Pension Funds of 5 States Seek to Meet Disney Directors (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/23/business/23disney.html?ex=1080709200&en=411d5105a6b78b0e&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE) - New York Times, 3/23/04

QuikQuote: All the pension funds, which manage more than $500 billion in assets, declined to support Mr. Eisner in Disney's annual board election on March 3, when 43 percent of all shares were withheld from the vote on Mr. Eisner, who has led Disney for 20 years. Then, many shareholders, including Roy Disney, nephew of the company's co-founder, called on Mr. Eisner to resign.
"As long-term investors, we remain concerned about Disney's future and we need to see, up close and personal, how the board plans to address the serious and substantial issues at their doorstep," Connecticut's treasurer, Denise L. Nappier, said in a statement. She represents the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds.

Here's Mitchells response, which is just a tad arrogant:

'George Mitchell, who became Disney chairman after Michael Eisner gave up the post this month, said in his response that he looked forward to meeting with the funds. But - implicitly criticising the public correspondence - he said he had already spoken with the leaders of some of the funds about such a meeting. And he rejected the call for an immediate meeting with all members of the company's board, instead writing: "We will advise you as to which board members will attend," after a time and place for the meeting had been set. ' (CBS MarketWatch)

If these funds decided to dump the stock, I wonder what the impact would be on the WDC?

If these funds decided to dump the stock, I wonder what the impact would be on the WDC?

The stock would decline, probably quite a bit, in which case, it would be easier for the company to be purchased by Comcast. However, at least one of the fund managers referred to being a "long-term investor" so I'm guessing they aren't going to just sell off all their shares simply because not every director shows up to their meeting.