Shareholders revolt to save Mickey Mouse
Stanley Gold, co-leader of the Save Disney campaign, lit a fat cigar as he contemplated the stunning shareholder revolt at Walt Disney.
Standing outside Philadelphia's Loews hotel, opposite the convention centre, after the Wednesday's shareholder vote, Mr Gold smiled broadly. "It's a resounding victory for shareholders. The verdict is clear."
Disney's board reluctantly agreed. Within hours of the result, the directors voted unanimously to split the roles of chairman and chief executive. After 18 years at the helm of the company, Michael Eisner's dominant, combined role was at an end.
With investors representing 43 per cent of shares withholding their support for his re-appointment to both posts, boardroom changes were inevitable.
Less clear is whether the changes go far enough to placate shareholders, so many of whom are deeply unhappy with the company's performance, its governance and its management.
George Mitchell, the company's presiding director and former senate majority leader, is to become chairman - but he was rejected by 24 per cent of investors in Wednesday's vote.
Patrick McGurn of Institutional Shareholder Services, the group pressing for a separate chairman and chief executive, says: "This board has to sit down and make some hard choices. We have never seen a sitting chairman and chief executive receive a vote of this size."
The Save Disney campaign, orchestrated by Mr Gold and Roy Disney, who last year resigned as Disney vice-chairman, was blunter. Says Mr Gold: "Shareholders have waited too long and spoken too clearly . . . Michael Eisner must leave now. It is no longer sufficient to separate the role of chairman and CEO."
For the moment, Disney appears determined to ride out the storm. In a statement, it said "there appear to have been a number of different forces at work in the shareholder vote".
While agreeing to split the roles of chairman and chief executive, the board reiterated its support for Mr Eisner and his strategy. "The level of earnings and improved returns we expect going forward make us confident that results will validate our judgment on the quality of our management team," the board said.
The directors also dismissed again a near-$60bn hostile bid from Comcast, the cable giant, saying the offer remained inadequate.
Disney's stance has left shareholders and analysts wondering what has changed.
Given that Mr Eisner retains the central role of chief executive, and his long-time ally Mr Mitchell becomes chairman, its response may appear to some to be more about style than substance.
Timothy Wallace, media analyst at UBS in New York, says: "I think Michael will continue to manage as he has, but with perhaps more attention to relations with shareholders."
Mr Eisner remains on the board and expects to continue in that role at least until 2006, when his current contract expires.
Nevertheless, the split role is a major concession and there was no disguising the severity of the reprimand handed out to Mr Eisner in the withholding vote.
The Save Disney campaign has vowed to press ahead with its lobbying efforts until Mr Mitchell also stands down. Calpers, the California public pension fund, has called for him to resign.
Disney points out that Calpers has less than 0.5 per cent of the company, and on those shares it has enjoyed a 100 per cent outperformance against the S&P500 since it first acquired its stake. It also insists that most of its largest shareholders supported Mr Eisner in retaining both roles and the re-election of directors.
Executives argue that the company is delivering on promises of profit growth in each business, with the exception of the loss-making ABC television network.
Nevertheless, the board now needs to rebuild relations with investors and demonstrate that the turn-round of the past quarter is sustainable. Mr Mitchell also has to deliver on his promise to spend more time on succession planning.
If Mr Eisner is to survive, he will have to deliver on a promise to increase earnings by at least 30 per cent this year and double digit earnings growth to 2007.
The Save Disney campaign, however, warned that those promises would not be enough to mollify investors. "This doesn't come as a surprise," says one one official. "This isn't about corporate governance, but about the management team and the need for change."
股东起义 拯救米老鼠
斯坦利?戈尔德(Stanley Gold)点上一支大雪茄，思忖着沃特迪斯尼公司(Walt Disney)精彩的股东起义。戈尔德先生是“拯救迪斯尼”运动的联合领导人之一。
周三迪斯尼股东的投票结束后，戈尔德先生站在费城会议中心对面Loews宾馆的门外开怀大笑：“这是股东们的彻底胜利。结论很明确。”
迪斯尼董事会很不情愿地同意了股东的意见：在股东投票结果公布数小时后，董事们一致投票决定，将公司董事长和首席执行官职位分开。在掌控迪斯尼18年之后，迈克尔?艾斯纳(Michael Eisner)在迪斯尼身兼二职的统治地位结束了。
由于代表43%股权的股东表示，不支持艾斯纳一人续任上述两个位置，因此董事会必须有所转变。
但是，尚不清楚这种改变是否足以安抚股东。对于迪斯尼的业绩、公司治理和管理层，许多股东深感不满。
公司主管董事、前美国参议院多数党领袖乔治?米切尔(George Mitchell)将成为新的董事长，但在周三的投票中，他遭到了代表24%股权股东的反对。
机构股东服务公司(ISS)的帕特里克#麦格恩(Patrick McGurn)表示：“这个董事会必须坐下来，做出一些艰难的抉择。我们从未见过哪位在任董事长及首席执行官得到这么多(反对)票。”这个团体曾向迪斯尼施加压力，要求将董事长和首席执行官职位分开。
戈尔德先生和罗伊?迪斯尼(Roy Disney)组织的“拯救迪斯尼运动”则更不客气。戈尔德先生说：“股东们已经等待太久，话也说得够清楚了……迈克尔?艾斯纳必须现在就走。仅将董事长和首席执行官职位分开那还不够。”罗伊?迪斯尼去年辞去迪斯尼副董事长一职。
目前看来，迪斯尼似乎决心要渡过这场风暴。公司在一份声明中表示：“在股东投票过程中，似乎有许多不同的力量在发挥作用。”
尽管董事会同意将董事长和首席执行官的职位分开，但它重申，支持艾斯纳先生及其战略。董事会表示：“目前公司收益水平尚可，且预计利润将继续改善，因此我们确信，最终结果将证明，我们对公司管理团队素质的判断是正确的。”
同时，董事们再次拒绝了有线电视巨头康卡斯特(Comcast)的恶意收购要约，称其近600亿美元的报价还不够高。
迪斯尼董事会的态度令股东和分析师对迪斯尼是否有所改变感到疑惑。
鉴于艾斯纳先生保留首席执行官的中心角色，而其长期盟友米切尔先生将成为新的董事长，因此在一些人看来，迪斯尼董事会的反应与其说是实质性转变，还不如说是形式上的转变。
瑞士银行(UBS)驻纽约的媒体分析师蒂莫西?华莱士(Timothy Wallace)表示：“我认为，米切尔仍将像从前一样进行管理，但有可能更加重视与股东的关系。”
艾斯纳先生将继续留在董事会，预计他将担任该职至少到2006年，那时他目前的任职合同到期。
然而，把这两个职位分开是董事会作出的重大让步，而且，股东投下的反对票丝毫没有掩饰对艾斯纳先生的严厉指责。
“拯救迪斯尼”运动的人士已经发誓，将继续努力游说，直到米切尔先生也主动让位。加州公共养老金基金Calpers已经在呼吁让米切尔辞职。
迪斯尼指出，Calpers持有公司不到0.5%的股份，而自从该基金最初买下这些股份以来，这些股票的业绩已超过标准普尔500指数100%。公司同时表示，公司最大的股东大多支持艾斯纳先生继续身兼二职，并赞成重新选举董事。
迪斯尼的管理人员声称，公司的每项业务都在实现公司的承诺，利润都在出现增长，只有ABC电视网除外，该业务目前处于亏损。
然而，现在公司董事会有必要重建与投资者关系，并证明上季度业绩好转的状况是可持续的。米切尔先生还必须兑现承诺，花更多时间考虑接班人计划。
如果艾斯纳先生想保住在公司的位子，他就必须兑现承诺，今年至少把收益提高30%，并在到2007年的几年里实现两位数的收益增长率。
不过，“拯救迪斯尼”运动的人士警告说，那些承诺不足以安抚投资者。“这没有让人感到惊讶，”一位参与运动的管理人士说，“这不是有关公司治理的问题，而是有关管理团队和必须改革的问题。”
