Word: ovitz
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...fusses over its "guests," Walt Disney Co. can treat its shareholders as if they'd been caught littering the Magic Kingdom. Its CEO, Michael Eisner, already a model for runaway executive pay, made investors livid last year by running up a $100 million tab in hiring and firing Michael Ovitz. More recently the stock has lagged the market, dogged by boycotts by religious groups protesting everything from racy movies to personnel policies and, potentially far worse for shareholders, by concerns that the formula for the Mouse's wholesome animated films has grown stale. Never mind that Disney shares, including dividends...
Most insiders think Tarses' job is safe for now, if only because Disney and ABC can ill afford the embarrassment of another high-profile executive shake-up. Last December, Michael Ovitz, the former superagent who spearheaded the effort to hire Tarses, resigned after a troubled 14-month tenure as Eisner's No. 2 executive. The news division is currently going through a rocky transition, as longtime president Roone Arledge has been promoted and his successor, David Westin, is weathering a messy scandal over his affair with the network's top public relations executive, Sherrie Rollins...
...feeling at Disney--perhaps because of an overzealous reading of management's mood--that the Ellen decision might best be delayed until after last February's Disney stockholders' meeting so that chairman Michael Eisner would be spared having to defend that as well as his salary and Mike Ovitz's lavish payout. "When Disney or ABC were worried about boycotts or this or that, I kept saying to everybody, 'I'm the one who's going to get the biggest boycott,'" says DeGeneres. "'You can cancel the show, you can go and make another one. It's not going...
...interested in business while he was playing ball. "I don't know everything, but I get caught up on what I don't know." He's got some fancy tutoring too. Among those who help him brush up on balance-sheet analysis is former Walt Disney Co. president Michael Ovitz, a close friend. Adds Lombard: "Earvin is a tremendous businessman. He has the same level of vision that he had on the court and the same control in knowing when to pull the trigger and when...
...Some of Ovitz's former friends in Hollywood are surprised by this story, observing that Ovitz might have done better than just thanking Bronfman for taking care of his old man--and then asking for more. But then again, Ovitz is out of a job, and he can't be too careful. He has to make every million count...