Stanley Gold takes Eisner battle to the press:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/18/business/yourmoney/18GOLD.html?todaysheadl

MJ, can you pull a quote or two? I don't have my account info at work, so I can't read the article...

A quote from the lengthy NYTimes article:

>>THERE are few things Stanley P. Gold seems uncomfortable talking about. But on Thursday morning, over breakfast at his stately home not far from Rodeo Drive, he fidgeted when pressed to explain his dissatisfaction with Michael
D. Eisner, chairman of the Walt Disney Company.

Under Mr. Eisner, Disney's share price hit a historical high of $43.63 in April 2000. Since then, however, Mr. Gold, who runs Shamrock Holdings, the investment arm of the Disney family, has watched Disney's value plummet nearly 65 percent, and along with it much of the family fortune. Now, with a turnaround for the company expected to be at least a year or two away, Mr.
Gold, who also serves on the Disney board, is at the center of a power struggle that threatens to shake up the corporate suite.



The article goes on with biopgraphical and personality oriented information. The above is the meaty part.

[Edited to remove excessive direct quotation of the article - Alex Stroup]

Memo to Roy E.:

April 2000 stock price: approx. $45.00
August 2002 stock price: approx. $15.00

Your 17.5M shares in April 2000: $787M
Your 17.5M shares in Aug 2002: $262M

Sure, your'e not going to the poorhouse anytime soon but aren't those numbers a little disturbing?

I suspect what is going on is that obviously there's aknowledgement that something is wrong, but they're not going to go to the press and say, "Eisner is a jerk and we can't wait to get rid of him and his company-ruining ways." Which is good -- I think they should do this quietly in their own boardrooms, and then celebrate by buying license plate holders that say "We Canned Eisner." Thing is, they have to say something with the way the media is jumping all over this story lately...

I believe, though, that Eisner's buying of stock had less to do with creating company confidence, and more to do with him reaping the benefits of when someone else takes his place and turns the company around.

Eisner buying stock was strictly for publicity - he probably holds options and grants (which have a much lower purchase price than regular stock shares) which make $10M seem like pocket change .........

Agreed that you don't come out and say that "Eisner is a bum and we are getting rid of him" - you thank him for his efforts over the past 16-17 years, wish him well and then announce the company's new leadership and, if your companyand leadership is really good, take advantage of the press coverage to announce the plan for how the company is going to take a new and more profitable direction.

That's a lot of work and generally, most companies announce the management change and then later on announce the new plan.
With Disney, hard to believe press won't be interested whenever an announcement is made ........

That was way too much of a quote, merlinjones. Either pull a couple really pointed quotes or regress back to fourth grade and give a book report (that is, summarize the article for people).

Originally posted by coronamouseman
Eisner buying stock was strictly for publicity - he probably holds options and grants (which have a much lower purchase price than regular stock shares) which make $10M seem like pocket change .........


Remember that options are priced at the current market price at the time of issue. With the stock as low as it is right now, I doubt very much that even Eisner has any stock options that are cheaper than the current market price. Most likely, these shares were a direct purchase.

-Jeff

Hey, if you had ten million lying around right now, wouldn't YOU buy some Disney stock? It's about as low as it's been in a long, long time. And if you have any faith at all in the company (with Eisner at the helm or not), you know it's going to rebound over the long term. This was a brilliant move by Eisner--he got good PR out of it, but in reality he's just making smart business sense!

There are many different kinds of options or grants or sometimes outright gifts of stock, not just your basic incentive stock options
(ISOs). Board members can offer stock to employees at whatever price they want - that's their privilege as those who run the company. What the employee does with those shares of stock is their business, pursuant to insider trading restrictions.

Eisner doesn't need the money he would gain if the stock price went up - he's just trying to make a statement ............

Originally posted by Iceman
Hey, if you had ten million lying around right now, wouldn't YOU buy some Disney stock? It's about as low as it's been in a long, long time. And if you have any faith at all in the company (with Eisner at the helm or not), you know it's going to rebound over the long term. This was a brilliant move by Eisner--he got good PR out of it, but in reality he's just making smart business sense!

If it was done as a shrewd business move, meant to generate a ton of money for Eisner and he really felt that it would make him tons of cash, he would have invested 50-100 million, which would have generated hundreds of millions in a few years. That is, IF it was a shrewd business move...

What might have made better PR sense would have been for Eisner to purchase a new issue of Disney stock for, say $10M with the earmarking of that new capital for Disney to be used to rehire 285 laid-off employees @$35K per year (I don't know what Disney CM's average but this is just a guess based upon $15 an hour for 52 weeks)

Just buying stock already out there is really not much of statement of leadership .........