Darkbeer
02-12-2004, 01:25 AM
A Close Look at Eisner's Stewardship of Disney Shows Many Weaknesses (http://www.latimes.com/business/columnists/la-fi-golden12feb12,1,990238.column?coll=la-home-utilities) - Los Angeles Times, 2/12/04
QuikQuote: To say that the Walt Disney Co. chairman faces a political problem as daunting as Davis' is perhaps to be unfair to Davis. The former governor was arguably the victim of external economic forces, compounded by his unappealing personality. But Eisner's personality defects have been a major contributor to the long-term ailments that have now made his company the target of a takeover bid from Comcast Corp.
Most of these defects have been endlessly masticated by observers in the film industry and the press. Eisner's reluctance to delegate authority, much less to set a date for his own retirement after two decades at the helm and to groom a successor, has driven off enough talented executives to fill the corporate dining rooms at entertainment conglomerates all over town. His taste for adolescent infighting has led him into a series of embarrassing public feuds, and it doesn't say much for his judgment that he seems to lose most of them — at a huge cost to the company.
QuikQuote: To say that the Walt Disney Co. chairman faces a political problem as daunting as Davis' is perhaps to be unfair to Davis. The former governor was arguably the victim of external economic forces, compounded by his unappealing personality. But Eisner's personality defects have been a major contributor to the long-term ailments that have now made his company the target of a takeover bid from Comcast Corp.
Most of these defects have been endlessly masticated by observers in the film industry and the press. Eisner's reluctance to delegate authority, much less to set a date for his own retirement after two decades at the helm and to groom a successor, has driven off enough talented executives to fill the corporate dining rooms at entertainment conglomerates all over town. His taste for adolescent infighting has led him into a series of embarrassing public feuds, and it doesn't say much for his judgment that he seems to lose most of them — at a huge cost to the company.