1. Disney : SUCCESSION PROBLEMS
IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM
Presented By:
Pabak, Milan, Himani, Upsana

2. Mission & Vision of
Disney:
To be the most admired company in the world:
equally admired for the integrity of our people
and the way we behave as citizens of the world,
as we are for the quality of our exceptional
entertainment experiences.

3. Mission:
We will achieve exceptional performance by
embedding ethical business practices into all
of our daily decisions and actions.

4. Disney’s Business:
Media Network
Parks and Resorts
The Walt Disney Studios
Disney Consumer Products
Disney Interactive

5. Media Network

6. Parks and Resorts

7. The Walt Disney Studios

8. Disney Consumer Products

9. Disney Interactive

10. The Walt Disney
Era :
Name: Walter
Elias "Walt" Disney
(December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966)
Birth Place: Hermosa, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
 1920: Formed “Iwerks-Disney Commercial
Artists” along with Ub Iwerks.
 1922: Founded his first studio “Laugh-O-
Grams Inc.”
 1923: Moved to Hollywood, California and
Started “Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio”

11. …
1923: First Distribution deal for
‘Alice Comedies’
1927: Decided to do an all-cartoon
series ‘Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’.
1928: Walt Disney tried to negotiate
a higher fee from the distributor
“Universal Pictures”, but the ownership
right was with the distributor.
- Universal Pictures had signed up most
of his key animators and planned to go
ahead with the series without Walt
Disney

12. Mouse:
1928 : Walt Disney and Iwerks began
to work on a new character “Mickey
Mouse”. They released their 3rd movie in
Mickey Mouse series ‘Steamboat Willie’
with Sound.
1928 : Renamed WDS (Walt Disney
Studio) as Walt Disney Productions
(WDP).
1928 : Introduced ‘Silly Symphonies’
cartoon series with new technological
equipments, special effects, animation
and sound. Also launched new characters
like ‘Donald Duck’, ‘Goofy’ and ‘Pluto’

13. • 1932: Introduced color in animation
movie making. Released first
commercially released full-color
cartoon film ‘Flowers and Trees’ and
won an Academy Award for best
cartoon.
• 1934: Walt Disney started his plan to
create a full-length animation movie
‘Snow White’.
• 1938: ‘Snow White and Seven
Dwarfs’ released.

14.  1950: WDP introduced their
first live action movie
‘Treasure Island’.
 1955: First amusement park
‘Disneyland’ opened at
Anaheim, California.
 1966: Walt Disney died of
Lung cancer and Roy Sr. took
over.
 1971: Roy Sr. died and Don
Tatum took over.

15. Disney:
 1980: Walker took over as chairman and CEO and
resigned in 1984 due to poor earnings of WDP.
Miller took over as chairman and CEO.
 WDP faced following difficulties from 1980-1984.
i) WDP’s films were not attractive enough for the
adult and teen market.
ii) No major addition to theme parks.
iii) EPCOT project was a kind of burden with high
investment. (US $1bn.)
iv) High attrition rate.(Animation employees left)
v) Witnessed aggressive hostile takeovers by
corporate raiders.
vi) WDP US$32 Million to relinquish Disney Stock.
vii) Share Price fall

16. WDP ‘TURN AROUND’ STRATEGY:
 Roy E. Disney and Gold teamed up
with Bass Brothers (25% Stake).
 Miller and few other top executives
ousted from the company by Roy E.
Disney.
 Got a new leadership team with
Eisner (Chairman & CEO) & Frank
Wells (President & COO)
 Roy E. Disney joined as vice-
chairman of Board of Directors and
head of animation department.

17. Michael Eisner: A Success
story
• Eisner was President and COO at
Paramount pictures.
• Eisner brought two executives
Jeffery Katzenberg and Richard
Frank.
• WDP got a huge success of ‘Splash’
in the first year under Eisner.
• Splash was Touchstone Pictures’ first
release. Touchstone pictures was
founded by WDP in 1984

18. Continued
…
 In 1985, 30 people joined
left Paramount and joined
WDP.
 In 1986 WDP became WDC
(Walt Disney Company)
 Released many critically
acclaimed live-action/
animation hits.
 WDC launched Disney
Stores to merchandise
branded products.
 Existing theme parks were
expanded and new rides
were added.
 Euro Disney was opened in
Paris in 1992 and renamed
as “Disneyland Paris”.

19. Continued…
 WDC also acquired Miramax Films in 1994.
 WDC acquired Capital Cities/ABC for US$20bn.
 Revenues reached around US$25 billion in 1994
from US$1.7bn in 1984.
 2D & 3D animated films gained popularity. Pixar-
Disney provided super hit animation movies.

21. Downfall of Eisner & turning point of
WDC:
After Wells’ death in 1994, WDC faced many troubles like;
i) Katzenberg resigned as head of animation and formed Dream Works SKG (DW).
ii) Miachael Ovitz was brought in as President but he quit after 14 months and was
pain US$140million as a severance package.
iii) Shareholders filed case against Eisner and WDC Board in 1997.
iv) High Profile Exists and legal suits affected WDC’s clean image.
v) Internal dispute regarding abrasive management style of Eisner.
vi) Television business faced a decline due to popular shows.
vii) Terrorist attacks and recession hampered tourist traffic to theme parks.
viii) WDC’s share price declined.
ix) Roy E. Disney and Gold resigned and started campaign against Eisner.
x) Pixar announced the end of partnership with Disney.
xi) Comcast Corp. sought to take over WDC for US$66 Billion.

22. ISSUE OF SUCCESSION:
 43% of shareholders withheld their votes for
Eisner’s re-election on March 2004.
 California’s Calpers (nation’s largest pension
fund) demanded Eisner’s resign.
 Iger, WDC President and COO was internal
choice.
 11-member Board decided to hire an executive
search firm to find right candidate.
 In 2004, Board hired Heidrick & Struggles to find
a successor.
 In 2005, WDC announced Robert Iger as CEO
after Eisner.