TVBR observation: Filling Eisner's shoes
Can you imagine Mel Karmazin at a photo op with an actor dressed in a Mickey Mouse costume? Neither can we. Yet Mel's name is one of the first to come up on everyone's list of who's likely to be considered as the board of directors searches for a new CEO to run The Walt Disney Company (9/22/04 TVBR Daily Epaper #185). Of course, Disney President & COO Bob Iger is on that list to succeed Michael Eisner. But who else? Let's look at the possibilities.
Many on Wall Street might like the idea of sending Karmazin, the former Viacom President, in to take names, kick butts and fix the parts of Disney that are broken. But the corporate culture clash is obvious. How well would Mel, a hard-driving sales guy, do in a company where the current CEO addresses employees as "fellow cast members"? We just don't see it happening.
News Corporation President & COO Peter Chernin looks like a good fit, but does he want the job? He's flying high at News Corp. and is even paid more than his boss, CEO Rupert Murdoch. But with two junior Murdochs lurking a rung below him on the corporate ladder, Chernin knows that he will never get the CEO title - - so his contract has an out which allows him to leave to become CEO of a major media company. Is Disney the challenge that could make him exercise that clause?
What about Steve Jobs, the CEO of both Apple Computer and Pixar? Getting him onboard would certainly go a long way toward healing the rift between Eisner and Pixar that has cost Disney a chunk of change and, some believe, jeopardized its future success in movie animation.
Jeff Bewkes, Chairman of Time Warner's Entertainment Networks Group, is almost certainly going to be approached by Disney's headhunters. His resume looks good.
We're surprised to hear speculation that Les Moonves may be a contender. He certainly deserves a lot of the credit for making CBS the number one network and could start the process over again at ABC. But he's only been Co-President/COO at Viacom for a few months, so there's not much of a track record to look at on whether he has what it takes to run a giant media company.
Early speculation included Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel and EBay CEO Meg Whitman, but both have made it clear they aren't interested in the Disney job.
A long-shot candidate would be David Stern, the Commissioner of the National Basketball Association. He rescued the NBA from near bankruptcy, but before his current job he was a practicing lawyer - - a very successful one - - and has no media experience, except for negotiating contracts with media companies.
If you're looking for synergy, there are potential candidates who spent part of their careers inside Disney, but now head other companies. Those would include Comcast COO Steve Burke, Gap Inc. CEO Paul Pressler and Hilton Hotels CEO Stephen Bollenbach. And how about Bob Callahan? Heck, he's disproved the Peter Principle time and again, so why not bring him back to run all of Disney? The former head of ABC Radio and then the O&O TV group is currently Chairman and CEO of Ziff Davis Media.
Are you reading this from a forwarded email?
