Book Paints Unflattering Portrait of Disney’s Iger

ABC entertainment Chairman Lloyd Braun walked into Vincenti restaurant in Brentwood and extended a hand to his boss, Disney President Robert Iger, who did not reciprocate.

Instead, Iger warned his lieutenant on that night in November 2003, “I’m going to let you have it.”

But it was Braun who let fly, according to a passage from a draft of James B. Stewart’s upcoming book “DisneyWar.” Braun accused Iger of “lack of character; incompetence; taking credit for things you had nothing to do with; and running away from decisions you made.”

When Braun alleged that his boss hadn’t had a hand in one of ABC’s few successes at the time, the “reality” show “The Bachelor,” Iger was irate. He jumped out of his chair, jostling a waiter who spilled coffee down Iger’s shirt front, ruining his tie.

The portrait of Iger that emerges in the 804-page draft of Stewart’s book -- a copy of which was obtained by The Times -- is one of an embattled and sometimes insecure man who hungers for respect and recognition, especially from his boss, Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner.

The book, which won’t hit stores until later this month but already is the talk of Hollywood, couldn’t come at a worse moment for Iger. He is widely seen as the front-runner to become Disney’s next CEO, a candidacy now backed by Eisner.

“The timing isn’t good at all,” said New York media analyst and longtime Disney watcher Harold Vogel.

Disney board members are scheduled to meet Thursday, on the eve of the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Minneapolis, to discuss their search for Eisner’s replacement, who is expected to be named by June. The Disney directors already have been fully briefed on the book’s contents, a person familiar with the matter said.

At a minimum, “DisneyWar” could complicate what increasingly appeared to be shaping up as a smooth ascension for Iger, the lone internal candidate to succeed Eisner. Once dismissed by Wall Street as being too close to Eisner and not a strong leader in his own right, Iger has overcome many reservations in the investment community as Disney has turned around its financial performance over the last year.

Disney cooperated extensively with Stewart while he researched his book. But in recent weeks, the Burbank entertainment giant has been battling behind the scenes with the author and his publisher, Viacom Inc.-owned Simon & Schuster, over unflattering passages about Iger and Eisner that Disney executives have insisted are slanted or erroneous. Some of those complaints, according to a source familiar with Disney’s communications, have been addressed in footnotes, parenthetical sentences or rewording in the book’s final version.

Representatives for Disney, which also obtained a draft of “DisneyWar,” have suggested that legal action could be brought against Simon & Schuster if the book were found to contain inaccuracies, according to two sources. For its part, Simon & Schuster sternly warned Disney in a letter not to disseminate copies of the draft, which was obtained without the publisher’s permission.

Asked by The Times to comment on the draft of Stewart’s book, a Disney spokesman would say only: “This flagrantly irresponsible article does not rise to a level that merits the dignity of a response.”

Stewart, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has written a half-dozen other books including the bestselling “Den of Thieves” and “Blood Sport,” declined to comment. Simon & Schuster Executive Vice President David Rosenthal said, “We feel the book speaks for itself, and we stand behind it.”

The book hasn’t yet come off the presses, sources say, but it is in its final form and won’t be changed at this point.

Although Stewart’s latest undertaking contains no bombshells, “DisneyWar” could well prove troublesome not only for Iger but for Eisner, whose 20-year legacy could be further hurt by Stewart’s character analysis and tales of pettiness.

In one passage of the book, Stewart describes a pivotal meeting of the Disney board in September 2002, during which Eisner continued an alleged pattern of expressing reservations and even outright opposition to Iger’s promotion to CEO. At the meeting, which Iger attended, Eisner complained about dissident directors Roy E. Disney and Stanley P. Gold, who would later resign from the board and lead a shareholder revolt against him.

“Stanley and Roy are trying to get rid of me. They don’t think I can run this company. But who do you think can? Bob?” Eisner asked, turning to Iger and adding dismissively, “Bob can’t run this company.”

After an awkward silence, Stewart reports, some directors looked shellshocked and the meeting was quickly adjourned. The next day, Iger received a note from Roy Disney, saying: “I’ve never seen anyone treated so badly.”

Sources say Eisner has complained that this is an inaccurate portrayal of what happened at the board meeting. Eisner’s memory is that he told the board it was Gold and Roy Disney who thought Iger was unqualified -- a version of events that Stewart accounts for in a footnote in the edition of “DisneyWar” that’s ready for the presses, according to the source familiar with Disney’s complaints.

Throughout the manuscript, Iger is depicted as being wounded by Eisner’s slights, including one that came in July at investment banker Herbert Allen Jr.’s annual media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Stewart writes that Eisner promised Iger he would introduce him as his heir apparent at the conference, which attracts the world’s most powerful media figures. But during his presentation to a standing-room-only crowd, Eisner never mentioned Iger.

“Iger rose from his seat and stalked out of the room, obviously angry, prompting a buzz of speculation,” Stewart writes.

Iger had felt the sting of disrespect before.

In August 1999, while vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard, he received a “worried phone call” from Disney board member Thomas Murphy. Murphy was Iger’s mentor and had been his boss when they ran Capital Cities/ABC before Disney’s acquisition of the company.

Murphy told Iger, who then headed ABC, that he and other board members had recently talked to Eisner about succession. The Disney chief used the opportunity to “launch a long catalog of Iger’s weaknesses and faults,” Stewart writes. Murphy quoted Eisner as saying that Iger lacked “the stature” to head Disney and could “never succeed me.”

“I hate to tell you this,” Murphy told Iger, according to the draft, “but you have to leave. Michael doesn’t want you at the company.”

Iger was clearly “devastated by the advice,” Stewart writes.

That fall, when Eisner approached Iger about becoming his No. 2, the executive was skeptical, according to Stewart.

“Are you sure?” Iger asked. “You seem to be hot and cold on me.” Appearing “startled,” Eisner responded, “What do you mean?” Iger didn’t reveal what Murphy had told him, Stewart writes.

Even when Iger was promoted to the Disney presidency in early 2000, he knew he’d have to “overcome Eisner’s deep-seated anxiety about being upstaged by a strong number two,” Stewart writes.

Just before the promotion became official, Stewart writes, Iger felt compelled to reassure his boss that he was no threat: “I’m not trying to take your job. It’s enough to be president of the Walt Disney Co.”

Iger’s emergence as front-runner to succeed Eisner is based, in part, on the ratings revival of Disney’s ABC network, over which Iger has responsibility. The draft of Stewart’s book, however, raises questions about how much credit Iger deserves.

Stewart writes that Iger hated the ABC program “Lost” -- until it became one of this season’s biggest hits. Braun, who championed the show, and ABC Entertainment President Susan Lyne, who shepherded the network’s other new ratings giant, “Desperate Housewives,” were fired in April after repeated clashes with Iger.

Both Braun and Lyne declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Stewart tells of a show that Iger conceived. Called “Stacey’s Mom,” it was about a “hot mom” whose house was a favorite of neighborhood boys. The show was never produced.

The subject of ABC’s performance also came up during a two-day board retreat in 2003 at Walt Disney World, according to Stewart, and provided Eisner with another opportunity to question Iger’s leadership ability and creative skills.

When Iger left after giving a presentation on ABC’s ratings woes, the talk turned to succession. “If I had to choose,” Eisner said, “it would not be Bob.”

Iger was not the only one to suffer Eisner’s slights, according to Stewart.

The book recounts Eisner’s well-publicized dust-ups with former film chief Jeffrey Katzenberg and former President Michael Ovitz. But it also suggests there were tensions between Eisner and a man he once said had been his “most treasured colleague”: the late Disney President Frank Wells, with whom Eisner worked for 10 years.

Shortly before Wells was killed in a 1994 helicopter crash, Stewart writes, he was so frustrated he confided to Disney board member Gold that he dreaded going to work.

“I hate it. I hate Michael Eisner. I can’t go in there anymore,” Stewart quotes Wells as saying.

Eisner’s contempt was directed further down the Disney food chain as well, according to Stewart’s manuscript. In one passage, he calls his theme park executives “monkeys.” “They don’t have any brains; they’re not that smart,” Eisner is quoted as saying. “It’s a simple business.”

In his challenge of the manuscript’s accuracy, Eisner said he never called theme park executives “monkeys” -- a denial noted in the book’s final version, said the source familiar with Disney’s complaints.

Iger himself also has disputed at least one paragraph in the book, the source said. It states that Iger vented his frustrations to outside executives about his devaluation within the company.

“I just feel every time I pick up a magazine I read there isn’t any successor,” he is quoted as telling one confidant who is not identified. “I’m invisible. No one takes me seriously. I’m miserable.” The final manuscript is said to include a denial by Iger that he was “miserable.”