How Eisner did it

Take this report:

During his 21-year tenure at Disney, Michael Eisner grew the company from US$7 billion to US$20 billion in in revenue. Eisner recently spoke to a group of Toronto businesspeople and revealed how he did it.

Eisner took over Disney in, what, 1984? And stayed there 21 years.

During that time, how much was the growth due to inflation (the article doesn't seem to use constant dollars...).

Well, if you go here, there are calculators.

To make it simple, let's say the $7billion is represented by $7. If you had $7 in 1984, what would you end up with in 2005 after adjusting for inflation? The answer:

In 2005, $7.00 from 1984 is worth:
$13.16 using the Consumer Price Index
$11.66 using the GDP deflator
$13.42 using the unskilled wage
$17.66 using the nominal GDP per capita
$22.17 using the relative share of GDP

So, it appears that Mr. Eisner did preside over an increase in revenue while a Disney- an increase of $7 billion (using the CPI and rounding down) in 2005 dollars.

However, that increase represented in 1984 dollars is not $7 billion, but rather something less:

In 1984, $7.00 from 2005 is worth:
$3.72 using the Consumer Price Index
$4.20 using the GDP deflator
$3.65 using the unskilled wage
$2.77 using the nominal GDP per capita
$2.21 using the relative share of GDP

So, if I have made the comparison properly, Mr. Eisner did not almost triple Disney revenue during his tenure, but grew it about 50% in constant 1984 dollars, roughly 2.5% per year above the inflation rate.

Of course, I might be wrong.

If I am, the comment section is open.