What do you think of Jim Hill's newest article?????

[Bob O]

Have yoy read Jim Hill's newsest article??? I will try to put a link here but it if doesnt work hopefully a more computer literate person could help me out.
www.orlandoweekly.com/news/eyedrive/index.asp?navid=1023
I do think eisner is trying to stop disent by moving the convention to a new location, far away from employees. Why else would it be moved every year, and i dont think it is because most shareholders live in hartford or kansas City. And with disney trying to save money by cutting back wouldnt it be cheaper to have the meetings held on disney property rather than in other parts of the country????
What are your thoughts on this subject???

 

[Buzz2001]

Bristol, CT ( a small city in CT) is the home of ESPN. Hartford is about a 15/20 min drive from ESPN so they claimed Disney was holding the meeting here this year because of ESPN.

 

[DVCDAVE]

Add up ESPN, plus a 2 1/2 hour drive from either NY City or Boston, plus add in all that pension money held in the vaults of all the insurance companies and money managers in the area, and this is one decision Eisner may have made right in the last few years........ and god knows I can't stand or stomach the guy.

 

[Figmentrocks]

Growing up in Hartford, no company would want to hold their shareholder's meeting at the Hartford Civic Center. You're right that ESPN is in Bristol along with Lake Compounce and some cows. However, that's just their excuse as to why they are holding the meeting in Hartford. I haven't read the article from Jim Hill, but as soon as we saw the location of the meeting, it was obvious that the "Company" desired to stay away from as many disgruntled shareholders as possible. However, I will give them one tiny thing. It is possible that after the attacks, Disney didn't want such a high profile location to hold their meeting, but by holding it in Hartford, they were close enough to NYC to satisfy the large base of employees and shareholders in the city.

 

[raidermatt]

I tend to agree with Scoop on this one. I do find it curious that Anaheim and Orlando are being avoided, but Connecticut is very accessible to a lot of people, including some big money. Dallas, Chicago, Kansas City and Seattle aren't exactly cow pastures.

I think there is some desire to stay out of the hotbeds of Anaheim and Orlando, but Disney hardly seems to be hiding.

Disney is far from alone in its use of the same firm for auditing and consulting. Ending that practice is a positive decision, and I would expect any prudent company to be considering the same thing right now, regardless of when their shareholder meeting is scheduled.

 

[Bob O]

Would it not be more expensive to have the meeting off site and have their leaders fly in or would it be cheaper to have it on disney property in Anaheim or if not their in Orlando???? Since they are supposedly making cutbacks to save money wouldnt this be a good place to try to save money. Granted it wouldnt be a major money saving decision in terms of cpmpany spending but would send a message. I think they are afraid to be confronted by castmembers who have suffered as the result of a string of bad company decisions. And the castmembers are primiliary in Orlando and Anaheim. And disney knows wall st. types wont make the public scene like the shareholders did several years ago in Anaheim.

 

[larworth]

I think his key inference was being removed from castmembers, not the financial types. I don't think there is any plot to hide from the financial community. But let’s also not oversell how convenient this year’s meeting is for the Street, given where they have been recently. Obviously, a 2 hour drive is not their top criteria.

I see other companies who take their meetings on the road. Disney is not alone here. Howerver, if it isn’t to get to a more neutral site, than that leave us with the “for the good of the small shareholder theory”. Now, if this had been a long standing tradition I could play along. But, as a recent shift in policy, it does sound a little lame.

 

[OnWithTheShow]

I believe that they have been doing this ever since I became a shareholder 7 years ago so I don't think it's all that recent a shift in policy.

 

[All Aboard]

Onwiththeshow, a little more recent according to Hill. He cites the 1998 meeting as the first away from Orlando/Anaheim.

 

[Bob O]

Then why not return it back to Orlando/Anaheim where your cores business's are and where most of your employess's work and what was standard practice before 1998????
Wouldnt if be cheaper to have it onsite as a cost reduction matter when they are cutting everything else?????

 

[Peter Pirate]

Perhaps this could be the subject of a new feature film...Directed by Ron Howard, starring Tom Hanks as Eisner...Tom Cruise as Landbaron, Brad Pitt as Scoop & Nick Cage as gcurling...

I won't disagree with Bob that perhaps it'd be cheaper to hold the meetings on site, but I can't imagine that we know the reasons behind the current scenerio, although I'm sure it wouldn't be a 'fear factor'.

It seems to me that the Annual Stockholders Meeting may put a real burdon on the infrastructure of the Resorts as the innundation of bosses and VIP's would be overwhelming and perhaps detractive for the 'average joe'.

But thinking Mike is scared of a CM uprising is just silly. Aside from bus drivers, I seldom find many CM's so distressed that they'd consider an uprising.

 

[DVC-Landbaron]

Perhaps this could be the subject of a new feature film...Directed by Ron Howard, starring Tom Hanks as Eisner...Tom Cruise as Landbaron, Brad Pitt as Scoop & Nick Cage as gcurling...

Mr. Pirate!! You are not right very often. But your casting here is PERFECT!! Right guys??

 

[OnWithTheShow]

But who would play me?

And who would play Steve?

 

[Figmentrocks]

To add to the logic, Bradley International Airport is notorious for closing down during the Winters for hours at a time for the whole gambit of de-icing, etc. There is no worse month (minus the past few years of bizarre weather) then February to visit Connecticut. We used to go to Florida in February to escape the snow and incurred many snow delays. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the company has found a location to keep as many of the complainers (i.e. their employees) away.

 

[Peter Pirate]

Mr. Show, having never seen you or Steve, I can't honestly say...Although I'm only guessing with Scoop, as wel...So, I'm thinking Matt Damon & Ben Afflek??? Sound good? But we'll need real actors for Pressler, Roy, Bob Iger & Thomas Skaggs...I'm thinking Uncle Scrooge & Huey, Dewey & Louie???

 

[larworth]

Must be a full moon? A recent D. Koenig article at MP touches on this same subject. http://www.mouseplanet.com/david/m020702.htm.

Scoop, while you have the census data in front of you, I would be interested to know what the days drive population is around Kansas City, since I grew up there. Also, might as well do Dallas and Seattle will your at it. I don’t think population density is going to be a common denominator.

Rather, take out a map of the US and start thinking giant hidden mickey and we may have our answer. No, I haven’t recently stayed at a HI Express, but I did see a Beautiful Mind this last weekend.

 

[Another Voice]

"Does this really have anything to do with the Magic?"

Probably not.

But it does show that The Company is more interested in hiding from their problems then facing them.

 

[Peter Pirate]

But it does show that the company is more interested in hiding from their problems than facing them.

As scoop pointed out, "hiding" in an area within a days drive of 60% of the US population...Sorry, "hiding" just doesn't hold water...

 

[hopemax]

What Disney can't try to hide from certain factions, not from people in general?

I was at the Seattle meeting, and it was *all* about go.com, which made Seattle a logical choice. However even though it was logical, I think some part of the decision was to keep away from the LA factions, and the Orlando factions.

The density of "theme parks represent a huge chunk of the company's financial picture, so only treating them as cash cows is a bad idea" is probably much higher in Orlando and LA and I would think Disney would rather have a few more Wall Street types in the audience (like in Hartford) or people who don't care about any particular business segment more than any other business segment (like KC, Texas, Seattle).

 

[Another Voice]

Ah yes, the stockholders meeting. A quick question – when was the last time you saw a planeload of reporters from CNBC jetting off to bring the latest news flash from a stockholder meeting? Never, because nothing ever happens at them. These meetings are the relics of a bygone era. The typical corporate executive views them as either a cheerleading session for the company (film the big guy’s speech, make all the worker bees back at the office watch the video tape), or at worst nothing but a grilling by corporate gadflies and retirees complaining about the pension plan.

Disney’s trying to impress all these big time money managers by giving them free coffee and doughnuts in stunning Hartford? Hardly; the ones Disney is trying to impress just got back from a week’s stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Disney’s trying to get as many people as possible? Gee, Hartford is not as easy to get to as New York, Chicago or L.A. (that’s where the stockholders live anyway – Eisner doesn’t care about the 100 shares Aunt Betty from Lowell owns).

No, Eisner views the meeting as nothing but a dentist visit. He’s also a man who’s paid out half a billion dollars in Company money to get top executives to shut up. Moving the meeting to avoid having to listen to Landbaron ask about paint on Main Street is nothing but a small bag of fries. Playing hide-the-CEO is absolutely in character. No one likes having to stand in front of an audience and deliver bad news. And no one likes being called on the carpet for it by a bunch of no one’s.

From California, the land of the tape delayed Olympics (DOESN’T NBC HAVE ANY SHAME!!!), remember to vote your proxy.