Posted on 03/01/2004 9:14:01 AM PST by Liz
March 1, 2004
Dear Fellow Walt Disney Company Shareholder:
There are only two days remaining until The Walt Disney Company annual meeting of shareholders on March 3, 2004. Although time is short, you still have time to cast your vote, if you have not already done so, or to change your vote.
To assure that your vote is received in time, we urge you to vote promptly by phone or internet. The deadline for most shareholders to submit their vote by either of these methods is 11:59 PM EST on Tuesday, March 2nd. However, if you are a Disney employee (or former employee) and your Disney shares are held in the company's 401(k) plan, the deadline for internet or telephone voting is 11:59 AM EST tomorrow, March 2, 2004. Simply follow the voting instructions you received with your proxy form. Proxies sent by mail or by hand must also be received by 11:59 AM EST Tuesday for 401(k) participants, and prior to the start of the 10:00 AM EST meeting on Wednesday for all other shareholders.
We are extremely gratified by the strong and growing support among shareholders to withhold their vote on the re-election of Michael Eisner, John Bryson, Judith Estrin and George Mitchell. We urge you to vote today and send an unmistakable message that it is time for a change in the senior management and Board of The Walt Disney Company. Tell the Board you believe it is time to replace Michael Eisner -- eight years of substandard performance is long enough.
We believe that the record of The Walt Disney Company over the last eight years speaks for itself. Shareholders are entitled to better management. Michael Eisner has failed to deliver for all Disney shareholders over this long period. We believe the FACTS are clear:
* Poor Capital Allocation: Little or no additional returns on billions of dollars this management invested. Despite reinvesting more than $15 billion in Company operations since 1996, Disney's operating income in fiscal year 2003 was only $3.2 billion versus operating income of $3.5 billion in 1996. Furthermore even if you assume Disney management achieves its forecasts for fiscal year 2004, earnings will only approximate those achieved six years ago.
* Loss of Strategic Focus, Creativity and Talent: New management is needed to restore the magic and rekindle the creative flame -- Disney can't afford the continued loss of talented individuals like Messrs. Bollenbach, Burke, Katzenberg, Laybourne, Pressler, Roth and Schneider.
* Damaged Relationships: In January, Steve Jobs announced that Pixar Animation Studios was ending its working relationship with Disney. For 12 years Pixar was a vital component of Disney's motion picture success -- over the last five years, Pixar was the largest contributor to operating income in the motion picture division. The Pixar relationship produced revenues of more than $3 billion with a string of mega hits like Toy Story, Toy Story II, Monsters, Inc. and most recently, Finding Nemo.
* Serious Corporate Governance Deficiencies, including Excessive Executive Compensation: The Walt Disney Company was ranked by The Corporate Library as one of the 10 worst Boards among 1700 companies. For the past three years, the top five Disney executives have received approximately $70 million in total compensation, despite a decrease in Disney's net operating income from $2.0 billion to $1.3 billion and a 50% decline in its stock price.
WE NEED YOUR HELP TO RESTORE THE MAGIC! THE DECISION IS YOURS - VOTE "NO" TODAY!
You don't have to just take our word for it. Look again at what others who have decided to VOTE NO on Eisner have said:
* Institutional Shareholder Services, the largest independent proxy advisor with over 700 institutional clients, announced that "this vote is a referendum on substantive change on the Disney Board," that the Board's prior efforts of "reconstituting the Board was aimed more at quieting healthy boardroom dissent rather than creating it" and that "Board ties to Disney management are omnipresent." ISS concluded "at the end of the day, all roads lead back to Eisner."
* Glass Lewis, another leading independent proxy advisor, stated, "The Disney board has been notoriously insular, famously gullible and blindly loyal to Mr. Eisner." Glass Lewis also noted that "while the corporate world is watching carefully the fate of the Disney directors, investors should be heard to say in unison: we will hold directors' feet to the fire for present and past transgressions."
* CalPERS explained, "We have lost complete confidence in Mr. Eisner's strategic vision and leadership in creating shareholder value in the company."
* The New Jersey State Investment Council said, "Eisner has created no value for shareholders for the past seven years."
* CalSTRS noted, "Eisner's strategic vision as illustrated by his past actions doesn't encourage us that he's taking The Walt Disney Company in the right direction."
* The New York State Common Retirement Fund announced that what Disney must do is "replace Mr. Eisner as soon as possible."
* The Treasurer of North Carolina stated, "The failure of the company to generate long-term value for shareholders, combined with their past inattention to good corporate governance practices has forced us to take this step."
* The Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board expressed concerns about Disney "mismanagement."
* The Connecticut Pension Fund noted that "management should report to the board, not the other way around."
* The Ohio State Teachers' Retirement Fund explained that its vote was one of "'no confidence' against management and board."
* The Virginia Retirement System announced it would follow the recommendations of ISS.
* T. Rowe Price said its decision was a "message that if companies don't perform, we do have a vote."
Our message is resounding from Coast to Coast, from North to South and in the Heartland -- Michael Eisner must go NOW. We ask you to VOTE NO on Michael Eisner, as well as John Bryson, Judith Estrin and George Mitchell. For assistance in voting, please call our proxy advisors, Mackenzie Partners, Inc. Toll-Free at (800) 322-2885 or at (212) 929-5500 collect or send an email to savedisney@mackenziepartners.com. We will be pleased to answer your questions. You may also visit www.savedisney.com for easy to follow voting instructions. Send a message that you want change. Your VOTE, no matter how many Disney shares you may own, matters greatly. We appreciate your vote and all your support in bringing back the magic to The Walt Disney Company.
Sincerely,
Roy E. Disney Stanley P. Gold
Special Note: If your shares are held in a brokerage account and you fail to vote your shares, your shares will automatically be voted FOR all management nominees. If you have not already voted, please take a brief moment to vote today by internet or telephone to withhold (Vote No) on Eisner and on Bryson, Estrin and Mitchell!
Kick out the queers and restore Disneyland to the families.
Dump Eisner alert.
Re-focus on families, re-focus on children's innocence.
Get the political correctness out of Disney's productions.God, how I miss "Song of the South"; Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear, and the Tar Baby.
Under Eisner and his band of queers, the old Walt films were off-limits.
The perverts were afraid kids would be inculcated with strong, pro-American values.
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