Eisner Remains CEO/Replaced as Chairman

[Feralpeg]

The board has replaced Eisner as Chairman. He will remain CEO.

The Disney board said that effective immediately it had elected former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, who had been the presiding director, to be chairman of the board. "While making this change in governance, the board remains unanimous of its support of the company's management team and of Michael Eisner, who will continue to serve as chief executive officer," the company said in a statement.

The board added in its statement that the company's strategy, financial results over the last several quarters, level of earnings and the improved returns that it expects going forward give it confidence that the results will " validate our judgment on the quality of our management team."

Mr. Eisner has been the target of a campaign by ex-directors Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, who blamed Mr. Eisner for the poor stock performance over the past 10 years, lackluster earnings performance in that period and loss of Pixar ( PIXR) as a partner, among other things.

Earlier Wednesday, Mr. Gold said that he and Disney wouldn't be happy with just the separation of chairman and CEO roles, reiterating again, "that Eisner must go."

Roy Disney and Mr. Gold brought Mr. Eisner to the company 20 years ago, when Disney was fending off a potential takeover.

In the statement from the Walt Disney board, members said they were aware that some shareholders voted for an immediate change in management and the board. " However, taking all of these factors into account, we believe the action we have taken today is in the best long-term interest of the shareholders of the company," the statement said.

Comcast Corp. (NasdaqNM:CMCSA - News) made an unsolicited offer for Disney last month that was quickly rejected by the company as being too low. The board said in its statement that it doesn't believe the reiteration by Comcast of its previous proposal would lead to a transaction beneficial to Disney shareholders.

 

[emacman]

So the response was to take the Chairmanship away from the guy who received 43% No votes and give it to the man who only received 22% no votes! Incredible.
Eisner has total authority over that bunch of "Yes Men and Women". Eventually one of them will not be willing to tie their futures to the tyrrant and then it will be like rats jumping off a sinking ship.
The response this afternoon by the shareholders of this compnay was without any lack of clarity, unparalleld. Never before has a leader of industry so soundly been rebuked by his stockholders. 20% will most always get you canned and Eisner is more than twice that. Mitchell was 22%. The arrogance and audacity of the current board, picked by hand by Eisner over the last twenty years, is beyond reason.

 

[DocRafiki]

Darn. I thought I was first to post. I never win this game!