He abruptly suggested that perhaps Buffett would sell him ABC instead, "for cash".
Buffett congratulated him on the talk, and Eisner (cleverly) blurted out that he had just been talking to Larry Tisch, who owned CBS at the time, about acquiring that television network for Disney. He often creates little scenes, complete with dialogue, that bring the wheeling and dealing of high-powered executives to life, as in 1995 when Eisner attended a conference at Sun Valley where, after making a witty presentation, he met billionaire Warren Buffett. Stewart tells this story with an almost indecent gusto, and the result is a thoroughly readable and entertaining book.
These, with other bold moves, proved wonderfully lucrative for shareholders of Disney, and the famous old studio became, once again, a real player in the entertainment industry. In a very real sense, he revived Disney as a major purveyor of animated films, and he acquired a range of valuable assets, including ABC, Miramax, and the ESPN cable sports franchise. He sauntered into the studio at Disney with brash self-confidence, firing a large number of people, hiring friends and acquaintances, and whipping up flames of creativity that led, in fairly short order, to a number of huge hits, such as Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Toy Story. He followed Diller to Paramount, producing some hits, such as Flashdance, and earning a reputation for getting things done. Roy Disney, a nephew of the founder, engineered the arrival of Eisner, who had made a name for himself at ABC, where he worked under the legendary Barry Diller. He was hard-driving, Jewish and urban, having been raised on fashionable Park Avenue in New York City: the opposite in every way of Walt, who came from the Protestant heartland of the Midwest, and whose laid-back personality cast a gentle glow over the empire that bore his name.
After Walt's death, the company began to slide, and a hostile takeover seemed imminent when Eisner was brought on board in 1984.Įisner was an unlikely fit for Disney. Every few years a full-length cartoon came out, and sometimes a sweet movie with real actors, invariably geared for family viewing. Card-playing was a favourite afternoon activity, and Tuesday nights were reserved for games of baseball. Before Eisner, the studio was a relaxed place where work ended around lunchtime. Eisner's Disney was a far cry from the low-key, eccentric company run by Walt himself, the eponymous founder who died in 1966, and who ushered Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Daffy, Snow White, and many other delightful creatures on to the world stage.
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