INTRODUCTION

By the early 1990s, Walt Disney was already one of America's corporate icons. Under Michael Eisner's leadership, Disney had delivered solid financial performance, had an influential voice in defining the future of media and entertainment, attracted great talent, and combined solid organic growth with bold acquisitions, such as Capital Cities/ABC. Unfortunately, in the late 1990s the firm's shining performance started to fade. The death knell arrived on 11 February 2004, when Comcast, America's largest cable TV company, launched a hostile bid for Disney, valuing it at $66bn. Disney's board of directors, former directors (including Walt Disney's nephew) and angry shareholders complained about Disney's increasing lack of focus and Eisner's slow reaction in tackling the challenges created by the new digital world.

The fight between Eisner and some shareholders and board members became acrimonious. Eisner felt besieged on all sides and retrenched to protect his turf. Just as people gave him credit for the company's growth and success in the 1980s, they now accused him of leading the company toward the abyss in the early 2000s. Eventually, the board of directors fired him; in October 2005, Bob Iger, one of Disney's senior managers, took over as the new CEO. Blaming Eisner for Disney's failure to reinvent itself in the early 2000s was only partially justified, just as it was not completely fair for Eisner to get full credit for Disney's success in the 1980s.