[Young_Donald]

This is a very great article that explaing what went wrong at the Disney and why:

www.mouseplanet.com/mark/mg040310.htm

"Michael Eisner worked well with Frank Wells. Michael was free to come up with all the creative ideas that he wanted and Frank could say, “No Michael, we can't do that, we're Disney,” and he could keep Michael in check a way that no one has been able to since.

When Frank Wells died in 1994, Michael decided to try to take on both creative and business leadership of the company, to the detriment of his ability to do either one well. First off, he had nobody who could tell him “no” that he would listen to. Second, after Frank's death and Michael's subsequent heart attack, it almost seemed as if Michael had lost his muse.

And suddenly, decisions weren't making sense anymore. Buying baseball and hockey teams. Buying Cap Cities/ABC. Turning Disney into something that it wasn't, and shouldn't be, to my mind"

"I think that this feud has been simmering for a long time. For example, a few years back, Roy asked Michael whether he could put his son Patrick on the board to ensure continuity of Disney family involvement in the company. Michael shot him down, yet put his favorite architect, Robert A. M. Stern (who designed a number of beautiful hotels for Disney in Orlando and Paris) on the board.

At one point, the board included the principal of the school that Eisner's kids went to, the president of the university that his son went to, Eisner's personal attorney, Stern (while he was doing work for the company), and George Mitchell (while he has receiving compensation for consulting services to the company). And I believe that they were all considered independent directors, with the possible exception of Stern"

[Dana]

Thanks for the article. That put an interesting spin on the Eisner situation. Thanks for sharing it.

[rlander]

We need a Disney family member on the board. Make sure if you are a share holder, you vote for Roy.