Just a month after leaving his post as head of Walt Disney Studios in September 1994, Katzenberg founded the live-action and animation studio DreamWorks with partners Steven Spielberg and David Geffen. The launch of the audacious new company, which even included the executives' initials in its official name — DreamWorks SKG — drew equal measures of plaudits and scoffs for its ambitious plans. It also came as Katzenberg, upset at being passed over for Disney's No. 2 job, was gearing up for a years-long legal battle with the company and its pugnacious leader, Michael D. Eisner.