Well, the Stockholders Meeting was a blast (It's the annual business meeting of the Walt Disney Company to which all stockholders are invited). There were already people lined up when I got there a little after 7:00. They started bringing us in through security a little after 8:00. There were characters there to greet us: Mickey and Minnie, Goofy and Pluto, Snow White and Dopey, Captain Hook and Peter Pan, and (sorry Leslie) Beast and Belle. How many stockholders meetings do you go to where 50 year olds line up to get autographs. I also got Chris Berman's autograph. If you don't know who that is ask a sports nut. I could have gotten Sidney Poitier's since I sat very close to him, but decided not to bother him.
The overview of the business was interesting. The next tv ad for Lilo and Stich is going to be even cuter than the one with Beauty and the Beast. They seem to have very high expectations for this movie. The movie next winter is going to be Treasure Planet...Treasure Island goes into space. The preview of this film was a little bizarre. An old time sail boat pulls away from a dock in old London, then turns into a rocket and blasts off. Through a sky filled with whales. Different.
There were four stockholder proposals that were voted on. All four were defeated, although since sending out all the stockholder material a month or so ago, the board decided it would actually adopt one of the recommendations: auditors can't do consulting work. So even though it was voted down Eisner assured us that it would, in fact, become the policy of the Disney Company. The other three proposals that were defeated involved 1) trying harder to enforce fair labor standards in China, 2) publishing accident statistics from the parks, and 3) making fewer stock options available to top management and making more available to the rest of the workforce.
Michael did defend his excessive income from options by pointing out that the options were granted during the years when Disney was making tons of money, but it was obvious that this last proposal struck a nerve with most of the stockholders in the room. He had to wait for the applause to die down before he could move on to the vote.
A few questions were taken from stockholders before the meeting was adjourned, a few of which were from some characters who were obviously a little bit to the right of, say Hitler, but
Eisner did a good job of defending the company. I also really appreciated hearing from him and from a CM who spoke out during the question period, about how the Disney company and Eisner himself, responded to the September 11 crisis. I learned that Disney, in fact, lost two CMs in the attacks that day.
So anyway, it was a lot of fun and a great way to get a Disney fix. I had my lanyard with me but decided not to wear it. I did wear my Mickey Icon US Flag. And a pin friend and I were talking to a CM in the lobby and the CM slipped each of us a pin. And the pin had Mickey Mouse on it!
A very good day.
