Someone check if it is snowing in hell. According to a message on the SaveDisney.com site, Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold have dropped their fight against the Walt Disney Company board, Eisner, and Bob Iger (the incoming CEO). Roy is rejoining the company as Director Emeritus and a consultant. Both have expressed confidence in future CEO Bob Iger and are ready to move forward toward a positive future between the Disney family and the Disney Company. All pending lawsuits have also been dropped.
I hope we’ll hear further how Iger plans to bring the company (but specifically Animation and the Themeparks) out of the tailspin Eisner has caused over the last 12 years. Last year’s ABC success is the only evidence we have of Iger’s ability to find a positive direction for The Walt Disney Company. Shows like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and, forbid me for saying this, Dancing With the Stars, show signs of hope. So now, we can only sit back and hope that Roy and Stanley know what they’re doing. If real change remains to be made, we have just lost our knights in shining armor.
Full text of announcement below the fold:
BURBANK, Calif. (July 8, 2005) — The Walt
Disney Company, Roy E. Disney and Stanley P. Gold announced today that
they have agreed to put aside the differences that have characterized
their relationship over the past several years. Messrs. Disney and Gold
have agreed not to run a rival slate of directors or submit shareholder
resolutions for the next five years. Messrs. Disney and Gold have also
agreed to dismiss all their pending lawsuits against the Company. In
reestablishing ties with him and his family, the Company has named Roy
E. Disney Director Emeritus and a consultant. The Company also
reaffirmed its commitment to the rotation of committee members and
chairpersons on its Board committees as currently required by the
Company’s Corporate Governance Guidelines. In putting aside their
differences, the Company noted Mr. Disney’s long time devotion to the
Company and welcomed the reestablishment of a relationship with him and
his family. Messrs. Disney and Gold expressed confidence in Mr. Iger’s
leadership, and as Mr. Eisner retires after 21 years with the Company,
they acknowledged his contribution to the Company over the years.
We don’t know what deal was made. Which side really won? Roy eneded things so abruptly with just a short explanation. Things just don’t feel right to me.
As I recall, two of Roy’s original complaints concerned low staff morale (as evidenced by their lack of cheerfulness) & signs of diminished maintainance standards at the Theme Parks. Having just returned, both of these are still in evidence – the Restrooms were less than pristine and during Spectromagic, it was evident that several lightbulbs on buildings in Main Street required replacement. I too hope that Mr Igner can raise the standards back to where they were but there needs to be a re-investment in both areas.
now that Eisener is out the first thing I would do Is tear down that wretched cheesy tower of terrror in california (which looks like a cheap carnival ride or an elevator shaft with a cardboard hotel on the outside) and replace it with the real tower of terror of something else worth the standard of perfection that Disney is known for.
Song of the South, please, sometime before I die.
this makes me upset. disney has not yet been saved. -.- i think i might cry
I am actually at Disney World right now. I must say they may want to get back on the web! There is certainly a lack of morale amongst the cast members! Sheesh! I was literally bawling to my husband today over the lack of “magic” in the cast! I sincerely hope Disney looks into the parks!
The morale of some, I repeat some of the cast members is terrible. I have been to Disneyworld many times, and seen the deterioration since Eisner was at the helm. I made my first trip to Disneyland a couple of weeks ago. The morale was even worse. I witnessed a cast member tell another guest who was upset her child missed a character photo (after being in line for a while) say “maybe you shouldn’t come back, it happens.” So much for the happiest place on earth. Let’s hope Roy and Co. can bring things back under control.
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