Still CEO, but no longer board chair:

http://money.cnn.com/2004/03/03/news/companies/disney_eisner.reut/index.htm>

<http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2004-03-03-disney-shareholder-meeting_x.htm?csp=24>;
With a 43% "no-confidence" vote from shareholders, I understand he is likely to be bumped off / forced to resign very soon. 20% no-confidence is generally enough to cause a change on a board so 43% is seismic. Ironically, the news comes as Disney's stock has gone up 60% in the last year and at a time when Disney is promising 30% growth in the coming year and double digit growth for the next four years consecutively.

Unfortunately, the outlook for a post-PIXAR Disney a few years from now is less rosy and the theme park portion of the company continues to falter. He had a 20-year run, and has made about a billion dollars off of Disney, which ain't bad as CEOs go.

Rick Senger
Byrne-ing Up In LA

Ah, he should give up this Disney stuff and go back to drawing the Spirit.

Oh, wait...

They (Roy Disney & Stanley Gold) were hoping for a 30% no confidence vote but when it came up as 43% reports said that Eisner was visibly deflated. When Steve Case, former chairman of AOL Time Warner, heard that shareholders were planning a campaign to withhold votes last year, he stepped down before the annual meeting. Roughly 22% of voters ended up withholding their votes. What is Disney thinking in keeping Eisner when its shareholders vote 43%. Stripping him of his chairman role will not change how Disney is handled

One of the problems is the amount of bonuses Eisner has received during low earning years. Judith Estrin is the chair of the board's compensation committee and she is responsible for the fact that the company's five top executives were paid more than $68 million in total compensation in 2003 while the company's share price declined by about 50 percent. The previous year they were paid $40 million as the stock declined by almost 20 percent.

Disney aquired the rights for the Chronicles of Narnia stories recently. I hope that they stay faithful to the story and message rather than make something just to sell videos.

There is a great cartoon from Mike Peters on Roy Disney's site: www.savedisney.com