Disney dissidents claim win over Eisner
April 21, 2004
By Reuters
Los Angeles - Walt Disney chief executive Michael Eisner got a thumbs down from current and former employees as a majority of retirement plan shares were voted against his re-election to the board in March, dissident shareholders said on Monday.
More than 72 percent of shares cast by Disney's 401(k) plan at the company's annual meeting were withheld from Eisner in protest, easily exceeding the total opposition vote of 45 percent, which itself was seen as an unprecedented rebuke to a US chief executive.
Former Disney directors Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, who released the tally, said it amounted to an indictment of Eisner's leadership by his staff and renewed calls for the board to dismiss him and chairman George Mitchell.
Disney responded that the 401(k) plan vote represented a fraction of current staff since only a quarter of participants had voted. Votes cast by retired staff and former employees muddied any message sent by current workers, it said.
Disney and Gold argued that the vote was a fair reflection of Disney employee sentiment since it was made in strict confidence and involved thousands of individuals. "We believe it would be hard to argue that these results are not statistically valid," they said.
Disney spokesperson John Spelich responded: "This is another blatant distortion ... of data in an attempt to continue to mislead Disney shareholders."
Disney's board stripped Eisner of his position as chairman after the unprecedented protest vote by shareholders, including prominent public pension funds.
The firm has defended its strategy in the face of criticism by shareholders and a takeover attempt by cable operator Comcast. It has said earnings were to grow by more than 40 percent this year.
The Disney employee pension plan held 28.6 million shares, or 1.4 percent of Disney stock.
Trustees had voted the total portfolio of shares in proportion to the minority of ballots cast by plan participants, the company said.
About 20 percent of Disney's 112 000 current staff had shares in the 401(k) plan but only about 5 percent of the workforce voted, Disney estimated. It said the final number was not available yet.
Active employees represented about 60 percent of shareholders in the 401(k) plan, or about 22 500 of the 36 000 plan participants, Disney said.
Disney shares, up 38 percent in the past 52 weeks, rose less than 1 percent to $24.96 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.
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