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Bazooka Joe is the next Mickey Mouse? Is Michael Eisner serious?

Zac Bissonnette — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:45:00 EST

Filed under: Newspapers, Marketing and Advertising, Walt Disney (DIS)

After months of fighting, Tornante/Madison Dearborn Partners' deal to acquire Topps finally received the approval of the company's shareholders in September.

Now former Disney (NYSE: DIS) CEO Michael Eisner, who controls Tornante, has a plan for Topps. In an interview with the USA Today, Eisner said that he has big plans for Bazooka Joe: "Bazooka Joe is my new Mickey Mouse."

Eisner points out that most movie heroes from the past few years have been old comic book characters: Spider-Man, X-Men, and Superman.

Depending on how you look at it, Eisner is one of two things: a visionary, or an idiot. The problem is that Bazooka Joe is just not as iconic as any of the cartoon characters that have recently had big resurgences. If they put together an amazing movie, anything is possible, but I just don't see anyone flocking to the theater to see the new Bazooka Joe movie -- unless that can get Zac Efron to play Joe. And if they can do that, Efron needs to fire his agent.

His other ideas for the company are more reasonable. Eisner believes that the trading card industry has been taken over by hardcore collectors, and that the company needs to focus on making cards fun for kids again, the original intended market.

One thing's for sure: Eisner has big plans for Topps. And if he can pull even a fraction of it off, the controversial Topps buyout is going to look like one of the greatest fleecings of minority shareholders in recent memory.

Bazooka Joe is the next Mickey Mouse? Is Michael Eisner serious? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jobs assures shareholders his main Job will still be at Apple

Howard Tsung — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Management, Internet, Apple Inc (AAPL)

In an interesting turn of events, with Disney's impending purchase of Pixar for $7.4 billion, Steve Jobs will become Disney's largest shareholder. Apple shareholders of course are concerned that he will take on significant responsibility at Disney, reducing his focus on Apple's success.

Jobs commented that with Pixar being folded into Disney, his time commitment will be signficantly less at Disney than it was at Pixar.

The roles if Jobs did want to take the helm at Disney are the CEO and Chairman of the Board positions. In the CEO post, Iger just replaced Eisner and Jobs commented to the Associated Press that his "interest is really just being on the board" (AP). The current Chairman of the Board, George Mitchell, completes his term next year and may decide to retire. Jobs remarked that he did not see himself becoming Disney's chairman, but didn't rule out the possibilty either.

Jobs assures shareholders his main Job will still be at Apple originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Apr 2006 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eisner and Time Warner invest in YouTube/Google Video challenger Veoh Networks

Howard Tsung — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:28:00 EST

Filed under: Products and Services, Launches, Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Time Warner (TWX)

Michael Eisner hasn't been up to much since his departure from Disney.

It looks though, like Eisner is eyeing the Online Video space. With broadband becoming more and more prevalent in US homes, the technological infrastructure/capability for streaming videos is reaching fruition. With American Idol and the plethora of reality t.v. shows abounding, there is a discernible trend towards amateur/'real' videos and the corresponding stars and starlets.

The space is still being defined, but already net giant Google and Yahoo are getting positioned with video versions of their respective search engines.

Google Video is a portal type page which is hoping to bridge the gap between amateur and licensed videos and programming.

YouTube though is arguably the most successful player in this space, pulling in 9 million users a month (according to Nielson/NetRatings)

Eisner will also sit on the board of directors for Veoh. The online network space is a very interesting one and one to keep an eye on.

For Time Warner the natural motives would be to incorporate Veoh or a module/shell into its AOL portal. The distribution aspect is also huge as Time Warner's video content is tremendous (ie. Warner Brothers).

Eisner and Time Warner invest in YouTube/Google Video challenger Veoh Networks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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