Disney discloses new board financial relationships
By GARY GENTILE
12/05/02 01:02 EST
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Walt Disney Co. has acknowledged additional financial relationships with board members, a day after the company revealed a federal probe into how quickly it disclosed employing board members' relatives.
In its annual report filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Disney reported for the first time financial relationships involving board vice chairman Roy Disney, president Robert Iger and board members Thomas Murphy and Andrea Van de Kamp.
The company said Disney provided a car and driver and an office and secretarial services in 2002, valued at $268,000, to Murphy. He served as chairman of Capital Cities/ABC when Disney acquired it in 1995, and has served as a consultant since.
Disney's sports cable channel ESPN paid $69,892 during the year to Eugene Bay Associates, a marketing company owned by Iger's father-in-law. The relationship dates to 1990, years before Iger's marriage to CNN news personality Willow Bay, the filing said.
The filing also revealed that Disney paid $623,782 in 2002 to Air Shamrock as reimbursement for use of a private aircraft by Roy Disney.
Disney said it made a $5 million contribution through The Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles as part of a $25 million pledge to develop the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Board member Van de Kamp serves as chairman and chief executive of The Performing Arts Center, although she was not a board member when the pledge was made in 1997, the filing said. She was also a director of the Walt Disney Concert Hall until November.
Shares of Disney tumbled nearly 5 percent Wednesday after news of the SEC's probe was revealed. The agency wants to know about Disney's disclosure that relatives of several independent board members were employed by the company.
Disney said it was cooperating with the investigation, which is focusing on whether the company should have disclosed those relationships earlier.
Tuesday, Disney's board unanimously approved new corporate governance guidelines designed to strengthen the influence of independent board members. Disney's board has long been criticized as too cozy with chairman and chief executive Michael Eisner.
By GARY GENTILE
12/05/02 01:02 EST
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Walt Disney Co. has acknowledged additional financial relationships with board members, a day after the company revealed a federal probe into how quickly it disclosed employing board members' relatives.
In its annual report filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Disney reported for the first time financial relationships involving board vice chairman Roy Disney, president Robert Iger and board members Thomas Murphy and Andrea Van de Kamp.
The company said Disney provided a car and driver and an office and secretarial services in 2002, valued at $268,000, to Murphy. He served as chairman of Capital Cities/ABC when Disney acquired it in 1995, and has served as a consultant since.
Disney's sports cable channel ESPN paid $69,892 during the year to Eugene Bay Associates, a marketing company owned by Iger's father-in-law. The relationship dates to 1990, years before Iger's marriage to CNN news personality Willow Bay, the filing said.
The filing also revealed that Disney paid $623,782 in 2002 to Air Shamrock as reimbursement for use of a private aircraft by Roy Disney.
Disney said it made a $5 million contribution through The Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles as part of a $25 million pledge to develop the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Board member Van de Kamp serves as chairman and chief executive of The Performing Arts Center, although she was not a board member when the pledge was made in 1997, the filing said. She was also a director of the Walt Disney Concert Hall until November.
Shares of Disney tumbled nearly 5 percent Wednesday after news of the SEC's probe was revealed. The agency wants to know about Disney's disclosure that relatives of several independent board members were employed by the company.
Disney said it was cooperating with the investigation, which is focusing on whether the company should have disclosed those relationships earlier.
Tuesday, Disney's board unanimously approved new corporate governance guidelines designed to strengthen the influence of independent board members. Disney's board has long been criticized as too cozy with chairman and chief executive Michael Eisner.