DISNEY'S NEW STYLE INCOMING BOSS GETS THINGS DONE WITH LOW-KEY APPROACH.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Robert Iger may be taking over one of the most high-profile jobs in the entertainment industry as of midnight Friday, but the new CEO of The Walt Disney Co. is choosing not to make a big deal about it.

``I'm trying to avoid having it be about me,'' Iger said during a reluctant and brief chat with reporters this week after a speech in Beverly Hills by his predecessor, Michael D. Eisner.

Then the 54-year-old executive added: ``I have to admit I'm extremely excited about this opportunity and deeply appreciative to have it. I feel that more now.''

The Walt Disney Co., after years of enduring criticism for its lack of a leadership succession plan, largely calmed those waters in March when Iger - Eisner's No. 2 for the past five years - was named CEO-elect by Disney's board of directors shortly after emerging as Eisner's handpicked choice.

``What Iger is trying to do is get it back away from being about the personalities,'' observed media analyst Dennis McAlpine of McAlpine and Associates. ``Naturally, he's not going to be as visible as Eisner was.''

And clearly not as controversial.

The latter years of Eisner's 21 years at the helm have been characterized by high-level defections, lawsuits, boardroom battles and an unprecedented shareholder rebellion last year.

Iger said one of his biggest priorities is ``retaining the best creative minds in the business,'' and months ago Eisner stepped aside to allow him to begin doing so.

During the transitional months, Iger quickly went to work at resolving some of the most troublesome public-relations nightmares plaguing a company with assets that include 11 theme parks, a movie studio, a broadcast television network and several cable properties.

Chief among them: the split with Miramax Films founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein, whose 12-year relationship with the company was marked by well-publicized clashes with Eisner who refused to allow Miramax to release the controversial, but lucrative, documentary ``Fahrenheit 9/11.''

Eisner's last day, Friday, ironically coincides with the official end of Disney's pact with the Weinstein brothers, who have started their own company while a pared-down Miramax remains a specialty arm of Disney's film division.

Iger, according to Harvey Weinstein, was instrumental in bringing the parties together and remarked shortly after the negotiations: ``We think he'll be a terrific CEO for The Walt Disney Co.''

In contrast to his blunt criticisms of Eisner, Pixar Animation Studios' CEO Steve Jobs has been complimentary about Iger and his less abrasive approach to doing business.

Jobs had publicly blamed Eisner after breaking off talks in January 2004 to extend the Disney-Pixar partnership past 2006. New talks, recently labeled by Jobs as ``very productive,'' have taken place under Iger although both sides have been mum regarding details.

This summer, Iger was also able to broker an end to years of bitter legal battles with Disney critics Roy E. Disney and Stanley P. Gold who had engineered a shareholder revolt in 2004 that resulted in Eisner being stripped of his job as board chairman.

Roy Disney and Gold agreed to drop all litigation against the company, which welcomed the nephew of the company's founder back onto the Disney lot with an office and the title of director emeritus.

``Eisner has managed to step back and give Iger some front time and Iger has managed to clean up a lot of leftover things that needed to be dealt with,'' said McAlpine. ``It was important to get these things resolved and set the stage for what the company will be facing going forward.''

Although the company's movie studio has struggled this year, theme park business has been steady and ABC has continued a remarkable ratings resurgence on the strength of the new hit ``Invasion'' and returning ratings phenomena ``Desperate Housewives,'' ``Lost'' and ``Grey's Anatomy.''

Those shows, as well as ``Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,'' gave ABC five of the top 10 rated shows and gave the network a fall season premiere-week ratings win among the advertising-coveted 18-49 demographic age group.

``ABC being up does help,'' McAlpine said. ``It means attention gets focused on other areas. It could have hurt (Iger) if they were still down.''

ABC is close to Iger's heart. He first became part of the Disney fold in 1995 when the company purchased ABC at a time Iger was president of the network. He had begun work at ABC in 1974 as a studio supervisor then steadily worked his way up through the executive ranks.

In 2000, Iger became president and chief operating officer of Disney but was never really considered a shoo-in to succeed Eisner until early this year.

Iger said the organization ``hasn't skipped a beat'' during what he said has been a smooth transition period. He plans nothing special for his first official day as CEO, with his first order of business being attending an already scheduled board meeting.

``I'm blessed with the fact that I enjoy coming to work every day.''

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Robert Iger, who will take over Friday as Disney's new CEO, figures not to be as controversial as his predecessor.

Jacqueline Larma/Associated Press