Steve Jobs ( Steve Jobs) has a deep relationship with Disney. In the early 2000s, Jobs played a key role in Disney's business strategy. At the same time, Jobs and Disney CEO Bob Iger (Bob Iger) are not only business partners, but also close friends for many years.
In this excerpt from The Age of Binge: Taking Down Netflix in Hollywood's Fierce Billion-Dollar Battle,
reveals how Jobs inspired former Disney CEO Iger to ultimately lead Disney into the digital age. Next, let's take a look at what kind of " love and hate " do Jobs and Disney have?
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In the past ten years, Disney and Jobs have always worked closely together, but in 2004, when they began to discuss the contract renewal issue, due to interests, Disney’s then CEO Michael Eisner ( Michael Eisner had a falling out with Steve Jobs.
Michael Esner
Jobs wanted to share the ownership of the cooperative film with Disney, but this proposal was rejected by Disney, and the price issue was not negotiated. The two parties were very unhappy, so after the release of "Cars" Cooperation terminated.
Iger, who was promoted to Disney CEO in 2005, had been an affable weatherman at ABC TV station , worked his way up to management, and joined Disney as part of the acquisition. With the change of leadership at Disney, the stiff relationship between Disney and Jobs has gradually improved.
Robert Iger
Iger recalled the 2000s in "The Journey of a Lifetime," saying it was an interesting time, with traditional media on the decline and streaming media on the rise. The world is constantly changing, and nearly every traditional media company is trying to find their place. Out of fear of being eliminated, they operate the company cautiously, rather than bravely trying to transform. They stubbornly build a fortress to protect the old models that are bound to be eliminated in the great changes of the times.
However, Disney took some detours before entering the digital age. It squandered $1.6 billion on acquisitions and chased fads and launched frivolous services.
At the same time, like the music industry, piracy plays an important role in promoting changes at Disney, and in Disney's move to the streaming media track, Jobs' role cannot be ignored.
Iger’s two deals with Jobs illustrate the company’s bold shift toward streaming under Iger’s leadership. Since then, Jobs and Disney have formed an indissoluble bond, and the friendship between Jobs and Iger has gradually deepened.
Disney+iTunes=win-win
Jobs directly influenced Iger to embrace online video sales and get Disney films sold on iTunes.
Former Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney recalled that on May 23, 2005, she strode into the conference room happily and was about to share the popular ABC series "Desperate Housewives" 》Overnight ratings for the final episode.
Anne Sweeney
Vince Roberts
But before Sweeney could share the good news, Vince Roberts, CTO of ABC, asked to speak. He put a CD into the DVD player , pressed the play button, and started playing "Desperate Housewives." He then recounted how the video for the "Desperate Housewives" finale, which had 30 million viewers, was pirated just minutes after it aired.
"Desperate Housewives" stills
Sweeney recalled a few years later that their actual number of viewers was much larger than the official data, but they did not receive corresponding compensation. This is the hateful thing about the spread of pirated videos, but at this time There was nothing they could do.
In view of the popularity of Apple products among Americans, and the iPod at that time could only listen to music, Robert Iger came up with a novel idea to replace music with video and watch Disney animation through iPod. Iger immediately shared his idea with Jobs, and the two hit it off.
A few months later, Jobs came up with a solution to the problem of online piracy. He flew to Burbank and demonstrated how to use the video version of the iPod in person, hoping to work with Disney.
In a conference room in the Disney team's executive office building, Jobs opened his laptop and showed Sweeney the online store iTunes, and watched "Lost" - a TV series launched by ABC - on his iPod through iTunes.
Sweeney said it was not until he left that she realized a question: How did Jobs get the "Lost" video? The obvious answer soon dawned on her, and thanks to piracy, almost anyone could download it.
After this meeting, Disney and Apple quickly reached an agreement. Disney owns a lot of TV rights, and TV series can be watched online through iTunes. This cooperation is undoubtedly a win-win for both parties.
As a result, Disney secretly sent the master tapes of ABC's "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" and two Disney Channel shows to Apple's headquarters. The head of engineering personally wrapped it in brown paper and delivered it to a locked room, and the show will be sold as a download through the iTunes store.
The deal remained secret until October 12, 2005, when Apple held a product unveiling at the California Theater in San Jose, California. Iger shook hands with Jobs at the unveiling ceremony, publicly demonstrating the friendly relationship between Disney and Jobs, and jointly announced the news of a deal with Jobs to authorize the online store iTunes to sell and download popular ABC TV series.
Sweeney said the deal with Jobs' iTunes marked a first step toward combating piracy on the Internet, but that it was frowned upon by some. “That afternoon, we flew back to Burbank and I got a lot of calls on my cell phone,” Sweeney recalled. “Many of our broadcast affiliates were unhappy with the news, and instead, major advertisers said they wanted to work with them. We work together."
The deal helped repair Disney's fractured relationship with Jobs under Isner and further solidified the partnership between Disney and Apple.
Disney acquires Pixar
After the iTunes deal, Disney further deepened its ties with Jobs. Iger's bold $7.4 billion acquisition of Pixar, one of Jobs's companies, which has produced animated blockbusters such as "Toy Story " and "Finding Nemo", is very conducive to Disney's revival.
Jobs’s brand concept and high standard requirements for quality deeply influenced Disney, causing it to change its philosophy from quantity to quality. As a result, Disney began to increase its investment in theme parks, hotels and cruise ships.
Jobs believed that a golden age of content was coming, and that technology would bring movies and TV shows to consumers.His predictions about the new era influenced Iger’s thinking and encouraged him to make bold digital attempts at Disney. Iger believes that innovation is crucial and that real innovation can only happen when people have the courage. Fear of failure will destroy creativity.
Before the advent of the streaming media era, Disney led other companies with its superb animation technology and had an unshakable position in the era of traditional media. Facing the tide of the times, Disney had to make a choice about its past glory. If it stuck to the traditional track, it would be eliminated by the times. However, Disney made a brave and smart decision to enter the streaming media track.
From the dawn of digital to the modern age of streaming, Disney has always been a thoughtful risk-taker. As Disney's CEO, Iger led the company through a stellar 14 years, culminating in 2019.
At the time, the nearly 100-year-old company was moving into a new streaming video service, launching the streaming service Disney+. If the plan failed, Disney's billions of dollars in assets and Iger's personal legacy would be at risk. .
Robert Iger
According to Iger’s recollection, Jobs would not tell him where he had to do something. But they will stand in front of a whiteboard from time to time and start brainstorming . Occasionally Jobs would come to him and speculate that the world would change dramatically and their industry would be in crisis, and then he would ask Jobs to talk about it in detail.
Sometimes Iger would refute many of Jobs’s views, but their feelings would not diminish because of their differences. Before Jobs died in 2011, he invited Iger to join Apple's board of directors to replace him.
As Iger said, this is a relationship that benefits both parties immensely, both as friends and as business partners. The friendship between the two CEOs is truly enviable.
