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'''Michael Eisner''' (born [[March 7]], [[1942]]) has been the head of [[The Walt Disney Company]] since [[1984]].

Michael Eisner began his career at [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], moving to [[Paramount]], then to [[The Walt Disney Company]].

During his tenure at Paramount, the studio turned out such hit films as ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'', ''[[Grease (musical)|Grease]]'', the ''[[Star Trek]]'' film franchise and ''[[Beverly Hills Cop]]'', and hit TV shows such as ''[[Happy Days]]'', ''[[Laverne and Shirley]]'', ''[[Cheers]]'' and ''[[Family Ties]]''.

At [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]], he, [[Frank Wells]], and [[Jeffrey Katzenberg]] were brought on board to turn the floundering company's fortunes around. In the next ten years the studio became one of the world's largest media companies. Under their leadership, Disney rebuilt its once legendary animation department, and the division had a "golden age" with annual box office hits with such regularity that even their creative structure started to be known as the "Disney formula."  Disney also broadened its adult offerings in film with its ventures in Touchstone Pictures, and a noted acquisition of [[Miramax Films]] in 1994.  This tremendous run culmunated with a surprise announcement by Eisner of Disney's takeover Capital Cities/ABC -  A stunning move involving the second largest corporate takeover in history up till that point, the largest in the field of media, with no leaks to the very same media which was involved in the deal.  Along with ABC (The number one network at the time), Disney acquired a slew of other media sources, including ESPN.

Eisner's role in this turnaround, and Disney's growth into one of the leading media firms, is a subject to passionate debate by many historians and Disney fans, though he is generally given the bulk of the credit for transforming Disney into a provider of entertainment.  [[Frank Wells|Wells]] died in a plane crash in 1994.  Soon after having [[heart bypass surgery]] in 1994, he fired [[Jeffrey Katzenberg]]. This may have been sparked by Katzenburg feeling that he was owed money, which resulted in him launching a lawsuit which was settled.

In 2003, [[Roy Edward Disney]], nephew of founder [[Walt Disney]], resigned from [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]], accusing  Eisner of micro-mangement, failures with ABC, timidity in the [[theme park]] business, turning the Walt Disney Company into a "rapacious, soul-less" company, and of refusing to establish a clear succession plan.  ([http://sources.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Edward_Disney_resignation_letter Text of resignation letter])  On [[March 3]], [[2004]], at Disney's annual shareholders' meeting, a surprising 43% of Disney's shareholders, predominantly rallied by former board members Roy Disney and [[Stanley Gold]], voted to oppose the reelction of Eisner as chairman and CEO.  While not enough to formally oust the nearly 20-year Disney CEO, the major vote of no-confidence has led to speculation that Eisner will either be forced to resign or be fired by the board of directors.

His sons are [[Breck Eisner|Breck]], [[Eric Eisner|Eric]], and [[Joe Eisner]].

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====References====
* Adapted from the [[Wikipedia]] article, "Michael_Eisner" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Eisner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Eisner], used under the [[GNU Free Documentation License]]