- Born
- Height1.91 m
- For four decades, Michael Eisner has been a leader in the American entertainment industry. He began his career at ABC, overseeing shows including Happy Days, Barney Miller, and Roots. He became president of Paramount Pictures in 1976, turning out hit films including Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saturday Night Fever, and Grease. IN 1984 Michael assumed the position of Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company and, in the ensuing 21 years, transformed it from a film and theme park company worth $1.8 billion into a global media empire now valued at over $170 billion. In 2005, Michael founded The Tornante Company, a privately held media & entertainment holding company. Today Tornante owns Topps, Inc., Portsmouth Football Club in England, and has a large and growing television division, including ownership of BoJack Horseman and Tucca and Bertie for Netflix, as well as Undone for Amazon. He and his wife, Jane, founded The Eisner Foundation in 1996 and recently focused the foundation on inter-generational solutions. He was born on March 7, 1942 in New York and later attended Lawrenceville School and Denison University. He and Jane have three sons, Breck, Eric and Anders and three daughters-in-law, plus nine grandchildren.- IMDb mini biography by: The Tornante Company
- SpouseJane Eisner(July 22, 1967 - present) (3 children)
- Children
- In the early 1990s, after he cashed out some of the options he enjoyed which were tied to the performance of the Walt Disney Company, he walked away with over $100 million in cash.
- Under his leadership, Disney was transformed from a movie studio and theme park company to one of the largest media powerhouses in the world. The company's market capitalization grew from $2 billion in 1984 to $61 billion in 2001. The company is now worth $50 billion.
- While he was an executive at Paramount Pictures, he said the best screenplay he ever read was Les Aventuriers de l'arche perdue (1981).
- When dissatisfied with his work at NBC, he mailed out hundreds of resumés to further his career. He received just one response - from Barry Diller at ABC.
- President and COO of Paramount Pictures (1976-1984). CEO and Chairman of the Walt Disney Company (1984-2005).
- [on what he would most like to be remembered for at Disney, in a Newsweek interview] Not screwing it up.
- Success is not a formula, but is based on everything else - the creativity, the right people, the right team.
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