The Name's Eisner, Michael Eisner 2.0

Michael Eisner 2.0

Do you remember Michael Eisner? the former CEO of Disney who did really great during the 80's and practically revitalized the company but blew it later with lagging results from the company as well as being criticized for turning the Walt Disney Company into a "rapacious, soul-less" company, and refusing to establish a clear succession plan, as well as a string of box-office movie failures starting in the year 2000.

Well its been quite a while since we have heard anything about Disney's former chief Michael Eisner, but it seems now that he's up and about and doing quite well considering his Disney embarrassing ouster.

Businessweek is running a story about Eisner's second coming, at 65 Eisner is trying to reinvent himself as a new media mogul running his new studio "Vuguru",
Eisner is trying to join forces with some top companies in order to revitalize himself back to the entertainment business, such companies like baseball card maker Topps Co. (TOPP ) which Eisner is bidding together with private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners could be a great opportunity for Eisner's studio right to the spot light,(it will give him the rights on many hits like Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).

So Can a 65-year-old former Old Media lion recast himself as an online power player?
He can if he's got 40 years of entertainment contacts, collected more than $1 billion from cashed-in Disney options, and, most important, still has the hunger to prove wrong the critics who hounded him out of his job in 2005. It didn't take long for Eisner to back a bona fide Internet hit: the teen angst drama Prom Queen. Premiering last April, the Web series is made up of 80, two-minute-long episodes that Eisner loaded with advertisements and product placements.
Interestingly EIsner also invested in Veoh.com a fast growing video website, I have a strange feeling that the videos he produces will find their way into Veoh.com .

Sounds like Michael is back on his two feet, though in much smaller scale, Eisner operates with fewer than a dozen executives going from a two-story Beverly Hills building that houses a Coffee Bean shop. He also drawing six-figure fees on the lecture circuit. One recent topic: "Leadership: Success by Failing and Other Paradoxes."

I think that at the end of his Disney era, Eisner has really put the company in jeopardy and forgot the true assets of the Walt Disney company, he also almost blew up the relationship with Pixar Animation particularity with Steve Jobs (Pixar CEO before the Disney acquisition), maybe he has spend too much time at the CEO seat (21 years for god sake).

One thing you can say for Eisner he's got plenty of experience in the entertainment business, along with a lot of cash he collected at Disney, mostly through its stock.

SO what do you think?
Cam Eisner 2.0 top and achieve what version 1.0 has done in the past or is he merely just another ex-executive with tons of cash? Love to read your thoughts!