Several top Sony executives as well as rival studio chiefs are amazed that, despite his job at Disney, Ovitz has apparently advised Nobuyuki Idei, the president of the Sony Corp., who is expected to appoint John Calley, a longtime producer and studio executive, to take over the troubled Sony studios. Many believe Ovitz may even be angling for the top job there. Ovitz has told friends that his dealings with Sony are only related to joint ventures with Disney. Eisner, in an interview, discounted any hint of dissatisfaction with Ovitz, although three people close to Disney said Eisner was not entirely pleased with Ovitz and had bluntly said so to close associates. I have been at ABC, Paramount and Disney and I am pretty good at taking the temperature from the inside.
Performance is the key.
In my opinion we are performing so spectacularly and it is under the management of Michael Eisner and Michael Ovitz. But so far, Ovitz has managed to irritate a number of key colleagues over and over. For example, at a dinner at Ovitz's home, a top Disney business executive with overseas experience began talking to a film producer whose movie was opening in Europe. The business executive offered to assist the producer. According to one source, the Disney executive received a call at 8 the next morning from Ovitz assailing him for talking to the producer.