Profits at the Walt Disney Company have soared as the studio has been moving back into family programming and jettisoning its adult-oriented ventures, according to Reuters. Disney CEO Robert Iger has quickly reversed the move toward a hipper, edgier approach spearheaded by longtime Disney head Michael Eisner.
Disney grew rapidly under Eisner’s leadership, but much of that growth in the early years can be attributed to Jeffrey Katzenberg, who rejuvenated the company’s film division with its turn toward spunkier animated movies. Subsequent growth was based on Eisner’s attenuation of the Disney image. Eventually this would have been an unsustainable situation, as Disney moved farther and farther away from its founder’s legacy and increasingly became just another producer of snarky programming aimed at the adolescent in all of us.
Iger arrived just in time and has made the right moves.