Building a better mouse

November 13, 2006 When the time came in fall 2004 for the board of directors of the Walt Disney Co. to select a CEO successor for the enigmatic Michael Eisner, Robert A. Iger was the logical choice. After a 25-year career at ABC, Iger had spent the previous five years as Eisner's second-in-command as Disney's president and chief operating officer, during which time he instituted a top-to-bottom overhaul of Disney's international operations and brought a cohesive approach to the marketing of the company's golden family-friendly brand name around the world. There were questions, posed loudly by a chorus of harsh critics, who at that time included maverick Disney shareholders Roy Disney and Stanley Gold.

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