English Entertainment
Disney to name Eisner’s successor by June 2005
MUMBAI: Following a meeting that was held on 21 September, the board of the Walt Disney Company announced that a successor to CEO Michael Eisner would be chosen by June 2005.
An official release, revealing the outcome of the board meeting, says the Disney board plans to engage an executive search in selecting a CEO who possesses the qualities and experience that are essential for this important position.
“The Board will engage in a thorough, careful, and reasoned process to select as the next CEO the best person for the company, its shareholders, employees, customers, and for the many millions of others who care so much about the Walt Disney Company,” offers the release.
Earlier last week Eisner had announced that he was stepping down as CEO. He had anointed company’s second-in-command, the president and COO, Bob Iger as his successor.
“Bob Iger is the one internal candidate,” the release says. “He is an outstanding executive and the board regards him as highly qualified for the position. However, the board believes that the process should include full consideration of external candidates as well.”
Once a new CEO is named, the board will then select a new chairman, adds the release.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
