we3luvdisney
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- Aug 15, 2000
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Thought some of you may want to read this article on our local news website.
N.C. Treasurer Blasts Walt Disney Co.
RALEIGH, N.C. -- State Treasurer Richard Moore blasted The Walt Disney Co. on Friday for how it handled a meeting this week between Moore and officials seeking to rehabilitate the company's image.
Moore, a critic of the corporate structure and financial performance of the entertainment giant, met Thursday with lobbyist Preston Padden and Vice President Christopher Curtin. Chief executive Michael Eisner participated by phone.
In a letter sent Friday to Chairman George Mitchell, Moore wrote that he was unhappy with how Disney handled the visit, with officials speaking to The News & Observer of Raleigh before the hourlong visit.
Moore, who oversees $61 billion in public pension funds in North Carolina, said he was particularly peeved by Padden's characterization of the meeting as a "pitch."
"I am now convinced that Disney has little interest in generating long-term shareholder value for the nearly 700,000 pensioners that I represent and a great deal of interest in conducting a short term public relations campaign at the expense of investors," Moore wrote.
North Carolina is the eighth state that Disney executives have visited in the past two weeks to lobby government officials.
Paddens told the newspaper: "Our pitch to state officials is, please give our new non-executive chairman ... some period of time to demonstrate that our governance improvements and performance improvements are real."
A Disney spokesman at its California headquarters didn't immediately return a phone call late Friday seeking a response.
Moore and other state treasurers who oversee government pension funds withheld their shareholder votes earlier this month for Eisner to be re-elected as board chairman.
Moore and others were critical of Eisner serving as both chief executive officer and chairman. After the vote, in which shareholders withheld 43 percent of votes cast for Eisner's re-election as chairman, the company named former Mitchell, the former Senate leader, as non-executive chairman.
This week, Moore and leaders of other large public pension funds requested a meeting with Mitchell and other Disney directors to discuss performance and governance concerns.
North Carolina's pension funds own 2.1 million Disney shares, most of them in indexed funds. Moore said in an interview that active managers of North Carolina pension fund money already had sold its Disney shares due to its poor performance.
Moore wrote two letters to Mitchell. The first, dated Thursday, commended him for "reaching out to institutional investors and devoting Michael Eisner's valuable time to meeting with me." The treasurer made mention of Disney's advance notice to the media, which he said was "extremely counterproductive."
Moore wrote another letter after Friday's newspaper's article.
If Thursday's meeting "is indicative of the 'Disney way,' it is easy to see why the share price has been slack for 10 years, and investors are raising concerns," he wrote Friday.
N.C. Treasurer Blasts Walt Disney Co.
RALEIGH, N.C. -- State Treasurer Richard Moore blasted The Walt Disney Co. on Friday for how it handled a meeting this week between Moore and officials seeking to rehabilitate the company's image.
Moore, a critic of the corporate structure and financial performance of the entertainment giant, met Thursday with lobbyist Preston Padden and Vice President Christopher Curtin. Chief executive Michael Eisner participated by phone.
In a letter sent Friday to Chairman George Mitchell, Moore wrote that he was unhappy with how Disney handled the visit, with officials speaking to The News & Observer of Raleigh before the hourlong visit.
Moore, who oversees $61 billion in public pension funds in North Carolina, said he was particularly peeved by Padden's characterization of the meeting as a "pitch."
"I am now convinced that Disney has little interest in generating long-term shareholder value for the nearly 700,000 pensioners that I represent and a great deal of interest in conducting a short term public relations campaign at the expense of investors," Moore wrote.
North Carolina is the eighth state that Disney executives have visited in the past two weeks to lobby government officials.
Paddens told the newspaper: "Our pitch to state officials is, please give our new non-executive chairman ... some period of time to demonstrate that our governance improvements and performance improvements are real."
A Disney spokesman at its California headquarters didn't immediately return a phone call late Friday seeking a response.
Moore and other state treasurers who oversee government pension funds withheld their shareholder votes earlier this month for Eisner to be re-elected as board chairman.
Moore and others were critical of Eisner serving as both chief executive officer and chairman. After the vote, in which shareholders withheld 43 percent of votes cast for Eisner's re-election as chairman, the company named former Mitchell, the former Senate leader, as non-executive chairman.
This week, Moore and leaders of other large public pension funds requested a meeting with Mitchell and other Disney directors to discuss performance and governance concerns.
North Carolina's pension funds own 2.1 million Disney shares, most of them in indexed funds. Moore said in an interview that active managers of North Carolina pension fund money already had sold its Disney shares due to its poor performance.
Moore wrote two letters to Mitchell. The first, dated Thursday, commended him for "reaching out to institutional investors and devoting Michael Eisner's valuable time to meeting with me." The treasurer made mention of Disney's advance notice to the media, which he said was "extremely counterproductive."
Moore wrote another letter after Friday's newspaper's article.
If Thursday's meeting "is indicative of the 'Disney way,' it is easy to see why the share price has been slack for 10 years, and investors are raising concerns," he wrote Friday.
