Roy Disney resigns (DU Disney stockholders please check in)

[Lorien]

Here is the letter:

November 30, 2003

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 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 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 our stakeholders –consumers, investors, employees, distributors and suppliers – that the Company is rapacious, soul-less, and always looking for the “quick buck” rather than 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 companied 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. According ly, 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 regrets,
Roy E. Disney

Cc: Board of Directors

Link: http://online.wsj.com/public/us



I'm a 15 year veteran of the Disney company and a personal aquintance of Roy's. Roy is a good man; he's been fighting the "Walmartization" of the company under Eisner for years now. He really does believe in treating employees fairly, in keeping as many jobs in this country as possible,and in providing quality entertainment for families. In this past year alone, I've watched as hundreds of creative jobs were sent to the orient, and hundreds more of my fellow animators saw their jobs eliminated completely. Two weeks ago, Eisner came to town and told the entire Feature animation studio that all future projects were cancelled, and that all contracts are now null and void. He asked them to pack up and leave that day. We knew traditional animation was being phased out-but no one expected the entire division to be shut down!

I would like to ask that Disney stockholders at DU consider supporting Roy's request that Micheal step down as CEO, and write letters to the company stating such. Roy has written what thousands of us within the company have been voicing for years now.By standing with Roy on this issue you may help tens of thousands to remain employeed, and an American company return to it's roots.

Thank you

[fortyfeetunder]

1. Roy had the right idea

Shareholders profit when there is exemplary customer service. Where do I write?

[Lorien]

5. Contact information

Here: http://disney.go.com/corporate/investors/shareholder/contact.html

[oldleftguy]

2. Thanks for the information.

I was fearful that Roy was some right wing nut because of the bad press Drudge is always reporting on Disney. I'm glad I was wrong. :bounce:

[Lorien]

6. I admit I never talked politics

with Roy, and neither has any of my associates. His concern for the environment (he had stated that 80% of Disney's Florida property remain wild and untouched-of course Eisner didn't agree. He also spearheaded several eco action groups to improve damaged areas) and his respect for the employees made him seem somewhat left of center. I was never too high up on the totem poll (though I'm not at the bottom, either), yet Roy always waved and called my name when he saw me ar any of my friends wandering in the parks. He and his wife would always stop for a chat and ask how things were going. How many employers really care how their worker bees are faring? Roy did, and I'm worried for the rest of the company now that he's gone!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

3. Eisner sucks ass and we feel it in my hometown

Anaheim that is. Once upon a time one could at least be proud of Disney being our claim to fame..but they have turned into a shitty employer, a shitty neighbor and the magic is gone from the place...too bad Roy felt it time to leave.

[Devlzown]

8. I have friends in Orlando.

The ones who used to work at Disney World refer to it as "Mauschwitz."

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. They call it that here too

[cosmicdot]

4. the “quick buck” rather than long-term value

I liked that part of the letter.

[Shakespeare]

7. This is HUGE....I've been following this for awhile.

I am acquainted with Stanley Gold (not closely, and not on a personal level, but I think he's an outstanding individual), and I know how deep his and Roy's friendship goes.

He's exactly right about the perception Eisner has allowed to build up under his tenure--there's a reason that the animators in LA I know refer to the offices over in Studio City as "mauschwitz."

Eisner drove Katzenberg out, and their in-house animated features have suffered ever since his departure (and then there was the bizarre mess with Ovitz). And now he's about to let Pixar get away because he's so completely pissed them off that they probably won't agree to ANY kind of deal renewal.

Thanks for posting this, Jen. Interesting (if troubling) stuff. I hope they boot Eisner--Roy Disney's departure should be a huge, huge wake-up call for the board.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

9. So true.

Letting Pixar get away is simply the icing on the shitcake Eisener has baked for Disney. Lasseter is a genius and is going to succeed regardless of Disney. Eisner has his head up his ass.

[Lorien]

13. Pixar did well IN SPITE OF Disney (Eisner)

Once they are on their own, Lasseter and friends will create films that will blow away even their previous triumphs, IMO. Films like "Bugs life" and even "Nemo" showed signs of Peter Schneider and Tom Schumacher's grubby fingerprints (Tom and Peter were Katzenberg's half assed replacements-universally loathed by animators everywhere). Pixar will really take wing once they are free of Disney's grasp-I can't wait to see what they'll accomplish on their own!

[blondeatlast]

12. First Roy, then Pixar--if it keeps up like this

Mickey's gonna go too.

Seriously, though, ggod on ya, Roy. You shared the vision, Eisner is trying to destroy it.

Don't let it happen.

[blondeatlast]

11. Here's a GREAT spot to voice your opinions, with links to

"official" sites, too.

If you loved the Disney that was, this is the place.

http://www.mouseplanet.com/index.php

[Shakespeare]

14. And now Stanley Gold has resigned...

This is getting UGLY.

http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2003/12/01/disney_two/index.html

Dec. 1, 2003 | LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Stanley Gold, a key ally of former Disney vice chairman Roy E. Disney, resigned from the media and entertainment conglomerate's board Monday, becoming the second vocal opponent of chairman and chief executive Michael Eisner to quit the board in two days.

Gold issued a long rebuke to Eisner and The Walt Disney Co.'s board Monday, seconding complaints made Sunday by Roy Disney and further criticizing the board for being a rubber stamp to senior management.

Gold also repeated Disney's calls for Eisner to resign.

"It is clear to me that this board is unwilling to tackle the difficult issues I believe this company continues to face -- management failures and accountability for those failures, operational deficiencies, imprudent capital allocations, the cannibalization of certain company icons for short-term gain, the enormous loss of creative talent over the last years, the absence of succession planning and the lack of strategic focus," Gold wrote.

more...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

16. Sorry didn't read your article but apparently the board is also forcing

some out due to their age (72 or higher)

[prolesunited]

17. Maybe if enough of the board members

stand together, they will force Eisner out. I hope more make a stand this week. Thanks for the inside track, Jen6. Were you in that division that they scrapped?

[Lorien]

18. I was years ago

I trained many of the people who lost their jobs at Feature Animation, and many of those that had trained me were let go late last year in the first round of lay offs. I was one of the founders of the Florida studio, so it feels like a fairly personal loss.

Now I'm a contract artist for many divisions of the company; Disney Stores, catalog, Imagineering,Global operations, Hyperion publishing, theme parks and Animation, etc. Eisner's toxic management style has infected nearly every area of the company, and his "creative" decisions never cease to boggle the mind (turning the "country bears" attraction into a feature film? WTF??!)Layers and layers of management have been added in the past seven years. For instance, the Disney Stores corporate headquarters used to be about 70 people, and the stores were many and profitable. Now most of the stores have closed, but HQ has grown to well over 200 people (fewer artist and more management). Disney's California Adventure is mostly gift shops, restaurants, and off-the-rack rides (loads of layoff in Imagineering due to Eisner's cheapening of Disney). They expected 26 million visitors a year to the park, but last year I think the total was around 3.2 million. Guests notice, obviously. A friend of mine was in a meeting with Eisner about six years when he was really raising prices. She asked "won't we be shutting out much of the middle class from the parks with these kind of entrace fees"? and Eisner just said "Fuck the middle class. We don't need 'em". :grr:

I really, really hope the recent resignations wake up the shareholders and result in Eisner's removal. This company employs well over 100,000 people, nearly all of whom are pretty much streched to their limits by Eisners cutbacks and layoffs.

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. Eisner is such an evil f-ing f---

I can't believe he's still there. Most any other huge-ass company would have fired a CEO years ago for being such a shit.

But since it's Disney, which is all about art, this is even more digusting. How many times did Disney himself bet the entire farm on a film? Many times, he did! Fantasia, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and others. He said, "Hey - I believe in this - I will leverage the entire company, becuase I'm sure it's gonna swing and be appreicated and make money." And dammit, he was always right.

Now Eisner won't f-ing allow an animator to have an extra piece of paper for character development unless he's (Eisner) sure that the cost of the paper will be returned 400-fold in revenue.

Fucker.

[SiouxJ]

15. Thanks for the letter Jen

I'll have to get off a letter to them. It's really sad what's happened to Disney.

[Lindsey]

19. I live in West L.A and work in Anaheim and Disney

has about the worse reputation than any company that I've ever known. I hear that they treat their empolyees horribly, they pay their bills at the last minute, and the corporte culture is a nightmare. My understanding is that this was basically created by Eisner. I think he is an incredibly selfish egomaniac who should resign immediatelty. GOOD FOR ROY FOR STANDING UP TO THIS SCUMBAG.

[GemMom]

21. Thanks for

telling it like it is!

[Goldenboy]

22. Eisner has outstayed his welcome

Like Iacocca, someone who has been able to turn around an organization and done well for a time but has made recent decisions that have hurt the company.

Eisner's got to go, but at the same time, it's not good to use the past too much. In the years right after founder Walt Disney died, the organization drifted for a while because the managers always asked "What would Walt do?" to find the direction in making decisions, but since it was hard for anyone to agree on what decision Walt would make, not very much got done.