any Disney stockholders here?

[lodgelady]

.....are you going to go to Philadelphia on March 3rd for the meeting? Have you gotten anything in the mail about the agenda?Has Shamrock tried to contact any of you?

 

[Chuck S]

I am a stockholder. I do not plan to attend the meeting. I have not had any communications from Shamrock Holdings, Gold or Roy. I usually vote via a website.

 

[TeenaS]

I made the Chicago and Fort Worth annual meetings. They left a really bad taste in my mouth - - some of the sarcastic answers by the executive officers to the stockholders' questions made me very disappointed. So, I'm going to skip the meetings until new management takes over - hopefully sooner than later. I have received nothing from Roy and/or Stanley but don't expect to either. Heck, I haven't even received my annual report yet.

 

[bongo59]

i own disney and have been to every meeting since 1977.......i will go this time and i am hoping somehow some way mike eisner will eventually go away......he is killing this franchise

 

[Goofyposter]

I am a stockholder. I do not plan to attend the meeting. I have not had any communications from Shamrock Holdings, Gold or Roy. I usually vote via a website.
__________________
Chuck
DVC '92 (OKW)


TeenaS
DIS Veteran

I made the Chicago and Fort Worth annual meetings. They left a really bad taste in my mouth - - some of the sarcastic answers by the executive officers to the stockholders' questions made me very disappointed. So, I'm going to skip the meetings until new management takes over - hopefully sooner than later. I have received nothing from Roy and/or Stanley but don't expect to either. Heck, I haven't even received my annual report yet.


--->oooHHooooo...Yeah....I'm a stockholder...I've been there for years...I'll be there this year......Eisner does need to go...along with most of the existing board...if this company ever hopes to resume it's trek towards long-term value for it's stockholders, and long-term value to it's guests..........I'll be there...but I doubt that this is the meeting that will yield meanful change.

 

[Bob O]

Im also a stockholder and have no plans to go to Phildelphia for the stockholders meeting. I do vote when i get my ballot in the mail, and I think the idea of them moving the meetings every year rather than holding them in CA or FLA is a way to hold down the number of people who might want to attend. Alos gets them away from letting people into the parks afterwards which im told was the norm for many years.

 

[disrailfan]

I am a stockholder and a petition signer at Savedisney.com. I do not plant to go to the meeting and I have not seen my annual report either. I am hoping like many of is that the current management/board goes away so that we can rebuild the kingdom!

 

[doombuggy]

Yes, I will be there since I live outside Philly. I'll have plenty to say!

 

[DisLUV]

My daughter ABBYMOUSE is a stock holder. She is 2 and will of course not be attending the meeting. she has never gotten anymailings from disney as a stock holder. What should she be reciveing and when should she recieve it. She has her stock though a brokerage firm... should that make a difference?

 

[manning]

Yes, I will be there since I live outside Philly. I'll have plenty to say!

No you won't, Ei$ner controls the mike switch. If he hears something he doesn't like, click goes the switch and "do I hear a motion to adjorn". That's why he needs to be thrown out. How is Roy doing at Savedisney.com?

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by manning
No you won't, Ei$ner controls the mike switch. If he hears something he doesn't like, click goes the switch and "do I hear a motion to adjorn". That's why he needs to be thrown out. How is Roy doing at Savedisney.com?

Actually, no he doesn't. The sound guy in the back controls the mike switch. Eisner can, of course, refuse to answer any question he doesn't want to answer, just like anyone else at the meeting, but the only time someone is "turned off" is if they get nasty or start name-calling or swearing or do anything else that's considered inappropriate. I've never seen anyone who's asking a serious question -- even one critical of the company -- be squelched.

 

[wdw4us2]

Yes, we are stockholders. We haven't received anything regarding the 2003 annual report.

I find it interesting that Disney has managed to keep the meetings out of both Florida and California during the past, what, 6 years?! I believe this is because they know what a backlash there would be since the company has so many disgruntled stockholders that reside in those states (myself included).

Another reason for a management change?

 

[lodgelady]

doombuggy, I do hope you will give us the scoop when you get home from the meeting. I did read that Roy WILL be there.

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by wdw4us2
Yes, we are stockholders. We haven't received anything regarding the 2003 annual report.

I find it interesting that Disney has managed to keep the meetings out of both Florida and California during the past, what, 6 years?! I believe this is because they know what a backlash there would be since the company has so many disgruntled stockholders that reside in those states (myself included).

Another reason for a management change?

And here I always thought moving the stockholder's meeting around was a good way to get more of the stockholders to actually go to the meeting. I would wager that there's a fair number of stockholders in NYC and up the east coast, who are probably very happy that the meeting is in Philly this year. Likewise, the folks in the midwest were probably pretty happy to have one in Marceline recently.

If the meetings were only in California and Florida, I'd wager that there would be a whole thread somewhere about how the greedy, money-grubbing Disney management was forcing people to come to Florida and California for stockholder meetings so that they'd make more money on resort stays and park tickets and thereby up their visitor numbers for the analysts.

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Roy is supposed to be there? That almost makes it worthwhile to go. I'd love to see the kind of attention he would get. Wouldn't that deflate Michael's balloon a bit?

 

[mishoe01]

I'm a stockholder and haven't received anything yet - didn't even know about the meeting (day/location).

Where in Philly are they meeting?

 

[WDSearcher]

The 2004 Meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 3, 2004 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The Pennsylvania Convention Center is located at 1101 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by Annie&Hallie'sMom
Roy is supposed to be there? That almost makes it worthwhile to go. I'd love to see the kind of attention he would get. Wouldn't that deflate Michael's balloon a bit?

I don't imagine Michael will be surprised that Roy is there. I'm sure he's expecting it.

 

[Disney Debbie]

http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/27/news/companies/disney.reut/index.htm

Did ya'll see this? I fully support Roy. Eisner has nothing but $ signs in his eyes. It makes me very sad to see the way he's gutting the company to line his pockets at the expense of the consumer and the shareholders.

 

[Samirella]

Did anyone get this email?




Although not all of our registered supporters are shareholders of record, we wanted to make sure every one of you had the opportunity to see Roy and Stan's urgent message being released today.



AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR FELLOW DISNEY SHAREHOLDERS
FROM ROY E. DISNEY AND STANLEY P. GOLD


Roy E. Disney
Stanley P. Gold
4444 Lakeside Drive
Burbank, CA 91505

January 27, 2004



Dear Fellow Walt Disney Company Shareholders:



Now is the time for all Disney shareholders to take the first step to bring needed change to The Walt Disney Company. We ask each of you to join us in our campaign to change senior management's and the Board's "business as usual" attitude at Disney.

Join us in voting NO on the re-election of Michael Eisner, George Mitchell, Judith Estrin, and John Bryson as Directors at the Wednesday, March 3 Annual Meeting of Shareholders in Philadelphia.

Eight weeks ago, we resigned from the Board of Directors to vividly demonstrate our dissatisfaction with the direction and management of The Walt Disney Company. Our resignation letters, which can be easily accessed on our website www.savedisney.com (http://www.savedisney.com/) , describe in detail our reasons. In particular, our ongoing concern is that the Company's senior management has been unable to generate long-term growth and performance and that the Board of Directors has failed to hold management accountable for its failures.

SEND A MESSAGE TO EISNER AND THE BOARD

By just saying NO you will send a message the Board of Directors cannot ignore. By withholding your vote from these four directors - who we believe are representative of what is wrong at Disney - you will force the Board to recognize the widespread conviction that serious changes in both senior management and the Board are necessary.

NO ON EISNER AND NO ON ESTRIN, MITCHELL AND BRYSON

We are seeking a NO vote on Michael Eisner and also a NO vote on George Mitchell, Judith Estrin and John Bryson because they symbolize, respectively, the poor management, poor governance, poor compensation practices, and lack of board independence that are impeding the development of long-term shareholder value at The Walt Disney Company.

MICHAEL EISNER (poor management): Since the death of Frank Wells in 1994, Michael Eisner has been unable to manage growth or achieve performance levels that were once commonplace at The Walt Disney Company. Since 1995, Return-on-Invested Capital has declined by 63% from 18% to 7%. Return-on-Equity has declined by 80% from 22% to 6% and Return-on-Assets has declined by 79% from 10% to 3%. While the Company's stock has improved in recent months, it is important to note that since January 1996, an initial investment of $10,000 in Disney stock would have grown to only $11,497 over the 8 years ending December 2003, as compared to an investment in Dow Jones which grew to $20,191 (or 75% greater than Disney).

Mr. Eisner has failed to formulate a viable long-term strategy. Instead of investing wisely the cash flow produced by the company over the past ten years, those resources have been squandered on many failed projects, the most recent of which is the $5.2 billion acquisition of the Fox Family Channel.

He has built theme parks using copies of rides found elsewhere and built other attractions that fail to spark the imagination and excitement our guests and customers have a right to expect from Disney. The dismal financial results at Disney's California Adventure and Disney's Studio Paris are testimony to this flawed strategy.

The revolving door of executives has also led to an enormous loss of creative talent - once the clear hallmark of Disney.

While these activities may provide a short-term (in many cases, very short) boost to revenues, they have the long-term effect of dissipating what has made The Walt Disney Company great. If this process is allowed to continue, Disney will wind up "just another entertainment company"? and will never be able to recover its hard-earned reputation for providing unparalleled quality family entertainment and exceptional value to its guests and customers.

GEORGE MITCHELL (poor governance): We believe Ex-Senator Mitchell is not capable of providing effective leadership as the Company's "Presiding Director." He has opposed our repeated efforts to separate the functions of CEO and Chairman of the Board. Instead, he supported the Company's new governance rules, which are more form than substance ? and which have left him as a Presiding Director with no authority or real responsibility.

Equally troubling, in addition to his full-time career as a practicing lawyer, ex-Senator Mitchell serves on far too many other boards to permit him adequate time for his Disney commitments. (It is worth noting that many of the other companies on whose boards he has sat have experienced significant financial, legal, and governance problems ? among them Xerox, U.S. Technologies, Oily Rock Group Ltd. and Staples Inc.).

Moreover, within the last several years ex-Senator Mitchell has served as a paid consultant to the Company and his law firm has received more than $1 million in fees from The Walt Disney Company.

JUDITH ESTRIN (poor compensation practices): As Chair of the Board's Compensation Committee for the past two years, Ms. Estrin engineered what we believe were excessive total compensation packages for the Company's top five executives. For example, in fiscal 2002, when the Disney stock price was down approximately 16%, total compensation for those executives alone was approximately $40 million.

Good governance requires ? and shareholders deserve ? a real connection between performance and pay. Under Ms. Estrin's leadership of the Compensation Committee, we believe that connection has been severed.

JOHN BRYSON (lack of independence): For almost two years, we have pointed out to the Board that John Bryson should not be considered an "independent" director because his wife was being paid millions of dollars as an executive of Disney's 50%-owned Lifetime Channel.

Moreover, as CEO of Edison International, Mr. Bryson oversaw transactions with The Walt Disney Company for the naming rights to Anaheim Stadium that involved tens of millions of dollars. Nonetheless, the Disney Board continued to publicly declare that John Bryson was independent.

In his capacity as an "independent" director and Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee, he collaborated with Michael Eisner to manage the removal of Andrea Van de Kamp from the Board one year ago because of her opposition to some of management's proposals. He performed a similar role this year in removing Roy E. Disney from the Board.

Only after eliminating dissenting voices from the Board and being confronted with the recently adopted New York Stock Exchange certification requirements for independent directors, did the Board belatedly concede that Mr. Bryson is not independent.

A company seriously committed to "best practices" in corporate governance would not have allowed Mr. Bryson to serve as Chair of its Nominating and Governance Committee.


JOIN US IN VOTING NO ON YOUR PROXY

WITHHOLD YOUR VOTE FROM EISNER, MITCHELL, ESTRIN AND BRYSON

We believe it is important for you to understand that our actions today are not motivated by any personal ambitions. Neither of us has any desire to be Chairman or CEO of The Walt Disney Company. Rather, we are launching our "Vote No" campaign in an effort to improve the long-term financial health of the Company, to restore shareholder value, and to return the quality of its products and services to a level that will yield sustainable growth.

PLEASE TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO VOTE YOUR SHARES. EVERY VOTE COUNTS. WE NEED YOU TO SIGN AND RETURN YOUR PROXY CARD -- BUT PLEASE TAKE THE TIME AND INDICATE ON YOUR PROXY THAT YOU ARE WITHHOLDING YOUR VOTE FOR MICHAEL EISNER, GEORGE MITCHELL, JUDITH ESTRIN AND JOHN BRYSON.

DON'T LET YOUR BROKER VOTE FOR YOU. UNLESS YOU SEND BACK YOUR PROXY WITH AN "X" MARKED IN THE BOX "FOR ALL EXCEPT" AND LIST THE NAMES OF MICHAEL EISNER, GEORGE MITCHELL, JUDITH ESTRIN AND JOHN BRYSON (OR THE NUMBERS ASSOCIATED IN THE PROXY WITH THESE NOMINEES) IN THE SPACE PROVIDED, YOUR SHARES WILL BE VOTED "FOR" EISNER AND ALL THE OTHER MANAGEMENT DIRECTORS.

If you have any questions on how to VOTE NO, please contact our proxy specialists -- Mackenzie Partners, Inc. Toll-Free at (800) 322-2885 or at (212) 929-5500 or by email at savedisney@mackenziepartners.com. They will be pleased to help you through the process. You may also see www.savedisney.com (http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M6333630146679604592455&iEvent=43785) for specific instructions or email us at voteno@savedisney.com.

Make sure your voice is heard. The damage The Walt Disney Company has suffered at the hands of Michael Eisner and the current Board must be repaired before it is too late. VOTE NO TODAY AND BRING BACK THE MAGIC! Thanks for your support.



Sincerely,


Roy E. Disney Stanley P. Gold