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Roy Disney Quits Disney Board
Aired December 01, 2003 - 15:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the man who put the Disney in the Walt Disney Company, in recent years, anyway, has quit. And so has one of his top allies on the Disney board. Roy I. Disney says that the empire that his uncle built is no magic kingdom.
CNN's Jen Rogers draws us a picture -- Jen.
JEN ROGERS, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra. Well, out here in Hollywood, the Walt Disney Company is known to many as the "Mouse House." But let me tell you, there is nothing mousy going on with this boardroom drama swirling today. In fact, you might call it a cat fight, and all the claws are out.
Here is the deal. It is really no secret that Roy Disney and Michael Eisner, who you are seeing there -- Michael Eisner on the left -- have been at odds for the last couple of years. It has really been out in the public the last 18 months. Obviously reaching a boiling point here.
The news really coming over the weekend that Roy Disney resigned firing, off the searing letter to Michael Eisner -- and again, just in the last few hours, we have heard that his closest ally on the board, Stanley Gold, who manages his finances, basically, is also saying that he's going to be leaving.
Now, Mr. Disney says that he is basically being forced out. That he is not being put out by the nominating committee. The Walt Disney Company is saying, look, we're just enforcing our retirement age retirements for board members. However, Mr. Gold calling this clearly disingenuous in his letter.
Now, these resignation letters, Kyra, I have to tell you, are not just simple resignation letters along the lines of, "I resign, I tender this immediately." They are very severe criticisms of Mr. Eisner's management of the company.
And here are just a couple of sentences out of Roy Disney's letter to Michael Eisner. Just a couple of take-away points. "Dear Michael," the letter starts. But then it goes down from there.
"After 19 years at the helm, you are no longer the best person to run the Walt Disney Company." He goes on to say that the company has lost its focus, its creative energy and its heritage. And finally, toward the end he says, "You should be leaving and not me. With sincere regret, Roy Disney."
So you can see some pretty harsh words there, Kyra. Of course the board, which will be meeting very shortly -- this is all on the eve of a board meeting -- came out with their own statement. And in that, Kyra, they said that this is really an inopportune time to be bringing up these criticisms, that they have dealt with them, and that previously the calls to have a management change have been turned down by the board -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jen, is Eisner safe, secure? Or is his job, rather, secure?
ROGERS: At this point, talking to people on Wall Street, they say if this had come 12 months ago, it could be a different story, because the company was in much worse shape. Right now, things seem to have turned around a bit.
ABC is getting its footing back. There's signs of life there. And let's talk about movies for Walt Disney.
This year they have the two top movies at the box office in the United States. "Finding Nemo," the number one movie, and then "Pirates of the Caribbean." These movies have both grossed over $300 million. And so any of this is sort of good news for the company. People say it's also good news for Michael Eisner.
PHILLIPS: All right. Jen Rogers, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 1, 2003 - 15:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the man who put the Disney in the Walt Disney Company, in recent years, anyway, has quit. And so has one of his top allies on the Disney board. Roy I. Disney says that the empire that his uncle built is no magic kingdom.
CNN's Jen Rogers draws us a picture -- Jen.
JEN ROGERS, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra. Well, out here in Hollywood, the Walt Disney Company is known to many as the "Mouse House." But let me tell you, there is nothing mousy going on with this boardroom drama swirling today. In fact, you might call it a cat fight, and all the claws are out.
Here is the deal. It is really no secret that Roy Disney and Michael Eisner, who you are seeing there -- Michael Eisner on the left -- have been at odds for the last couple of years. It has really been out in the public the last 18 months. Obviously reaching a boiling point here.
The news really coming over the weekend that Roy Disney resigned firing, off the searing letter to Michael Eisner -- and again, just in the last few hours, we have heard that his closest ally on the board, Stanley Gold, who manages his finances, basically, is also saying that he's going to be leaving.
Now, Mr. Disney says that he is basically being forced out. That he is not being put out by the nominating committee. The Walt Disney Company is saying, look, we're just enforcing our retirement age retirements for board members. However, Mr. Gold calling this clearly disingenuous in his letter.
Now, these resignation letters, Kyra, I have to tell you, are not just simple resignation letters along the lines of, "I resign, I tender this immediately." They are very severe criticisms of Mr. Eisner's management of the company.
And here are just a couple of sentences out of Roy Disney's letter to Michael Eisner. Just a couple of take-away points. "Dear Michael," the letter starts. But then it goes down from there.
"After 19 years at the helm, you are no longer the best person to run the Walt Disney Company." He goes on to say that the company has lost its focus, its creative energy and its heritage. And finally, toward the end he says, "You should be leaving and not me. With sincere regret, Roy Disney."
So you can see some pretty harsh words there, Kyra. Of course the board, which will be meeting very shortly -- this is all on the eve of a board meeting -- came out with their own statement. And in that, Kyra, they said that this is really an inopportune time to be bringing up these criticisms, that they have dealt with them, and that previously the calls to have a management change have been turned down by the board -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jen, is Eisner safe, secure? Or is his job, rather, secure?
ROGERS: At this point, talking to people on Wall Street, they say if this had come 12 months ago, it could be a different story, because the company was in much worse shape. Right now, things seem to have turned around a bit.
ABC is getting its footing back. There's signs of life there. And let's talk about movies for Walt Disney.
This year they have the two top movies at the box office in the United States. "Finding Nemo," the number one movie, and then "Pirates of the Caribbean." These movies have both grossed over $300 million. And so any of this is sort of good news for the company. People say it's also good news for Michael Eisner.
PHILLIPS: All right. Jen Rogers, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
