Can the deal breaker really have been a yoga School in Meguro run by an ex-Japan Times FG?What would have become of Sony's Hollywood ambitions if Michael Eisner had had his way in November 1996? That was when he sent Michael Ovitz to Tokyo in search of what the Disney chief saw as the "elegant" solution to his travails with the troublesome talent scout.
The plan was for a "trade". Ovitz would take a top job at Sony. In return, the Japanese group would agree to take on all Disney's financial obligations to the man who was to be kicked out of the Mouse House a month later with $140m. It would also grant Disney valuable rights to several TV shows that it wanted to pad out its Soapnet cable channel with.
But while Eisner was desperate to get rid of Ovitz, who was driving him and most of his top-floor team up the wall, he pretended to insist on the TV deal because he "wanted Sony to think I was reluctant to let him go".
But according to Eisner, Ovitz "blew it". Sony refused to deliver on Ovitz's demand for "the sun and the moon".
Sun and Moon Yoga
