Who Got Special Mailing from The Walt Disney Company?

[TeenaS]

On Saturday I received a special mailing from the Walt Disney Company. It was a beautiful color foldout - absolutely beautiful ... could be suitable for framing! The accompanying "message" said: Dear Disney Shareholder: We hope you are pleased with the strong recent results of your company and the outlook for our future. As you vote your proxy, send a strong signal that you are for continued improvement by voting FOR all directors standing for re-election. Thank you, The Walt Disney Company.

Personally this really upset me ... no, not because I'm on "Roy's side" but because I saw it as a large expense that the Company put out to rush these mailings out to all the shareholders. Unlike Roy and Stanley's campaign of letters and phone calls (I got a call from Roy and Stanley's camp on Saturday afternoon urging me to come to their meeting and to not vote for .......), etc., this came from the Company and it cost the Company money (lots too I'm sure). Will that cost come out of Michael's pocket? Doubt it but it should. In all the years I've had Disney stock, I have never received a special mailing like this urging me to vote for the directors. I feel that if Michael and some of the others want to solicit our votes (the way Roy and Stanley are), then it should come out of their pocket, not the Company (which means we as shareholders are paying for this solicitation for votes). Heck, maybe the cost of this mailing will cause a few more layoffs of animators or maybe it will mean less of a dividend.

Am I seeing this fairly? Does anybody agree?

 

[ohanafamily]

Haven't gotten a mailing, already voted my proxy though.. WithRoy!!! Sorry he didn't win at the Oscars last night, It would have been a nice tribute to Walt.

Billy Crystal even commented on the sparks between Disney and Ei$ner...

 

[Chuck S]

I don't have a problem with it. Roy & Stan have been on the attack, and generally, the board and Esiner have been a lot more civil and professional about it than they have (at least I didn't read an article from Mrs. Eisner saying she wanted to punch Roy ).

I haven't received the mailing, did you respond on your proxy that you are attending the meeting? Either way, this foldout could have been designed with the original intent of distributing it at the meeting as most companies have some "perks" for those attending. Possibly, the company simply decided to send it to all shareholders. I know we have occasionally received similar "mailings" prior to meetings for other companies.

 

[TeenaS]

When I sent back my proxy, I did not indicate I was attending... I can't attend this year. I have attended in the past (Chicago and Fort Worth) and have never received anything from the company before or at the annual meeting (other than the annual report and proxy). As I said, I've had Disney stock for a long time and this is definitely a first. I'm just upset that the directors spent the Company's (stockholders') money to gather votes for themselves versus Roy and Stanley spending their own money. My being upset has nothing to do with whether I'm for Michael or for Roy and whether one "campaign" is nicer and/or more professional than the other. I think the expense of the mailing should have been a personal expense to Michael and the stockholders, not the company's expense and thus our expense.

 

[Mr D]

I'm all bent out of shape because my proxy vote card never came in the mail, the address is the same as its been for years on the single share of certificate stock, I can't vote against Eisner and ironically since I can't vote it automatically reverts to in Eisners favor.

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

but then again I sent my proxy in some time ago - as fast as I received it.

Wonder if these went to folks whose vote hadn't already been received? Or maybe who held a certain amount of stock?

Deb

 

[jmminarik]

It would really be expensive if they sent to every shareholder. I'd imagine Disney more than any other company has a disproportionate number of '1 share hanging on the wall because the share is so cool' shareholders.

-Joe
BTW, we didn't get one (yet) with our measely 25 shares.

 

[raidermatt]

the board and Esiner have been a lot more civil and professional about it than they have

Admittedly a Slam-Disney Piece

Here's an excerpt:

"...Just read last Sunday’s profile of Roy Disney in The New York Times Magazine... The article tells how Mucha, after pledging that, “We don’t think we should **** on Roy in public” (the expletive was deleted by the newspaper), nevertheless e-mailed the reporter that same day some 20-odd articles chronicling the shortfalls of Roy Disney, his associates and his children.

But Mucha really stepped in muck with the media last Friday when she floated to CBS MarketWatch, Business Week and others the half-truth that Roy received the most “no” votes in recent company history — 15 percent in 1997. The journalists were furious when they found out what really happened: that Roy was among five directors up for re-election that year, and that all five ended up with roughly 15 percent “no” votes because of a shareholders’ protest over Eisner’s multimillion-dollar severance package for ousted president Michael Ovitz. Of the five directors, Roy received the most “yes” votes and the fewest “no” votes. “I was pissed,” one of the journalists who had to issue a clarification told L.A. Weekly."


Thanks to wdw4us2 for pointing the story out to me...

 

[Chuck S]

And you put faith in an article written by someone that says:

Full disclosure: I am in a legal dispute with Disney over the news media’s right to truthfully report on the entertainment giant’s business activities.

and...

Have you ever seen the vast majority of Magic Kingdom stockholders? Clearly, they’re not the brightest bulbs, since anyone with half a brain dumped their Disney stock long ago. Instead, they tend towards collectors of cutesy-poo, with Disneyana-filled homes whose doorbells ring, “It’s a Small World.” Which is why this particular reception may very well end up resembling the bar scene in Star Wars.

 

[Goofyposter]

Chuck....here's another couple of quotes from that article to ponder.......

Reminder: Eisner is fighting to keep his job

Whip. Whip. It’s scorched-earth time on Dopey Drive. To circumvent the dissident incursion, Eisner has plotted various counter-measures. It doesn’t appear to be mere coincidence that Disney’s proxy ballots are arriving very late or not at all for many investors. For a company known for clockwork precision on investor matters, sending ballots two weeks late and by third-class mail (the slowest possible) leads many to question, to quote one shareholder, whether something fishy is going on, and it’s not Finding Nemo.

 

[Chuck S]

But, Goofyposter, the point is...could anyone consider a reporter who is in a legal dispute with the company to present an unbiased report?

 

[RyMickey]

As a side note, I thought it was funny that there was no comment made whatsoever in the mailing about ABC...they did however strategically place a photo of a leather-clad Jennifer Garner in the upper right corner (fine by me). Funny, though, because Alias isn't exactly an ABC hit (although it should be)...then again, "ABC hit" is kind of an oxymoron, ain't it?

RyMickey

 

[WDSearcher]

I just got the mailing last night. It was a nice piece, but I didn't think it was "suitable for framing." Considering the original description, I was expecting something on a heavier card stock with embossing or something. This was just a regular old full-color fold out. Nothing special, and not terribly expensive. Probably cost them more to mail them than it did to print them.

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by RyMickey
As a side note, I thought it was funny that there was no comment made whatsoever in the mailing about ABC...they did however strategically place a photo of a leather-clad Jennifer Garner in the upper right corner (fine by me). Funny, though, because Alias isn't exactly an ABC hit (although it should be)...then again, "ABC hit" is kind of an oxymoron, ain't it?

RyMickey

"Alias" is a "critical hit" which, unfortunately, doesn't equate to ratings hit. But if a leather-clad Jennifer Garner gets even one more viewer .....