Eisner loses chairman role in Disney shareholder vote

by Staff,, Brand Republic 04-Mar-04, 08:35

NEW YORK - Shareholders in the Walt Disney Company have dumped Michael Eisner as chairman and replaced him with the man who brokered the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland, former US Senator George Mitchell.

Despite being dropped as chairman Eisner, a controversial figure in the film industry, will keep his role as chief executive officer at the entertainment company.

Disney admitted that the chairman and CEO role had not been split purely for reasons of good corporate governance. In an understatement, the company said: "We are aware that some [shareholders] voted for an immediate change in management and in the board."

In fact shareholders representing around 43% of the company's stock had opposed Eisner's re-election to the Disney board during a five-hour meeting yesterday.

Mitchell's role is a non-executive position. He is best known in the UK for having helped broker the Northern Ireland peace deal, known as the Good Friday agreement, in 1999 to pave the way for a power-sharing government in the province.

At the same meeting Disney once again rejected cable giant Comcast's $54bn (£29.5bn) bid to buy the company, saying it did not believe it would lead to a beneficial transaction for Disney shareholders.

In other news at Disney a giant statue of Mickey Mouse dressed as Janet Jackson has been pulled down by the company in the wake of January's "nipplegate" incident. The statue had been unveiled by Eisner at Walt Disney World in Orlando last November.

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