Goldenson

"He worked hard to become a preferred buyer by treating employees fairly and running properties that were consistent leaders in their markets. This reputation helped him enormously when he approached Goldenson about buying ABC in 1984 (in his typical self-deprecating style, Murphy began his pitch with “Leonard, please don’t throw me out the window, but I’d like to buy your company.”)"

"But my man Goldenson was clearly intrigued, and he patiently waited for all the noise to quiet down. After a moment of slow contemplation, he said softly, “Yes, I can see the risks, but it’s at least a fresh idea. Maybe we should explore this and I could help by going out to California and see if we can get some of the major studios to finance and produce them and thereby lay off some of the risk.” That was a shock to the prosaic system: the chairman was going to engage directly in programming—something he hadn’t done since Walt Disney came to visit him in 1954 to discuss his idea for Disneyland (ABC took an early stake in the park and put Disney’s first series on the air)."

"Pinned down by his small, bright, piggish eyes and looking for a politic way to get out of the commitment he seemed to think he’d made with Goldenson, I said, “Well, a deal this large has to go to the board of ABC for approval”—where that surety of statement came from I’ll never know—“and I, speaking for the program department that has to schedule these films, I will say: we can’t air them.”"

"Now, I’ve played that moment in my head many times over the years. It wasn’t a flush of hidden courage that came over me; I was still someone who would change almost any of my opinions to please a powerful person. But fairness and honesty were the only solid principles my generally absent father gave me. This raging energy ball named Charles Bluhdorn had somehow bamboozled my venerable old chairman into accepting this ludicrous deal. It wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right and I was loudly and righteously angry that he might get away with it. I stood my ground. He got up, screaming, and strode toward the door. “I’m going up to Goldenson’s office, and we’ll *see* if he’s actually going to renege on the deal!” Calmly, I said, “I don’t think you want to confront Mr. Goldenson, since you’ve taken such advantage of him. Maybe instead of yelling at me, you and I should just sit down and see if we can find some other way to solve this.”"