Editing Michael Eisner (section)

==="Save Disney" campaign and retirement===
Despite his record of success while serving as President, CEO and Chairman of the Walt Disney Company, Eisner was also known for his habit of integrating much of his Paramount films with Disney. These moves were seen as  unfavorable, and led to Eisner’s isolation from other Disney executives by 1995.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-26-tm-47087-story.html|title=The Loneliest Man In The Kingdom...|first=Kathryn|last=Harris|work=Los Angeles Times|date=March 26, 1995|accessdate=June 24, 2022}}</ref> On November 30, 2003, [[Roy E. Disney]], the son and nephew of co-founders [[Roy O. Disney]] and [[Walt Disney]], respectively, resigned from his positions as [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] vice chairman and chairman of [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney Feature Animation]]. His reasons for resigning was his feeling that there was too much [[micromanagement]] within the studio, flops with the ABC television network, the company's growing timidity in the [[theme park]] business, the Walt Disney Company turning into a "rapacious, soul-less" company, Eisner's refusal to establish a clear succession plan, as well as the studio releasing a string of box-office movie failures starting in the year 2000, such as ''[[The Emperor's New Groove]]'' and ''[[Treasure Planet]]'', and the company's well-publicized distribution disputes with long-time production partner [[Pixar|Pixar Animation Studios]] and its CEO [[Steve Jobs]], with whom Disney had produced such animated feature film hits as ''[[Toy Story]]'', ''[[A Bug's Life]]'', ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]'', and ''[[Finding Nemo]]'', which were critically acclaimed and financially successful for both partners.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McCarthy |first=Michael |date=December 2, 2003 |title=War of words erupts at Walt Disney |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2003-12-01-disney-words_x.htm |url-status=live |access-date=December 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906104954/http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2003-12-01-disney-words_x.htm |archive-date=September 6, 2008}}</ref>

On March 3, 2004, at Disney's annual shareholders' meeting, a surprising and unprecedented 43% of Disney's shareholders, predominantly rallied by former board members Roy Disney and [[Stanley Gold]], withheld their [[Proxy voting|proxies]] to re-elect Eisner to the board. This vote followed a stunning rebuke of Eisner and his executive and chairman practices by both the Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass, Lewis, a shareholder advisory service.<ref>Stewart, James B. Disney War, p 494-495, 500</ref> Disney's board then gave the chairmanship position to board member [[George J. Mitchell|George Mitchell]]. However, the board did not immediately remove Eisner as chief executive.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McCarthy |first=Michael |date=March 5, 2004 |title=Disney strips chairmanship from Eisner |work=USA Today |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/media/2004-03-03-disney-shareholder-meeting_x.htm |url-status=live |access-date=October 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309120130/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/media/2004-03-03-disney-shareholder-meeting_x.htm |archive-date=March 9, 2021}}</ref>

On March 13, 2005, Eisner announced that he would step down as CEO one year before his contract expired, and handed off day-to-day duties to [[Bob Iger]], who had been serving as Disney's President and Chief Operating Officer and had just been selected by the directors as the CEO-designate.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2017-03-30 |title=How to do CEO succession planning right, and how to do it wrong |newspaper=Financial Post |publisher=Bloomberg News |url=https://financialpost.com/executive/how-to-do-ceo-succession-planning-right-and-how-to-do-it-wrong |url-status=live |access-date=2018-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421092452/http://business.financialpost.com/executive/how-to-do-ceo-succession-planning-right-and-how-to-do-it-wrong |archive-date=April 21, 2017}}</ref> Eisner did not initially promote Iger as a successor until after the board put pressure on Eisner to resign. To reporters and contrary to his actual intentions, Eisner remarked that "I would not have agreed to [leave] if it hadn't been Bob. Because of governance, they wanted a big search and everything. ... And by the end of the search, it was clear that I was able to convince the board—our newly constructed board—that Bob was great."<ref name="hollywoodreporter1" /> Within Disney, though, Eisner was telling Board members that Iger lacked "stature".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stewart |first=James B. |date=2016-04-07 |title=Behind the Scenes at Disney as It Purged a Favorite Son |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/business/media/behind-the-scenes-at-disney-as-it-purged-a-favorite-son.html |access-date=2023-06-03 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> On September 30, Eisner resigned both as an executive and as a member of the board of directors, and, severing all formal ties with the company, he waived his contractual rights to perks such as the use of a corporate jet and an office at the company's [[Burbank, California|Burbank]] headquarters.<ref name="nytimes2005" />

While Eisner did much to stabilize and promote Disney in his early years as CEO, his performance in later years garnered much criticism. "Beginning with the lavish, even reckless spending on Euro Disney, and continuing with the poorly planned and executed foray into the Internet, and perhaps worst of all, the acquisition of the Fox Family cable network - each of which is a more than $1 billion mistake - Eisner squandered Disney's assets. ... This is even before considering the exit of Jeffery Katzenberg, the failure to honour his contract, and the hiring and firing of Michael Ovitz, personnel and judgment errors, which, in the cost to Disney and the vitriol and publicity they generated, are without parallel in American business history. ... Eisner controlled and manipulated the board by keeping members isolated, preferring to communicate one-on-one; selectively doling out information, access and benefits ... and ruthlessly dispatching anyone who dared challenge him."<ref>Stewart, James B. Disney War, p 530-531</ref>

In his book ''The Ride of a Lifetime'', Bob Iger quotes Eisner answering criticism for micro-managing as saying: "Micromanaging is underrated".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Iger |first=Robert |title=The Ride Of A Lifetime |publisher=Random House |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-399-59209-6 |location=United States of America |page=84 |language=EN}}</ref>

In January 2006, Disney's corporate headquarters in Burbank was renamed to [[Team Disney|Team Disney – The Michael D. Eisner Building]] in Eisner's honor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Seven Dwarfs That Carry The Building |url=http://www.travel-studies.com/blogs/seven-dwarfs-carry-building |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405172212/http://www.travel-studies.com/blogs/seven-dwarfs-carry-building |archive-date=April 5, 2017 |access-date=2018-01-06 |publisher=Travel Studies}}</ref>