LPWire: Roy Disney resigns from Disney

(c) Disney
In a letter to Michael Eisner (the complete text of the letter is shown below), Roy E. Disney resigned from the Walt Disney Company. The nephew of Walt Disney, and son of Roy O. Disney, was Vice-Chairman of The Walt Disney Company and Chairman of the company’s feature animation unit. The past few years have been a tense time between the former allies that brought about a Disney renaissance in the 1980’s. Last year, investment banker and advisor to Roy Disney, Stanley P. Gold publicly criticized Mr. Eisner. Many analysts felt that Mr. Eisner won the power play which resulted in reducing the size of the company’s board and the presence of Mr. Eisner’s critics on the board.
The nominating committee had excluded Mr. Disney from the meeting on Monday where the slate of proposed directors would be decided. It is possible the Mr. Disney would not be included on the slate of directors that would be voted in at the annual shareholder meeting that will be held early next year. Reports say that the board's governance and nominating committee has decided not to recommend Disney for another term because he is over the mandated retirement age of 72 (he is now almost 74). It is not clear as to what influence Mr. Eisner has over the committee, but the increased corporate governance committee was named at the same time that Michael Eisner successfully had Stanley P. Gold named not an independent board member, “because of his significant business relationship with the company's vice chairman, Roy Disney.�?
Roy Disney claims that Mr. Eisner had a policy of ``… requiring some of my associates to report my conversations and activities to [Michael Eisner].�? In his resignation, Mr. Disney encourages Mr. Eisner to resign as well. Mr. Disney wrote, “Michael, I believe your conduct has resulted from my clear and unambiguous statements to you and the board of directors that after 19 years at the helm you are no longer the best person to run the Walt Disney Company.'' Mr. Disney’s criticisms of Mr. Eisner’s direction of the company are rumored to include changes in how the company runs its animation business, the reduction of capital spending at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, and the underperforming ABC unit which has required a major part of the Disney executive’s time and resources. This news comes ten days after the announcement of the company’s improved financial performance for the 2003 fiscal year that ended September 30.
Roy Disney assumed the responsibility for providing overall guidance and direction to the Animation Department in 1984. This was his first full-time role at the studio since 1977. Michael Eisner assumed his current position as CEO and chairman of The Walt Disney Company in 1984. Previously he worked for ABC and Paramount Pictures.
The Letter from Roy Disney to Michael Eisner:
Mr. Michael D. Eisner, Chairman
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
Dear Michael,
It is with deep sadness and regret that I send you this letter of resignation
from the Walt Disney Company, both as Chairman of the Feature Animation Division
and as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors.
You well know that you and I have had serious differences of opinion about the
direction and style of management in the Company in recent years. For whatever
reason, you have driven a wedge between me and those I work with even to the
extent of requiring some of my associates to report my conversations and
activities back to you. I find this intolerable.
Finally, you discussed with the Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors
its decision to leave my name off the slate of directors to be elected in the
coming year, effectively muzzling my voice on the Board — much as you did with
Andrea Van de Kamp last year.
Michael, I believe your conduct has resulted from my clear and unambiguous
statements to you and the Board of Directors that after 19 years at the helm you
are no longer the best person to run the Walt Disney Company. You had a very
successful first 10-plus years at the Company in partnership with Frank Wells,
for which I salute you. But, since Frank's untimely death in 1994, the Company
has lost its focus, its creative energy, and its heritage.
As I have said, and as Stanley Gold has documented in letters to you and other
members of the Board, this Company, under your leadership, has failed during the
last seven years in many ways:
1. The failure to bring back ABC Prime Time from the ratings abyss it has been
in for years and your inability to program successfully the ABC Family Channel.
Both of these failures have had, and I believe, will continue to have,
significant adverse impact on shareholder value.
2. Your consistent micro-management of everyone around you with the resulting
loss of morale throughout this Company.
3. The timidity of your investments in our theme park business. At Disney's
California Adventure, Paris, and now in Hong Kong, you have tried to build parks
"on the cheap" and they show it, and the attendance figures reflect it.
4. The perception by all of our stakeholders — consumers, investors, employees,
distributors and suppliers — that the Company is rapacious, soul-less, and
always looking for the "quick buck" rather than the long-term value which is
leading to a loss of public trust.
5. The creative brain drain of the last several years, which is real and
continuing, and damages our Company with the loss of every talented employee.
6. Your failure to establish and build constructive relationships with creative
partners, especially Pixar, Miramax, and the cable companies distributing our
products.
7. Your consistent refusal to establish a clear succession plan.
In conclusion, Michael, it is my sincere belief that it is you who should be
leaving and not me. Accordingly, I once again call for your resignation or
retirement. The Walt Disney Company deserves fresh, energetic leadership at this
challenging time in its history just as it did in 1984 when I headed a
restructuring which resulted in your recruitment to the Company.
I have and will always have an enormous allegiance and respect for this Company,
founded by my uncle, Walt, and father, Roy, and to our faithful employees and
loyal stockholders. I don't know if you and other directors can comprehend how
painful it is for me and the extended Disney family to arrive at this decision.
In accordance with Item 6 of Form 8-K and Item 7 of Schedule 14A, I request that
you disclose this letter and that you file a copy of this letter as an exhibit
to a Company Form 8-K.
With sincere regret,
Roy E. Disney
cc: Board of Directors
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-- Story by Benji Breitbart
-- Posted November 30, 2003