Yahoo boss sets pace for Disney job

YAHOO chief executive Terry Semel has emerged as a frontrunner to succeed Michael Eisner at Walt Disney, industry insiders say.

The Disney board is expected to announce its choice of executive search firm this week, to begin identifying candidates.

Although Semel, a veteran of nearly 20 years at Warner Brothers, is refusing to comment, his friends say he would relish the job.

'It would be such a Terry thing to do,' a senior studio executive who has worked with Semel told a Californian newspaper. 'He loves the business. He loves making things happen.'

Eisner, under pressure from some shareholders to quit, said last week he would leave in 2006, when his contract expires. He has said his 'preferred choice' as successor is Disney president Robert Iger.

Name-the-successor has become one of Hollywood's favourite games.

Semel's old partner at Warner Brothers, Bob Daly, is on the list along with eBay chief Meg Whitman, a Disney veteran, the head of Pixar and Apple Computer, Steve Jobs, Comcast chief Stephen Burke and News Corp chief operating officer Peter Chernin.

Daly, who with Semel transformed Warner into a dynamic, diversified operation, covering movies, TV and retailing, has expressed interest in the job of board chairman, according to the New York Times, and the possibility of regrouping the two men, may be too great a temptation for the board to resist.

Daly is said to have been approached by two of Eisner's most vocal critics, Roy Disney, nephew of the founder, and Stanley Gold, to join their alternative 'board'.

Although Disney refuses to discuss whether the men have spoken, Daly reportedly turned them down because he did not want to be a hostile candidate.

Hanging over the whole process though, and a possible disincentive for Semel, is that Eisner is said to have his eye on the job of chairman when former senator George Mitchell steps down. Mitchell has said he wants to serve two more years at the most.

'Even if Mr Eisner is a non-executive chairman, I don't think anyone will want to come in,' corporate compensation expert Graef Crystal told the New York Times.

Eisner faces much hostility to such a scenario.

In an open letter to the board, Disney and Gold attacked Eisner's choice of Iger, saying: 'His succession plan, is for a company led by Michael Eisner and his obedient lieutenant, Bob Iger, to be handed over to...Michael Eisner and Bob Iger.'