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Marvel Versus… Disney? Isaac Perlmutter And Bob Iger At Odds?

In a New York Times piece, the decisions and conduct of chief executive of Disney, Bob Iger, are put under the spotlight. From delayed decisions over movies, flip-flops over game divisions and…Marvel. They report

The Marvel acquisition has posed its own challenges. Betting that the brooding Marvel characters would deepen its hold on boys — long an area of weakness for Disney — Mr. Iger paid about $50 a share for the company, a 29 percent premium. Some analysts were notably cool to the news. "Over the long run, we suspect this will be viewed as Mr. Iger's first major mistake as C.E.O.," wrote a Citigroup analyst, Jason Bazinet, at the time of the acquisition.

Since then, there has been friction between Isaac Perlmutter, the Marvel chief executive who is staying on, and Disney's consumer products division over how best to integrate two very different approaches.

Hollywood, familiar with Mr. Perlmutter's penchant for ruling his roost, has started to whisper: Will he turn into Mr. Iger's version of Harvey Weinstein, the hard-charging Miramax co-founder who caused Mr. Eisner so many headaches after Disney acquired the little studio? Mr. Perlmutter declined to be interviewed.

There's a surprise. Isaac Permutter is never interviewed. Hell, you try finding a photo of the elusive bastard. The piece later continues.

Disney and Mr. Iger dispute much of this criticism, particularly when it comes to Marvel. "Ike's been great," Mr. Iger says of Mr. Perlmutter. "The integration has gone well, and the potential has exceeded my expectations."

Well, you know. To quote Yes Minister, "Never believe anything until it's been officially denied."

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