Shareholders became disgruntled in September, when the effects of the global advertising slump, a poor performance at its ABC TV Network and declining attendance figures at its leisure parks, such as Disney World, saw the company's share price plunge to a six-year low of $17.
This stoked reports that Disney could be vulnerable to a hostile takeover bid from rising media companies such as Vivendi Universal or Comcast, both of which made serious waves in the US media arena at the end of last year.
Vivendi waded in with with its acquisition of USA Networks' entertainment business. Comcast recently announced a £50bn merger with AT&T Broadband.
Most concede, however, that a £52bn takeover of Disney would be too big even for these two, and Vivendi has said it will not make any more large deals in the US this year.
Although Disney shareholders have expressed frustration at the company's performance, they are standing by the company, which flatly denies it could be taken over. Some investors believe that the company will never be taken over while Michael Eisner is chairman and chief executive.
However, these same shareholders are concerned that Eisner has become insulated by a friendly board of directors after billionaire investor Warren Buffet and the Bass family sold their shares in the company and left the board in September.
Defending the company, chief financial officer Tom Staggs said he believed Disney was well positioned to rebound when the economy recovers.
In the last year, Disney has implemented large-scale cost cuts including axing its Go.com internet division and slashing its workforce by 4,000.
Staggs said the company had made rebuilding the ABC network its priority and that the theme parks would bounce back with the economy.
He said: "We are in the same place as shareholders. We are not satisfied with the performance of recent years. Shareholders have to focus where we're going in the future."
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand
Republic, join the debate in the .
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
