABC.

Eisner's 21-year stint at Disney saw the revitalization of the company's poorly performing animation studios with successful films such as The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994), a period known as the Disney Renaissance. Eisner additionally broadened the company's media portfolio by leading the acquisitions of ABC, most of ESPN and The Muppets franchise. Eisner also led major investments and expansion of the company's theme parks both domestically and globally, including the openings of Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) in 1989, Euro Disney (now Disneyland Paris) in 1992, Disney's Animal Kingdom in 1998, Disney's California Adventure Park and Tokyo DisneySea in 2001, Walt Disney Studios Park in 2002 and Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005.

Eisner's final years at Disney were tumultuous: a string of box-office bombs in the early 2000s, public feuds with former associates such as Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steve Jobs, and dissatisfaction with Eisner's management style culminated in the "Save Disney" campaign organized by Roy E. Disney, during which Eisner rapidly lost the confidence of much of Disney's Board of Directors. As a result of the pressure from the campaign, Eisner announced in March 2005 that he would step down as CEO prematurely, handing day-to-day duties to Bob Iger before formally leaving the company in September 2005. He went on to create the stop-motion animated sitcom Glenn Martin, DDS in 2009.

  1. ^ "Board of Trustees". denison.edu. Denison University. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  2. ^ "Monitor". Entertainment Weekly. No. 1197. March 9, 2012. p. 26.
  3. ^ Rongji, Zhu (January 8, 2015). Zhu Rongji on the Record: The Road to Reform: 1998-2003. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 9780815726296.
  4. ^ Bendazzi, Giannalberto (October 23, 2015). Animation: A World History: Volume II: The Birth of a Style - The Three Markets. CRC Press. ISBN 9781317519911 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Orwall, Bruce (March 4, 2004). "Eisner Steps Down as Disney Chairman". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  6. ^ "Eisner makes clean break, resigns from board of directors - Chicago Tribune". Chicago Tribune. October 7, 2005. Archived from the original on May 7, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference hollywoodreporter1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).