Shareholder Activism vs Disney/ABC? (and my 10000th Post)

[AndyTiedye]

I will be sending the following to Disney's Investor Relations:

Once again Disney managment is violating its fiduciary duties to its
shareholders in order to engage in partisan politicking.

"Path to 9/11" is a transparent piece of Bush Administration propaganda,
fine-tuned to help the Republican party in this election year.
It presents a fictionalized account of the disaster tailored to shift
the blame onto the prior Democratic administration.
That account has been disavowed by everyone who has first-hand knowledge.

ABC is likely to find that Bush's abysmal ratings start to rub off on the
network. Organized boycotts are likely. Local stations are already being
flooded with letters, emails, and phone calls protesting the show.

Over 40 million dollars was spent on this movie, but there will be no
revenue to the Corporation because there is no advertising, and the movie
is being made available for free downloads and given away to schools.
Why the effort to get a *fictional* account of 9/11 accepted as
educational material by our schools? Why indeed?

The ill will being created by such blatant efforts to shill for a deeply
unpopular Presidency will undoubtably cost Disney Corporation millions in
revenue.

As a shareholder, one has to ask WHY is Disney doing this? Why are corporate
assets being misappropriated on such a massive scale to further a wholely
political agenda -- an unpopular one at that, the pursuit of which could
cause great harm to the corporation, as well as subject it to legal action
and shareholder activism? WHY?

Are there any other Disney shareholders here? Do any of our pension funds
have shares? Anyone with any experience pushing shareholder proposals?

It would seem that there is a basis for shareholders to bring legal action.
Is anyone doing this already?

This post contained some useful information on shareholder proposals:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2067359&mesg_id=2067933
but when I followed the links to the SEC site I found myself in a
sea of incomprehensible legalese.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I'm not a shareholder, but your letter is just great. Well written and

concise!

[stepnw1f]

2. kick (nt)

[lonehalf]

3. Congrats on your 10000th post...

I haven't even posted 200 yet (I'm relatively new here) and I was called a "busy poster" by someone who disagreed with me.

[ms liberty]

4. Great letter - and Congrats on 10000 posts! n/t

[hvn_nbr_2]

5. Send it mutual fund managers too.

Only slight re-writing will make this good for sending to managers of mutual funds that own Disney stock. Mutual fund managers scare executives and board members much more than individual shareholders. Hit these Disney/ABC wingnut execs where it really hurts them--in their stock options.

[Jacobin]

10. Bingo

That's where it could hurt them.

[Seabiscuit]

6. Just called shareholders services

I own Disney stock and just called shareholder services. Although, my representative was very nice there wasn't much he could do but direct me to a phone number where you can leave a message in regards specifically to this 9/11 shitodrama (my word not his :evilgrin:). He did say that they were receiving tons of calls at shareholder services (which means many other shareholders feel the same way). The phone number for shareholders to leave a message is: 818-460-7477. I have been trying to get through and it has been busy for about two hours. I think that is a good sign. From my investor perspective, I don't see any added value to Disney stock price of showing this 9/11 shitodrama. On the contrary, I feel it is a bad business decision which could indirectly affect overall stock price perhaps not in the short term but in the long term. That is, anytime Disney releases a new movie or an ABC documentary/program, will the movie or tv consumer trust the veracity and question the bias of the movie or tv piece. Will the consumer then choose to either forgo the film or turn the channel? How about a consumer that is so disgusted with this 9/11 movie that then decides to boycott Disney merchandise and parks etc. It all translates to shareholder value which is what they really should be worried about.

[NYC]

7. That's very interesting.

On the other hand, is the advertising benefit of "sponsoring" the program the equivalent of $30 million in advertising? I have no idea.

[samsingh]

8. congratulations on the 10,000th post

[orleans]

9. k&r; loved your letter--especially the last paragraph

(dump disney stock--don't they suck up to the gop & jebbie way too much? i can see it now...mickey mouse on a tank: "the army wants you, the country needs you & i'm _ _ _ _ ing goofy!"