Iger takes Disney reins

The Michael Eisner-era at the Walt Disney Co., ended Friday when

Robert Iger took the title of chief executive officer and the

responsibility to keep the media giant moving with innovative ideas.

The 54-year-old Iger follows the at-times contentious Eisner, who

lead the company for 21 years, oversaw a renaissance in animation

with such hits as “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin” but who’s

tenure reached a low point at a March 2004 shareholders meeting when

43% withheld their votes for Eisner to continue on the Disney board.

Iger will probably have a honeymoon period of three months -- at

least until the Christmas releases of “The Lion, The Witch and The

Wardrobe” -- before the carping begins on his management of the

company, Jim Hill, an independent Disney historian, predicted.

“The Disney company is an ocean liner,” said Hill, the webmaster

of a site on Disney-related issues. “It will be a year at least until

we see what Bob Iger is going to do.”

Iger came to the Disney family with the company’s 1996 purchase of Capital Cities/ABC where he was the network president and chief

operating officer at ABC Television. He was named Disney company

president in 2000 and announced as Eisner’s successor in March.

So far, it’s been a quiet transition for Iger who comes in on

strong momentum, especially with the successes of ABC, said Gigi

Johnson, a lecturer at the entertainment and media management

institute at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

The network returned break-out hits “Desperate Housewives” and

“Lost” this fall, and walked away with 16 Emmy Awards at last month’s

presentation.

The big challenge Iger faces is how to grow a company that is

already very large, Johnson said.

The company made a good move by increasing its exposure in

international markets and investing in current technology, such as

the partnership between ESPN and Sprint to offer sports content via

cell phones, and the recently announced partnership with Verizon to

carry 12 Disney-owned television channels on the Verizon FiOS

high-speed Internet service, Johnson said.

But Johnson wasn’t so sure about Iger’s recent statements that

Disney would cut back its budget for live-action films.

“The challenge is their competitors will move forward with live

action,” Johnson said. “Disney will miss opportunities to create new

brands.”

Eisner, 63, will not fade from the Disney picture. He will remain

on the Disney board of directors and is among the largest individual

shareholders of company stock.

His legacy of early film successes and expansion of the company’s

theme parks will be tempered, however, with missteps, such as the

very public splits with then-Walt Disney Studio head Jeffrey

Katzenberg, who went on to form rival studio Dreamworks, and

then-Disney President Michael Ovitz, which resulted in a lawsuit

whose 2004 trial aired the company’s and entertainment industry’s

dirty laundry.

How visible a role Eisner will take remains unknown.