In today's NY Post business section, Crudele speculates on the Steve Jobs-to-Disney rumors, viz.:
"For a long time Roy Disney, whose father co-founded the company, and Eisner, the brilliant but volatile chairman, just haven't gotten along. Not even a little bit.
So, now that the last founding family member has stomped off the board in a huff - along with respected director Stanley Gold - what's the company going to do?
The answer could be nothing, if Eisner thinks the furor over the resignations will soon die down. Or Eisner could try to appease Wall Street by plugging the hole that Disney President Frank Wells ably filled until his untimely death in a plane crash a decade ago.
Here's where the Hollywood rumors get interesting.
As far as the entertainment industry and Wall Street would be concerned, the most welcome second-in-charge and nominal successor to Eisner could be none other than Steven Paul Jobs - head of Apple Computer and Pixar, and the guy who currently has Disney over one massive barrel.
"That one's been around for a while," says a Disney spokesperson.
Indeed. But sources out in the land of warmth say speculation that the Disney Co. would be forced to offer Jobs a position - if only a seat on the board - intensified this week, as soon as Roy Disney's keister had cleared the company parking lot.
But there are problems, naturally.
For one thing, Eisner apparently doesn't much like Jobs, either.
And the famously independent Jobs, who founded Apple Computer in his family's garage, apparently has been returning the dislike ever since Eisner accused Apple in Washington of abetting video piracy.
Now for the final twist: Disney right now is in the middle of renegotiating a very important movie production deal with Jobs' Pixar, an animation studio that made a bundle for Disney with "Finding Nemo" and others even as Disney's own cartoonists had become a mere caricature of their former selves.
And other studios are trying to lure Pixar away.
If a new deal with Pixar wasn't urgent for Eisner before the Roy Disney episode, it certainly is now. And that fact won't elude Jobs when he sits down to discuss the terms of any new deal.
Can Eisner get along with anyone?
Will Roy Disney rescue the family business?
Does Jobs want another job?
This is reality entertainment."
