Roy & Stanley to sue Disney

PhilharMagician

PhilharMagician

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Just on CNN Roy Disney and Stanley Gold to sue Walt Disney Co. directors for fraud. CNN says more to come on this.

Check out this link, but there isn't to much info yet.
http://money.cnn.com/

Now where will this go from here?

What was the fraudulent act that is driving this?
 
HauntedPirate

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
Let's hope this is the only thread. :)

On the linked site, it's a "Breaking News" item, no further info available right now. If I find anything, I'll post ASAP.

UPDATE:
From CBS MarketWatch:

By Carolyn Pritchard SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Dissident shareholders and former board members Roy E. Disney and Stanley P. Gold filed suit against Walt Disney Co. and certain members of its board Monday, alleging that the company and the board members made false statements to shareholders about the search for a new chief executive. The false statements were made, the two allege, in order to get shareholders to vote for the incumbent board at its 2005 shareholder meeting and to prevent Roy Disney and Gold from running an alternate slate of directors at that meeting. Disney and Gold are asking the court to void that 2005 election and to compel Disney to hold another vote for directors "after full and fair disclosure of all material facts about the CEO selection process." They also want the court to enjoin Disney and the board from changing either Michael Eisner's or Robert Iger's compensation or employment contracts. Eisner and Iger were among those named in the lawsuit.
 
A

amejr999

Member
Roy Disney, Stanley Gold sue Disney Co. for fraud (DIS) By Carolyn Pritchard
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Dissident shareholders and former board members Roy E. Disney and Stanley P. Gold filed suit against Walt Disney Co. (DIS) and certain members of its board Monday, alleging that the company and the board members made false statements to shareholders about the search for a new chief executive. The false statements were made, the two allege, in order to get shareholders to vote for the incumbent board at its 2005 shareholder meeting and to prevent Roy Disney and Gold from running an alternate slate of directors at that meeting. Disney and Gold are asking the court to void that 2005 election and to compel Disney to hold another vote for directors "after full and fair disclosure of all material facts about the CEO selection process." They also want the court to enjoin Disney and the board from changing either Michael Eisner's or Robert Iger's compensation or employment contracts. Eisner and Iger were among those named in the lawsuit.

edit- whoops, posted at the same time. :) still no statement from Roy or Stan...
 
wannab@dis

wannab@dis

Well-Known Member
I had a feeling someone would go after this lawsuit. I figured one of the shareholder groups would either lead or follow on soon as the word spreads. While I'm not against Iger as CEO, the whole search seemed a little suspicious to me. It appeared that Iger was hand picked by Eisner and the board and nobody else had a chance.

That goes totally against what the board said they would do and as such, there is a good chance the lawsuit will have merit based on fiduciary duty.
 
ssidiouss@mac.c

ssidiouss@mac.c

Well-Known Member
This is great news.. the best scenario would be getting rid of that figure-head Iger and replacing him with a true visionary like Steve Jobs from Apple/Pixar who Roy wanted in the first place. Or maybe they should use that imagineer that I always see (the guy who made everest.. wierd guy with bear)
 
CTXRover

CTXRover

Well-Known Member
I haven't been a supporter of Roy and Stanely for some time now. I was at the beginning before the whole savedisney campaign turned into a personal vindetta against Eisner and it became clear, to me at least, that it really wasn't all about "saving Disney" anymore.

This lawsuit has me scratching my head and I wonder what their real motive is. Is Roy now mad he wasn't invited to DL's 50th? I know that's not true, but I hope some get my point. While I suspect the CEO selection process was somewhat contrived and the lawsuit probably does have merit to it, I have to wonder what they hope the outcome of the lawsuit will be. Do they want another CEO selected? That's foolish at this point as the wheels of change are already in progress and looking good, imo. Do they just want to continue to give the company a bad image or worse yet destabilize the company as the last revolt led to (Comcast takeover attempts ring a bell?) I do think Iger may be the right man for the job. It might just be rhetoric and I'll feel differently in a year or two, but he isn't even officially the CEO yet and I can see stark contrasts in how intends to run the company from the way Eisner ran it and most are for the better. He does not appear to be the Eisner puppet so many portrayed him to be...quite the contrary. Iger seems to understand the need to concentrate on creativity within the company, create and maintain creative relationships, the cultural and personal importance of the Disney brand to so many people,etc.. That might not be something an outsider may realize.

Most of Roy's and Stanely's original complaints have already started to fix themselves. ABC had an outstanding turnaround this year with 3 to 4 of its shows now appearing in the top 10 weekly vs maybe 1 in the top 20 last year. Disneyland looks practically brand new, including their Tomorrowland which Roy blasted on his website. The stock price is climbing. They've sold off money-losing division of the company, including the Disney Stores like Roy said they should, as well as the Mighty Ducks and Angels. The Strategic Planning division is now dead allowing for more division specific decisions to be made, etc.

When will it end?
 
disneyplanet

disneyplanet

New Member
MrNonacho said:
This is thread #1 on the subject. Let's see how many more will show up.
Click to expand...


actually the question was ask "why was Roy not invited or show up at the 50th launch party this past week?". It was posted this weekend
now we know why...
 
HauntedPirate

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
I wouldn't call ABC "turned around". Improving, perhaps, but not turned around. The stock price is ~$27 per share - not great, but better. I think the suit has merit, see above for the reasons. I'm not anti-Iger, but the selection process is/was suspect.
 
CTXRover

CTXRover

Well-Known Member
^^ABC won't be 100% turned around until its competing for the #1 spot on TV. But I think what has happened on the network is an outstanding turnaround. From a network that was a distant 4th last year in nearly all demographics without one single hit show to a network competing for the number 2 spot among the highly coveted demographics and 4 real hit shows, it was a pretty good year. Nobody could have predicted that type of recovery so fast. There are still major holes on their schedule, but they've certainly put themselves in a very good position now. And from a stock price in the teens at its lowest not too long ago to one hovering around the 30 mark, that's pretty good. Its still well below the 40+ it had at its high, but certainly on the up.

I agree the suit probably has merit. That's probably what's a little scary. What will come of it? And more importantly, will it bring anything good? I don't know.
 

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