VMK Reopening

[vanillamickey]

Just found this on the rumor & news board....

From the Wal Street Journal:

Quote:
Disney CEO Receives $13.9 Million Bonus for 2008

By PETER SANDERS
Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger received $2 million salary and a $13.9 million bonus for fiscal 2008, and his overall compensation was up nearly 11% from 2007, according to a proxy statement filed by the company.

According to the filing, Mr. Iger's total compensation for 2008 was valued at $30.6 million, which was up from the year before, when his total compensation was valued around $27.7 million. Disney's fiscal year ended Sept. 27.

In the proxy, Disney also put up its entire slate of directors, including Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs, for re-election at the company's annual meeting on March 10. Mr. Jobs, who is Disney's largest individual shareholder, earlier this week announced he was taking a six-month leave from his duties at Apple. Mr. Jobs holds 7.4% of Disney shares outstanding, but he does not draw compensation as a board member and is a non-independent director who does not serve on any committees, according to Disney officials.

Mr. Iger's base salary has remained unchanged since he was hired as CEO in 2005, and his 2008 bonus was up only slightly from last year. This year's bonus was $2.4 million less than he was entitled to; the company said Mr. Iger decided to forgo that money as a gesture of goodwill. That decision comes as senior executives of some large financial corporations, including Bank of America Corp., have decided to forego bonuses amid the 12-month-old recession and their own travails.

As part of his new five-year employment contract, signed last January, Mr. Iger received 3 million options at an exercise price of $29.51 per share that are scheduled to vest through 2013.

Shares of Burbank, Calif.,-based Disney, which have fared better than their peers in the media space, were up 10 cents to close at $21.46 in composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. In September, the company reported net income of $4.42 billion on $37.8 billion in revenue. Sales were up nearly 7% from the year earlier, but net income dipped by about 5.5% on weakness at the company's broadcast and movie studio units, as well as a softening at the theme parks division towards the end of the fiscal year.

In addition to his salary and bonus, Mr. Iger received stock awards valued at $7.7 million; options awards valued at nearly $6 million; and $773,000 to cover expenses including air travel and security, up from $745,000 in 2007.

Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs received a salary of nearly $1.9 million and was awarded a $4.1 million cash bonus -- down nearly 8% from last year -- and stock awards of more than $2.8 million. General Counsel Alan Braverman took in slightly more than $1 million in salary and a $3 million bonus

Well, forget that I said that Disney might not have had enough money...

 

[Imagineer_Tech]

Okay, there is nothing to it. It's a buisness decision, and nothing more.

As to what Yavn said, it makes sense he would say that, 3 years from 2005 is a long future.

Disney simply doesn't throw money away. ( Don't bother telling me they do ) They only throw money way if what they are throwing it away on has an eventual PROFIT.

VMK had none and didn't even have a buisness model attached.

Disney is good at rehabing things, for all we know they could be rehabing VMK.

It's neither companies FAULT. It was a buisness decision.

Think of it like this. You have a car that's costing you more to keep going than it actually puts out. Your going to get rid of it. Same thing with VMK.

 

[Evoulie]

This screen shot was taken December 2005. Maybe their plans changed, and they decided to use the "just a promotion" excuse. Either way it is gone, but the way Disney handled the closing could have and should have been better.

Hey I remember that.. that was my room!

Ev

 

[gymnastgirlflips]

Wow, that's a pretty cool picture. I never saw yavn, only an imposter once. A pretty bad one at that... anyways, of course Disney is not going to spend extra money on a virtual community like ours. At least not when it wasn't pay to play, or when it wasn't advertised. I still think they could have tried harder (or still can). It seems like most people who played vmk lived in California and made their avatars/heard about vmk after going to DLR. Pretty easy advertisement too... oh and on the Magic Express to Disney World I would see the commercial. Besides that they did nothing to advertise- Pirates Online, Club Penguin, and Pixie Hallow all have advertisements on multiple websites, on Disney Channel, and just all over the place. Soo yeah, they just put alot more effort into making those games very popular.

 

[IliketheTitanic]

This screen shot was taken December 2005. Maybe their plans changed, and they decided to use the "just a promotion" excuse. Either way it is gone, but the way Disney handled the closing could have and should have been better.

He forgot to add:

" For the next three years or so... 'COUGH'"

 

[vanillamickey]

He forgot to add:

" For the next three years or so... 'COUGH'"

Wow, that's a pretty cool picture. I never saw yavn, only an imposter once. A pretty bad one at that... anyways, of course Disney is not going to spend extra money on a virtual community like ours. At least not when it wasn't pay to play, or when it wasn't advertised. I still think they could have tried harder (or still can). It seems like most people who played vmk lived in California and made their avatars/heard about vmk after going to DLR. Pretty easy advertisement too... oh and on the Magic Express to Disney World I would see the commercial. Besides that they did nothing to advertise- Pirates Online, Club Penguin, and Pixie Hallow all have advertisements on multiple websites, on Disney Channel, and just all over the place. Soo yeah, they just put alot more effort into making those games very popular.

I never thought of it that way, but now that I do, it makes a lot of sense. They don't care about it? Maybe. Do they want to focus on things besides their virtual communities? Defineitly. But that doesn't give them the right to ignore what the public is thinking.

 

[ihavewaycutecats]

This screen shot was taken December 2005. Maybe their plans changed, and they decided to use the "just a promotion" excuse. Either way it is gone, but the way Disney handled the closing could have and should have been better.

They shouldn't have told us all of a sudden that we only had two months left. Instead they should of told us from the start it would be there for 3 years and then close. I think they should of gone from a different approach than they did. Everyone just assumed it would always be there, little did we know. Disney should of told us from the beginning.

 

[Horse]

I don't think it will reopen, though if it did, I would be logging in in a second. I still miss the game tremendously.

I doubt yavn knew when it opened that Disney had a closing date planned. And I'm sure they told him that he had to keep quiet about it when he was told until the Disney execs wanted it out there. I just have an issue with the false sense of security given to us and the dishonesty when we asked if VMK still had a long future ahead of it and then it closed a few months later.

 

[Help_me_know]

Maybe vmk will re-open hard to say they still have that vmk memory still were u can look around vmk if u fell home sick. I still have all my used cards in a brinder

 

[vanillamickey]

Maybe they're just editing it? (A lot?)

Maybe they wanted to make it a pay to play but they couldn't just all of a sudden make eveyone pay in the middle of the game?

Or maybe they just didn't want to keep it open.

Let's hope it's one of the first two. Though the first two are the most unlikely....

 

[gymnastgirlflips]

They shouldn't have told us all of a sudden that we only had two months left. Instead they should of told us from the start it would be there for 3 years and then close. I think they should of gone from a different approach than they did. Everyone just assumed it would always be there, little did we know. Disney should of told us from the beginning.

I think they probably should have told at us the beginning too. The thing is, I dont think they expected it to close. Maybe they did expect it to close because it was promotion, but then they saw how many people were on vmk at the end of the promotion and decided against it. It seems like they did care if you think about it that way. They kept it open. Not only for 2005, but for a couple more years. Of course I would rather it be open forever and all though. lol wouldn't it be easier if they just told us the truth? Yep. Im not sure if the closing was a business decision or what, but I dont think they really wanted to close it now. If they did, they would have done it after a year.

 

[vanillamickey]

I think they probably should have told at us the beginning too. The thing is, I dont think they expected it to close. Maybe they did expect it to close because it was promotion, but then they saw how many people were on vmk at the end of the promotion and decided against it. It seems like they did care if you think about it that way. They kept it open. Not only for 2005, but for a couple more years. Of course I would rather it be open forever and all though. lol wouldn't it be easier if they just told us the truth? Yep. Im not sure if the closing was a business decision or what, but I dont think they really wanted to close it now. If they did, they would have done it after a year.

Well. Then I wonder why they DID close?

 

[IliketheTitanic]

I don't think it will reopen, though if it did, I would be logging in in a second. I still miss the game tremendously.

I doubt yavn knew when it opened that Disney had a closing date planned. And I'm sure they told him that he had to keep quiet about it when he was told until the Disney execs wanted it out there. I just have an issue with the false sense of security given to us and the dishonesty when we asked if VMK still had a long future ahead of it and then it closed a few months later.

I don't buy the yavn didn't know thing for one minute, clearly Disney knew (like they always say) that VMK was a promotion and I'm sure the head producer wasn't so blind as everyone thought he was, they should have told us right from the get-go that VMK was not mean't to stay open and they would close it, eventually. They only said that because of its success it would only stay open longer, but they still were probably planning to close it when the time was right. Nor did I ever hear that VMK was ever a promotion for the almost 4 years I had been playing it.

 

[vanillamickey]

I don't buy the yavn didn't know thing for one minute, clearly Disney knew (like they always say) that VMK was a promotion and I'm sure the head producer wasn't so blind as everyone thought he was, they should have told us right from the get-go that VMK was not mean't to stay open and they would close it, eventually. They only said that because of its success it would only stay open longer, but they still were probably planning to close it when the time was right. Nor did I ever hear that VMK was ever a promotion for the almost 4 years I had been playing it.

The time that was right was never

Yeah, I didn't hear that it was a promotion either till they annouced that they were closing it.

 

[gymnastgirlflips]

The time that was right was never

Yeah, I didn't hear that it was a promotion either till they annouced that they were closing it.

Same here. I actually thought the same thing about never being the right time for it to close as soon as I read his post
Its such a mystery.

 

[big_ol_lineman]

i loved VMK as much as the next person. it was my place to go to if i wanted to get away... but i honestly dont think it is gonna re open. i have tried to play other games an nothing has come cloes to VMK

 

[ihavewaycutecats]

I don't think it will reopen, though if it did, I would be logging in in a second. I still miss the game tremendously.

I doubt yavn knew when it opened that Disney had a closing date planned. And I'm sure they told him that he had to keep quiet about it when he was told until the Disney execs wanted it out there. I just have an issue with the false sense of security given to us and the dishonesty when we asked if VMK still had a long future ahead of it and then it closed a few months later.

If Disney were to reopen vmk I would be on. It is such a shame that they would close such a game with so many players who loved it so much. Vmk was the only game I ever played, now I have nothing. I get on club penguin every so often, but there is little you can do when you don't have a membership. I don't think Disney should have closed vmk, when they had so many loyal members and it was going so good. I miss it so much, but I guess you have to get on with life and leave the past behind.

 

[partyhare]

Sadly VMK will not reopen.

The reason it closed was based on Disney's total online strategy.
The current company philosophy is to build franchises that cross different parts of the company.
So Pirates, Pixies, and Cars are the online games they want people to play since they support the franchises.
Pirates found in parks, movies, home entertainment, games.
Pixies found in parks, DVD, merchandise.
Cars found in merchandise, entertainment, games, and the upcoming Carsland at DCA.

VMK wasn't part of any franchise and didn't expand very far. Sure, we thought of Disney Parks when we played, but people going to Disneyland didn't think "VMK".

I believe Disney didn't plan to close VMK because it was a promotion. They were just keeping it running until they knew what they wanted to do strategically. So I would think Yavn and the VMK staff were just was stunned as we were when it was finally announced to close. And I am sure they were just as heartbroken too.

I will never forget VMK and I do not play any of Disney's other online games.

 

[gymnastgirlflips]

If Disney were to reopen vmk I would be on. It is such a shame that they would close such a game with so many players who loved it so much. Vmk was the only game I ever played, now I have nothing. I get on club penguin every so often, but there is little you can do when you don't have a membership. I don't think Disney should have closed vmk, when they had so many loyal members and it was going so good. I miss it so much, but I guess you have to get on with life and leave the past behind.

membership doesn't help, just to let you know. Not really... you get more furniture, a couple puffles, and... you play the same games over and over and over... its really dumb. Played it before vmk Waste of money.\


And wait! What in the world is that Cars game? They have a Cars game?? I knew they were making the Carsland thing (Pixar, what a surprise) but... a game? Is that true?

 

[Imagineer_Tech]

Sadly VMK will not reopen.

The reason it closed was based on Disney's total online strategy.
The current company philosophy is to build franchises that cross different parts of the company.
So Pirates, Pixies, and Cars are the online games they want people to play since they support the franchises.
Pirates found in parks, movies, home entertainment, games.
Pixies found in parks, DVD, merchandise.
Cars found in merchandise, entertainment, games, and the upcoming Carsland at DCA.

VMK wasn't part of any franchise and didn't expand very far. Sure, we thought of Disney Parks when we played, but people going to Disneyland didn't think "VMK".


I believe Disney didn't plan to close VMK because it was a promotion. They were just keeping it running until they knew what they wanted to do strategically. So I would think Yavn and the VMK staff were just was stunned as we were when it was finally announced to close. And I am sure they were just as heartbroken too.

I will never forget VMK and I do not play any of Disney's other online games.

You nailed it, thank you so much. Oh and to the boards!