Disney's Eisner gets bonus; company talking to SEC over probe (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/7810237.htm) - AP, 1/27/04

QuikQuote: Walt Disney Co. chairman and chief executive Michael Eisner received total compensation of $7.3 million in 2003, including a $6.25 million stock bonus, according to the company's proxy statement filed Tuesday.
The proxy also disclosed that Disney is negotiating with the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle a probe into its failure to disclose that the children of some board members work for the company, among other matters. A possible settlement would involve a finding that the company had violated certain federal regulations and would include the issuance of a cease and desist order. It would not affect the company's finances, the proxy said.

I do not pretend to know the ins and outs of the stock market, but I've been keeping an eye on Disney and they're not doing too well today. The stock has fallen to 23.78 as of this morning, which seems unusual given the boost the Oscar nominations should have provided. Perhaps people are (finally) taking note of the all the negative happenings at the WDC?

It's more than likely the SEC probe. So far most of the SEC probes have uncovered some interesting things in other companies - and the fact that this was buried in a company report and now comes to the surface makes some institutional investors nervous. Even is they can handle the issues, any bad news (or bad rumor) for any company these days always equates to a stock loss on the first and/or second day post-announcement.