Chapter 1792 Opponent

Burbank, northeast of Los Angeles, California, USA.

It was late at night, but in the Disney headquarters building, the board meeting initiated by Michael Eisner was still going on.

The board members still had different opinions on the question he raised.

Some people supported his idea that Disney should not miss Marvel.

But more people still held opposing opinions.

They mainly believed that Marvel was not a suitable acquisition target.

Yes, although everyone knows that Marvel has many comic heroes, how many of them are really worthy of Disney launching a global publishing and marketing platform and ultimately making a profit?

Don't just look at the success of "Spider-Man" for which Sony bought the copyright.

We should also see that other superhero movies released at the same time as Spider-Man, whether it is "Daredevil" or "The Punisher", have caused the production company to lose a lot of money.

If someone is willing to acquire, let him acquire it, and Disney just needs to prepare its blessings.

Secondly, everyone also expressed high doubts about the possible development of Feng Yiping after acquiring Marvel as described in the documents provided by Michael Eisner.

Disney has been established for more than 80 years and has achieved its current success. No matter who is in charge, it is not easy to establish a media company...

That is, the current opinion of the board of directors still does not support Eisner's proposal.

Eisner stared at the oldest director on the board.

The director did not care about his look and continued to exchange opinions with the people around him freely.

That person was Roy Disney, the son of the eldest of the two Disney brothers who founded Disney.

It was because of Roy Disney, who was once kicked out of the board of directors by Eisner and returned to the board of directors not long ago, that Eisner currently lost control of the board of directors.

It was also because of this guy that Eisner had to announce that he would retire when his term expired in September 2006, and announced last month that he would retire a year early.

And all of this can be said to be derived from the action that Roy carefully planned at the annual board meeting in March last year.

That was an action that will definitely be recorded in the history of the development of American companies.

At that shareholders meeting, Roy and another former director, Stanley Gold, who was also kicked out of the board by Eisner, united 43% of the shareholders and listed Eisner's three sins: improper use of people; careless use of money; illegal use of power.

After that, it was natural to demand the removal of Eisner from all positions.

Originally, Eisner had recovered some of the adverse effects through his own explanation. After all, his achievements in the 20 years of working at Disney were brilliant and obvious to all.

Disney's market value has grown from $2 billion when he took over to more than $70 billion today.

However, Gold's words captured the hearts of shareholders more effectively: in the past 20 years, Eisner's total income exceeded $1 billion, equivalent to $1 million per week for 1,000 consecutive weeks.

However, the value of shareholders' assets is falling.

There is no more convincing comparison than this. That time, Eisner, who had always been strong and not only ignored Jobs, but also rudely confronted the company's former partners, including Spielberg and George Lucas, was finally defeated.

Not only did he resign as chairman on the spot, but he also had to announce that he would resign when his term expired in 2006.

Last month, because of his pressure, Eisner had to advance his retirement age by another year.

This short-sighted guy looked at Roy Disney, and Eisner said in his heart that he couldn't help but think of his good partner Wells again. If he hadn't died in the plane crash, both himself and Disney would definitely be much better than now.

Of course, at this time, Eisner naturally chose to forget another thing. Roy Disney, whom he hated at this time, was actually a good talent.

It was Roy Disney who poached him from Paramount in 1984 and took on the position of CEO of Disney, thus making Eisner's career brilliant.

Roy invited Eisner to Disney, and Roy successfully drove Eisner out of Disney.

It was Roy who made Eisner successful, and it was Roy who forced Eisner to end his brilliant career in an unseemly way...

The good partners who once admired each other have now become enemies. The so-called unpredictable things in the world are just like this.

Eisner knocked on the table, "This is the company's board of directors, a board of directors that considers the interests of the majority of shareholders, and should not be an occasion for opposition simply for opposition."

His words were one of the many criticisms of him by Roy and Gold recently, and he returned them to them completely.

But after hearing what he said, Roy just smiled, and it was a winner's smile.

Eisner was most unhappy with him like this.

He was about to stand up, and the same winner Gold spoke, "Eger, I noticed that you have not spoken, I think everyone is happy to hear your opinion."

His words seemed to have won an opportunity for the other party to speak, but the person involved did not think so.

Director Iger, also known as Robert Iger, the current chief operating officer of Disney, smiled at this time, but he felt very scared in his heart.

I have been taking notes all the time, hoping that you will not affect us. Why are you still avoiding us?

He nodded to Eisner, who was looking at him sharply because of Gold's words, and then smiled and thanked Gold, "Thank you, Gold."

In his heart, he was actually sincerely greeting his mother.

After Eisner confirmed the date of his resignation, the company's nomination committee had proposed several successors, and Iger was the only executive from Disney on the list.

He naturally wanted to succeed Eisner and become the helmsman of Disney, the entertainment aircraft carrier.

But from COO to CEO, it seems that there is only one step away, but he knows very well that this step is really difficult to cross, especially in the current situation of division and constant struggle within the company.

On the one hand, he has to strive for the support of the board of directors, and on the other hand, he naturally has to continue to maintain a good relationship with Eisner.

After all, Eisner will still be in charge of Disney for more than half a year. Although it seems unrealistic for him to bring out a successor, with his skills, resources, and prestige, it is just a matter of turning his hand to destroy a possible successor, such as himself.

So at the beginning of the meeting, as soon as he heard Eisner's proposal, Iger became a quail.

Such a proposal, whether it is beneficial or harmful to the company, Roy and Gold will naturally oppose it.

The reason is very simple. Acquiring Marvel is not a small move. How could Roy and Gold tolerate Eisner, who is about to leave, to add another halo to their heads?

However, the more he hides, the more things will find him. He is still in the situation he least wants to fall into. On both sides, there are Roy, Gold, and Eisner who are not getting along.

But these two parties who are not getting along, he can't offend them at the moment.

Life is really hard!

But Iger is not a soft persimmon that will be squeezed at will.

He started as a weather anchor at a local station, joined ABC, and finally became the CEO of ABC. Under his leadership, it was acquired by Disney in 1996, and then he became the COO of Disney... Overall, this is also a story of counterattack and a portrayal of the American dream.

Of course, the huge losses brought by the acquisition of ABC was also a major reason for Roy and others to attack Eisner last year.

That is to say, from this point of view, Eisner definitely has an opinion on him.

"I have been thinking about a question, why can't our independently produced cartoons in recent years copy or surpass the success of "The Lion King", "Beauty and the Beast", "The Little Mermaid" and so on?"

His words successfully resonated with everyone.

Yes, Disney has always been the best animated feature film producer in the world, which is also the greatest pride of Disney people, but now, alas, it's better not to say it.

Let alone other things, in the field of animation production, how can they be compared with Pixar? In fact, just talking about the performance in recent years, let alone Pixar, even DreamWorks can't compare.

If Pixar had not been releasing animated films, they would probably have been forgotten in the field of animated feature films.

"I think it is indeed time to solve this problem and change is indeed needed,"

As the representative of the Disney family, Roy Disney naturally hopes to revive the glory of Disney. He agrees with what Iger said.

At the same time, acquiring Marvel is naturally a change, and his words can also be regarded as support for Eisner.

Therefore, Iger just asked a question and successfully got himself out of the dilemma.

And his words also implicitly pointed out another possibility of change for everyone.

Although the cooperation with the company has been bumpy over the years, from the results, Pixar, which is still a successful cooperation, seems to be a more suitable acquisition target?

Iger said this to guide some people's thinking in this direction.

Moreover, since he was nominated as Eisner's successor by the nomination committee of the board of directors, he has begun to prepare for this aspect.

The directors who realized this choice looked at Eisner one after another with complicated eyes.

The main reason for the recent unsuccessful cooperation between Disney and Pixar is Eisner.

It is because he and Jobs do not get along that this situation has occurred.

As for whether this incidental result is one of the purposes of Iger's remarks, we do not know.

However, objectively speaking, it is undoubtedly beneficial for Iger, the possible successor, to consolidate the matter of Eisner's resignation and eliminate possible variables.

At this time, Eisner is on the board of directors, and it is rare to get the support of Iger, a director of the management team, even if it is vague support. He naturally wants to take the opportunity to further elaborate on his views.

"Everyone knows that Mr. Feng, who has cooperated with us, has a first-class vision, not to mention other aspects." In order to get everyone to support him, Eisner did not hesitate to praise Feng Yiping at the board of directors.

"Those who once disdained his decision can no longer find a place to regret it,"

"Let's take a look. He cooperated with McDonald's to run Redbox, he acquired Netflix, and he also launched YouTube. Everyone can see that he will soon produce his own movies and TV series. If he acquires Marvel, it will undoubtedly be even more powerful,"

"If we don't take any measures, we will soon find that there is another strong competitor,"

"Please think about it again. If we can successfully acquire Marvel, how many characters will be added in our park? How much related sales will it drive?"

Objectively speaking, Eisner really hopes that Disney can disrupt Feng Yiping's pace and acquire Marvel. He is really public-spirited and really considers the company.

Of course, it should not be ruled out that Roy Disney and others think that Eisner, who is about to leave, still hopes to add another dazzling halo to his head.

"For so many years, we haven't seen a person who is always right, right Eisner?" Gold said.

His words are of course pointed. From last year to now, he has said a lot about the bad decisions made by Eisner.

"So, who can guarantee that the decision made by Mr. Feng is not the beginning of his bad decision?"

But this time, his close comrade Roy did not agree, and the latter was looking at Iger.

Alas! Iger sighed in his heart again, you forced me to express my opinion again.

"I think we can also refer to another company in the city, Time Warner, for this issue," he said.

Time Warner acquired another American animation company, DC, which is as famous as Marvel.

After hearing what he said, Roy Disney immediately said to Eisner without any hesitation, "Okay, I support your decision,"

"Thank you," Eisner did not expect the reversal to be so fast that he could get his direct support.

"But I hope that this plan will be in charge of Iger," Roy continued.