Michael Eisner

Eisner was born to an affluent, secular Jewish familyPinsky, Mark I., [https://books.google.com/books?id=YGtbYTyulb4C&dq=jane+breckenridge+eisner&pg=PA126 The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust] p. 123-129[https://financialpost.com/opinion/lawrence-solomon-the-jewish-press-and-israel Financial Post: "Lawrence Solomon: The Jewish press and Israel" by Lawrence Solomon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812013435/http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/lawrence-solomon-the-jewish-press-and-israel |date=August 12, 2016 }} 30 November 2012{{Cite book |last=Brook |first=Vincent |url=https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=purduepress_previews |title=From Shtetl to Stardom: Jews and Hollywood: Chapter 1: Still an Empire of Their Own: How Jews Remain Atop a Reinvented Hollywood |date=December 15, 2016 |publisher=Purdue University Press |isbn=9781557537638 |page=15 |access-date=October 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723222021/https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=purduepress_previews |archive-date=July 23, 2018 |url-status=live}} in Mount Kisco, New York. His mother, Margaret (née Dammann), whose family founded the American Safety Razor Company, was the president of the Irvington Institute, a hospital that treated children with rheumatic fever. His father, Lester Eisner, Jr., was a lawyer and regional administrator of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/19/obituaries/lester-eisner-jr-dies-at-73-former-us-housing-official.html New York Times: "Lester Eisner Jr. Dies at 73; Former U.S. Housing Official"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214210342/http://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/19/obituaries/lester-eisner-jr-dies-at-73-former-us-housing-official.html |date=February 14, 2017 }} 19 June 1987 His great-grandfather,Sigmund Eisner obituary, NY Times, 6 January 1925 Sigmund Eisner, established a successful clothing company that was one of the first uniform suppliers to the Boy Scouts of America and his great-grandmother, Bertha Weiss, belonged to an immigrant family that established the town of Red Bank, New Jersey. Eisner has one sister, Margot Freedman.

He was raised on Park Avenue in Manhattan. He attended the Allen-Stevenson School kindergarten through ninth grade followed by The Lawrenceville School in 10th through his senior year and graduated from Denison University in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in English.{{Cite web |title=Michael Eisner |url=http://www.michaeleisner.com/bio/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310085440/http://www.michaeleisner.com/bio |archive-date=March 10, 2016 |access-date=20 February 2016 |publisher=michaeleisner.com}} He is a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity{{Cite web |title=Delta Upsilon Fraternity |url=https://www.sjsu.edu/getinvolved/frso/groups/ifc/du/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141214163645/http://www.sjsu.edu/getinvolved/frso/groups/ifc/du/ |archive-date=December 14, 2014 |access-date=11 December 2014 |publisher=San Jose State University |df=mdy-all}}{{Cite web |title=Delta Upsilon Fraternity |url=https://enrollment.rochester.edu/RocWorld/?p=3810 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141120194722/https://enrollment.rochester.edu/RocWorld/?p=3810 |archive-date=20 November 2014 |access-date=11 December 2014 |publisher=University of Rochester}} and credits much of his success to his time at Keewaydin Canoe Camp for boys in Vermont.

After two brief stints at NBC and CBS, Barry Diller at ABC hired Eisner as assistant to the national programming director. Eisner moved up the ranks, eventually becoming a senior vice president in charge of programming and development. In 1976, Diller, who had by then moved on to become chairman of Paramount Pictures, recruited Eisner from ABC and made him president and COO of the movie studio. During his tenure at Paramount, the studio produced films such as Saturday Night Fever, Grease, the Star Trek film franchise, Ordinary People, Raiders of the Lost Ark, An Officer and a Gentleman, Flashdance, Terms of Endearment, Beverly Hills Cop, and Footloose, and TV shows such as Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Cheers and Family Ties.

Diller left Paramount on September 30, 1984, and, as his protégé, Eisner expected to assume Diller's position as studio chief. When he was passed over for the job, though, he left to look for work elsewhere and lobbied for the position of CEO of the Walt Disney Company.{{cite news |last1=Harmetz |first1=Aljean |title=DISNEY NAMES MOVIE AND TV HEAD |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/01/business/disney-names-movie-and-tv-head.html |access-date=2 November 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=1 October 1984}}

Following the deaths of founders Walt Disney in 1966, and Roy O. Disney in 1971, the Walt Disney Company narrowly survived several takeover attempts. Its shareholders Sid Bass and Roy E. Disney brought in Eisner (as CEO and chairman of the board) and former Warner Bros. chief Frank Wells (as president) to replace Ron W. Miller in 1984 and strengthen the company. Eisner brought in Jeffrey Katzenberg as Walt Disney Studios chairman.

A couple of years after becoming chairman and CEO, Eisner became the host of The Wonderful World of Disney, making him the public face of the company as well as its top executive. Eisner was not a performer by profession, and studio management did not believe he could do the hosting job. After filming a test video with his wife Jane and a member of his executive team (which required multiple takes) Eisner "came across as stiff and awkward ... Disney executives ... were pretty much unanimous that the test was a failure....Eisner stubbornly persisted in the face of almost unanimous criticism."Stewart, James B, Disney War, p77-78 Eisner hired Michael Kay, a director of political commercials for then-U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, to help him improve his on-camera performance.{{Cite book |last=Kim Masters |url=https://archive.org/details/keystokingdomris00mast |title=The Keys to the Kingdom: The Rise of Michael Eisner and the Fall of Everybody Else |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2000 |isbn=0-06-662109-7 |edition=2nd |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/keystokingdomris00mast/page/n192 189]–190 |chapter=13 |url-access=limited}} As a result, Eisner was well-recognized by children at the company's theme parks who often asked him for autographs.{{Cite news |last=Holson |first=Laura M. |date=September 26, 2005 |title=A Quiet Departure for Eisner at Disney |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/26/business/media/26eisner.html?_r=0 |url-status=live |access-date=October 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113102508/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/26/business/media/26eisner.html?_r=0 |archive-date=November 13, 2013}}

During the second half of the 1980s and early 1990s, Eisner revitalized Disney. Beginning with the films Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) which was brought to Disney by Jeffrey Katzenberg and The Little Mermaid (1989) a Ron Clements idea that Eisner originally panned,Stewart, James B. Disney War, p 71 its flagship animation studio enjoyed a series of commercial and critical successes. Disney also broadened its adult offerings in film when it acquired Miramax Films in 1993. Under Eisner, Disney acquired many other media sources, including ABC, most of ESPN, Fox Family Channel (now known as Freeform), Baby Einstein, and The Muppets franchise. The ABC purchase in particular reunited Eisner with his former employer.

In the early part of the 1990s, Eisner and his partners set out to plan "The Disney Decade" which was to feature new parks around the world, existing park expansions, new films, and new media investments. While some of the proposals were completed, most were not. Those completed included the Euro Disney Resort (now Disneyland Paris) which was vastly over budget, and had low attendance and was acknowledged by Eisner to be his "real financial disappointment",Stewart, James B. Disney War, p 144 Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios), Disney's California Adventure Park (now Disney California Adventure), Disney-MGM Studios Paris (eventually opened in 2002 as Walt Disney Studios Park), and various film projects including a Who Framed Roger Rabbit franchise. However, the lackluster success of Disney's Animal Kingdom in the years after its opening, general stagnation in Disney's revenues and various corporate issues and disputes would dampen Eisner's later career.{{cite web|access-date=2022-04-25|title=Eisner legacy: A bigger Disney|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2005-09-28-eisnerlegacy-story.html|website=Orlando Sentinel|date=September 28, 2005 }}

In 1993, Katzenberg had lobbied to become Eisner's second in command, which would have meant moving Frank Wells from president to vice chairman, to which Eisner 'replied that Wells would feel "hurt" in that scenario'.{{Cite web |date=2014-04-09 |title=The Epic Disney Blow-Up of 1994: Eisner, Katzenberg and Ovitz 20 Years Later |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/epic-disney-blow-up-1994-694476 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406132611/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/epic-disney-blow-up-1994-694476 |archive-date=April 6, 2020 |access-date=2018-01-06 |publisher=Hollywood Reporter}} Coincidentally, Wells died in a helicopter crash in 1994. When Eisner did not appoint Katzenberg to Wells' now available post, tensions arose between the two that led to Katzenberg's resignation. At the time, Eisner refused to pay Katzenberg his contractual bonus despite Katzenberg's offer to accept $60 million as a settlement, much less than was actually owed.Stewart, James B. Disney War, p 192 Katzenberg was forced to take the issue to court, who ruled in his favor. The final settlement was $280 million.Stewart, James B. Disney War, p 328 Katzenberg went on to found DreamWorks SKG, with partners Steven Spielberg and David Geffen.{{Cite web |date=2009-12-01 |title=Jeffrey Katzenberg Plans on Living Happily Ever After |work=Fast Company |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/1460606/jeffrey-katzenberg-plans-living-happily-ever-after |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406020230/https://www.fastcompany.com/1460606/jeffrey-katzenberg-plans-living-happily-ever-after |archive-date=April 6, 2017 |access-date=2018-01-06 |publisher=Fastcompany.com |last1=Borden |first1=Mark }} Eisner recalled that "Roy E. Disney, who did not like him at all — I forget the reason, but Jeffrey probably did not treat him the way that Roy would have wanted to be treated — said to me, 'If you make him the president, I will start a proxy fight.'"{{Cite web |date=2016-07-27 |title=Michael Eisner on Former Disney Colleagues, Rivals and Bob Iger's Successor |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/michael-eisner-disney-colleagues-rivals-914841 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006104637/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/michael-eisner-disney-colleagues-rivals-914841 |archive-date=October 6, 2016 |access-date=2018-01-06 |publisher=Hollywood Reporter}}

Eisner then recruited his friend Michael Ovitz, one of the founders of Creative Artists Agency, to be President with minimal involvement from Disney's board of directors (which at the time included Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier, the CEO of Hilton Hotels Corporation Stephen Bollenbach, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, Yale dean Robert A. M. Stern, and Eisner's predecessors Raymond Watson and Card Walker). Ovitz lasted only 14 months, partly due to outright hostility from Sandy Litvak and Steve Bollenbach and a lack of support by Eisner,Stewart, James B. Disney War, p 216 and left Disney in December 1996, via a "no fault termination" with a severance package of $38 million in cash, and 3 million stock options worth roughly $100 million, at the time of Ovitz's departure.{{Cite book |last=Webber |first=David H. |url=https://www.degruyter.com/viewbooktoc/product/511375 |title=The Rise of the Working-Class Shareholder: Labor's Last Best Weapon |date=April 2018 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-91946-4 |page=13 |author-link=David H. Webber |access-date=15 November 2019 |url-access=subscription}}{{Dead link|date=April 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The Ovitz episode engendered a long-running derivative suit, which finally concluded in June 2006, almost 10 years later. Chancellor William B. Chandler III of the Delaware Court of Chancery, despite describing Eisner's behavior as falling "far short of what shareholders expect and demand from those entrusted with a fiduciary position...", found in favor of Eisner and the rest of the Disney board because they had not violated the duty of care owed by a corporation's officers and board to its shareholders.{{cite court|litigants=In re The Walt Disney Company Derivative Litigation|vol=907|reporter=A.2d|opinion=693|court=Del. Ch.|date=August 9, 2005}}

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.{{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}} 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 Disney vice chairman and chairman of 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 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.{{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}}

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 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.Stewart, James B. Disney War, p 494-495, 500 Disney's board then gave the chairmanship position to board member George Mitchell. However, the board did not immediately remove Eisner as chief executive.{{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}}

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.{{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}} 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." Within Disney, though, Eisner was telling Board members that Iger lacked "stature".{{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}} 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 headquarters.

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."Stewart, James B. Disney War, p 530-531

In his book The Ride of a Lifetime, Bob Iger quotes Eisner answering criticism for micro-managing as saying: "Micromanaging is underrated".{{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}}

In January 2006, Disney's corporate headquarters in Burbank was renamed to Team Disney – The Michael D. Eisner Building in Eisner's honor.{{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}}

On October 7, 2005, Eisner was a guest host for the Charlie Rose talk show. His guests were John Travolta and his ex-boss, Barry Diller.{{Cite web |date=October 7, 2005 |title=Episode dated 7 October 2005 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0539078/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108234127/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0539078/ |archive-date=November 8, 2017 |access-date=June 29, 2018 |via=IMDb}} Impressed with Eisner's performance, CNBC President Mark Hoffman hired Eisner in early 2006 to host his own talk show, Conversations with Michael Eisner. The show mostly featured CEOs, political leaders, artists and actors,{{Cite web |date=April 4, 2016 |title=CNBC TV |url=https://www.cnbc.com/tv/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126222117/https://www.cnbc.com/tv/ |archive-date=January 26, 2020 |access-date=April 16, 2022 |website=CNBC}} until its cancellation in 2009. Eisner was also an executive producer of the show.{{Cite news |last=Petrecca |first=Laura |date=January 10, 2006 |title=Eisner to host CNBC show |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2006-01-10-eisner_x.htm |url-status=live |access-date=May 12, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523083950/http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2006-01-10-eisner_x.htm |archive-date=May 23, 2011}}

In March 2007, Eisner's investment firm, The Tornante Company, launched a studio, Vuguru, that produces and distributes videos for the Internet, portable media devices and cell phones. In October 2007, Eisner, through his Tornante Company investment firm, partnered with Madison Dearborn Partners in the acquisition of Topps Company, the bubble-gum and collectibles firm. He produced a mockumentary style show about his takeover of the Topps Company, called "Back on Topps." In January 2022, he sold Topps to Fanatics following its loss of the Major League Baseball licensing rights.{{Cite web |last=Faughnder |first=Ryan |date=4 January 2022 |title=Michael Eisner sells Topps sports trading card company after losing key licenses |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-01-04/michael-eisner-sell-topps-trading-card-company-after-losing-baseball-rights |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126025223/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-01-04/michael-eisner-sell-topps-trading-card-company-after-losing-baseball-rights |archive-date=January 26, 2022 |access-date=2022-01-26 |website=Los Angeles Times}} His investment firm has funded the critically acclaimed Netflix series BoJack Horseman.{{Cite news |last=Lieberman |first=David |date=2015-09-22 |title=A Decade After Disney: Michael Eisner On 'BoJack Horseman', 'Star Wars', Donald Trump (And Bert Fields) – Deadline Q&A |language=en-US |work=Deadline |url=https://deadline.com/2015/09/michael-eisner-disney-bojack-horseman-netflix-star-wars-donald-trump-1201541095/ |url-status=live |access-date=2018-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013211814/https://deadline.com/2015/09/michael-eisner-disney-bojack-horseman-netflix-star-wars-donald-trump-1201541095/ |archive-date=October 13, 2018}}

The College of Education at California State University, Northridge is named in his honor.{{cite web |url=https://www.csun.edu/eisner-education |title=College of Education |date=February 7, 2013 |publisher=California State University, Northridge |access-date=April 20, 2022}}

In 2009, Eisner used his own money to produce a claymation show called Glenn Martin, DDS.{{cite news |title=The awful tooth |url=https://www.bostonherald.com/2009/08/17/the-awful-tooth/ |access-date=April 19, 2022 |work=Boston Herald |date=17 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419180801/https://www.bostonherald.com/2009/08/17/the-awful-tooth/ |archive-date=April 19, 2022}}

He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2012.{{cite news |title=Luminaries, Legends Added To Television Hall Of Fame |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/luminaries-legends-added-to-television-hall-of-fame/ |access-date=April 19, 2022 |work=CBS News |date=March 1, 2012}}

In March 2017, came the revelation that Eisner was interested in a takeover of Portsmouth F.C., a football club in the south of England that had fallen on hard times after years of poor ownership, before being taken over by its fans. The club released a statement on March 23, 2017, that Eisner and his Tornante Company were in an exclusivity agreement. On August 3, 2017, came confirmation that Eisner and his Tornante Company had completed their purchase for a reported fee of £5.67 million.{{Cite web |date=23 March 2017 |title=Portsmouth and ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner to hold exclusive takeover talks |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/39371850 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819064149/https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/39371850 |archive-date=August 19, 2018 |access-date=1 April 2017 |publisher=BBC}}

After college in 1964, he met his future wife, Jane Breckenridge, a Unitarian of Swedish and Scottish descent. They have three sons: Breck, Eric and Anders Eisner.{{Cite news |last=Clarke |first=Stewart |date=3 August 2017 |title=Former Disney Boss Michael Eisner Seals Deal for English Soccer Team |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2017/tv/global/disney-michael-eisner-portsmouth-soccer-1202514705/ |url-status=live |access-date=26 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126012227/https://variety.com/2017/tv/global/disney-michael-eisner-portsmouth-soccer-1202514705/ |archive-date=January 26, 2022}}

• Work in Progress (1998) ({{ISBN|0-375-50071-5}})
• Camp (2005) ({{ISBN|978-0446533690}})
• Working Together: Why Great Partnerships Succeed (2010) ({{ISBN|978-0-06-173236-2}})

• 1994 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement{{Cite web |title=Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#business |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215023909/https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#business |archive-date=December 15, 2016 |access-date=October 13, 2020 |website=www.achievement.org |publisher=American Academy of Achievement}}
• 2001 Honor Award from the National Building Museum{{Cite web |last=National Building Museum |title=Honor Award |url=https://nbm.org/support-us/awards_honors/honor-award/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315060500/http://www.nbm.org/support-us/awards_honors/honor-award/ |archive-date=March 15, 2017 |access-date=September 30, 2013}}
• 2004 UJA-Federation of New York's Steven J. Ross Humanitarian of the Year Award{{Cite web |title=Entertainment, Media & Communications |url=https://www.ujafedny.org/entertainment-media-communications/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925155556/http://www.ujafedny.org/entertainment-media-communications/ |archive-date=September 25, 2012 |access-date=August 28, 2012 |publisher=UJA-Federation of New York |quote=Steven J. Ross Humanitarian of the Year Award Honorees ... 2004 Michael Eisner |df=mdy-all}}
• Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008.{{Cite web |last=Quick, Sonya |date=April 24, 2008 |title=Michael Eisner receiving star on Hollywood Walk of Fame Friday |url=http://ocresort.ocregister.com/2008/04/24/michael-eisner-will-receive-star-on-the-hollywood-walk-of-fame-friday/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723062950/http://ocresort.ocregister.com/2008/04/24/michael-eisner-will-receive-star-on-the-hollywood-walk-of-fame-friday/ |archive-date=July 23, 2011 |publisher=Orange County Register |quote=Movie mogul and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner will be honored Friday with the 2,361st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The 11:30 a.m. ceremony will be attended by Eisner, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Leron Gubler, Walt Disney Co. President and CEO Bob Iger and actor John Travolta. His star will join other Disney figures already in place on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (please comment if we've missed one): Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Walt Disney, Roy Disney and Snow White.}}
• Inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame on March 1, 2012.{{Cite web |last=Glazer, Mikey |date=March 2, 2012 |title=Chuck Lorre, Michael Eisner, Bunim/Murray Inducted Into TV Academy Hall of Fame |url=https://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/chuck-lorre-michael-eisner-bunimmurray-inducted-tv-academy-hall-fame-35913 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501075547/http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/chuck-lorre-michael-eisner-bunimmurray-inducted-tv-academy-hall-fame-35913 |archive-date=May 1, 2012 |access-date=August 28, 2012 |publisher=The Wrap News, Inc. |quote="Tonight, we are here to celebrate people who are not French," Jon Cryer joked as he opened the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame Induction at the Beverly Hills Hotel Thursday night. The non-French 2012 inductees are CBS sitcom king Chuck Lorre, Michael Eisner, reality pioneers Bunim/Murray Productions ("The Real World," "A Simple Life," "Keeping up with the Kardashians"), Mario Kruetzenberg (Don Francisco, of "Sabado Gigante" fame), lighting designer Bill Klages (Emmys, Tonys, Grammys, Golden Globes and the 1984 Olympics), and late "I Love Lucy" cast members Vivian Vance and William Frawley.}}

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• The Disney Touch: How a Daring Management Team Revived an Entertainment Empire by Ron Grover (Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1991), {{ISBN|1-55623-385-X}}
• DisneyWar by James B. Stewart, Simon & Schuster, 2005, {{ISBN|0-684-80993-1}}
• Work in Progress by Michael Eisner with Tony Schwartz (Random House, 1998), {{ISBN|978-0-375-50071-8}}

• {{Official website|http://www.michaeleisner.com/}}
• {{IMDb name|4894|Michael Eisner}}
• [https://eisnerfoundation.org/ Eisner Foundation]
• {{EmmyTVLegends name|michael-eisner}}
• {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20071115202507/http://aspen.plumtv.com/videos/michael_eisner Michael Eisner's Interview on Plum]}}
• Michael Eisner on [https://www.aspeninstitute.org/team/board-of-trustees/ Aspen Institute Board of Trustees]

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{{Succession box| title=Disney Chairman | before=Raymond Watson | after=George J. Mitchell | years=1984–2004 }}

{{Succession box| title=Disney CEO | before=Ron W. Miller | after=Robert Iger | years=1984–2005 }}

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{{The Tornante Company}}

{{2012 Television Hall of Fame}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisner, Michael}}

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