Storming The Magic Kingdom - Wall Street, The Raiders, and the Battle for Disney

STORMING THE MAGIC KINGDOM recounts how a band of corporate raiders and Wall Street mercenaries launched an assault on the champion of American values-- Walt Disney Productions. In January 1984, Disney stock fell far below the value of the company's assets. In March 1984, corporate raider Saul Steinberg was ready to pounce. His plan--gain control of Disney then split it apart by selling the studio and real estate to investors and keeping the theme parks. As word spread, Disney stock was traded frantically. Disney management took desperate maneuvers to beat off the attack. If Steinberg took control, the company that they believed embodied every American childhood, would disappear. From Publishers Weekly: Disney is once again a golden name in Hollywood, but three years ago that wasn't the case, prompting a Disney family rift that erupted in a struggle for company control. But what Disney insiders saw as a mismanaged family business looked to Wall Street like a prime takeover candidate; the family squabble set off a chain of events that had such formidable financiers as Saul Steinberg, the Bass Brothers, even Ivan Boesky grappling for keys to the Magic Kingdom. Taylor, of Manhattan Inc., provides a detailed, conference-call-by-conference-call account of the ensuing paper war, in a narrative as fast-paced and exciting as a classic Disney adventure, with the company itself playing the Hayley Mills part: the imperiled, innocent heroine who at the end emerges harried but unharmed and more than a little wiser for the wear. Keeping financial jargon to a minimum, Taylor makes the Byzantine mechanics of contemporary finance easy to follow, shedding light on the takeover phenomenon and on the risks facing companies whose dearest assets are the creative talents of their employees. Customer Review: In the early 1980's Walt Disney Productions was coasting along on the inertia of Walt and Roy Disney. Corporate raiders scented blood and began stalking. John Taylor made corporate history interesting. The sterile world of money-grubbing capitalism provides the funding for production--but sometimes the "bottom line" people see only green and forget how they got there. "Storming the Magice Kingdom" details why and how Roy E. Disney (Roy O.'s son and Walt's nephew) got Michael Eisner to take over as Disney's CEO. Copyright 1987 means that the book's data ended somewhere in 1986, before the Golden Age of "The Lion King" and other great animated features of the early 1990's, before Frank Wells died in a helicopter crash, before Michael Eisner fell out with most of his friends and co-workers, before the big anti-Disney boycots... Funny--Walt Disney Productions was going to be bought out when its stock was $47 a share (in 1984 dollars)--I just checked my Disney stock and it's around $25 a share, down $10 from what I paid for it in 1998. If I was as enamored of money as I am with books and movies, I'd be put out. Will corporate raiders return? Who is the next Michael Eisner? I was only ten when Walt Disney died, and only fifteen when Roy O. Disney died. I'd rather see another Walt and Roy Disney--visionaries. Roy E. Disney and his brain trust forced changes on the Disney Company--one of these changes was Michael Eisner. It saved the company from break-up, especially the animation department. Today, the Disney Company has gotten out of the traditional hand-drawn 2D animation--the bean counters say "too expensive!" Look at the motion picture industry--theater receipts down for the third year in a row. I think the problem is poor movies--the same problem that dogged Walt Disney Productions shortly after Walt died until the release of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "The Little Mermaid." Today's Disney Company lost its heart, the animation department, the very thing Roy E. Disney campaigned to save when he championed Michael Eisner. Walt Disney's empire enjoyed a synergy between theme parks, television, live action motion pictures, animated features, a valuable bank of cartoon shorts, merchandising (all those plush Mickeys!), and even a publishing branch. That's a lot of ground for any one human to oversee! "Storming the Magic Kingdom" tells why and how Michael Eisner came to power. this book helped me to understand how the Disney Company got into its current situation.