Target: Disney

摘要

It was supposed to be Michael Eisner's week, a time to beat back the critics who'd been hammering away at him and his company's performance. Last Monday Disney took out full-page ads featuring a grinning Mickey and the swaggering tag line "The world's leading family entertainment brand." Its board released a letter to shareholders, accusing dissident former directors Roy Disney and Stanley Gold of waging a "misleading and distorted campaign" against Disney. Eisner even seemed newly focused on finding a successor, an issue he had long avoided. He recently approached Time Warner exec Jeff Bewkes about joining Disney, as president of ABC, NEWSWEEK has learned. Top execs prepped for a gathering of analysts and big investors at Disney World, a two-day blowout of boat rides, fireworks and financial reports. Disney planned to trumpet its pledge of double-digit earnings growth through 2007 and make it clear that the magic was back at the Magic Kingdom.