Disney's Eisner Ousted as Chairman Thanks to Individual Shareholders and the Power of Internet Sites Like ProxyMatters.com.Business Editors NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 9, 2004 PeopleSoft and Oracle are next in the contentious 2004 proxy season; Safeway, General Electric and Coca-Cola also to face shareholder scrutiny As Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) was CEO of The Walt Disney Company from September 22, 1984 to September 30, 2005. Early life Michael Eisner was born to a wealthy family in Mt. Kisco, New York, and raised on Park Avenue in Manhattan. was forced to step aside as Chairman of Walt Disney Noun 1. Walt Disney - United States film maker who pioneered animated cartoons and created such characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck; founded Disneyland (1901-1966) Disney, Walter Elias Disney (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : DIS) last week, one thing is more clear than ever before: individual shareholders of America's largest public companies are gaining a voice in boardrooms. This growing wave of investor activism can directly be attributed to the Internet and will force public companies such as PeopleSoft (Nasdaq: PSFT PSFT PeopleSoft (stock symbol) PSFT Progressive Saturation Fourier Transform PSFT Prosoft-Technology, Inc ), Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL ORCL Oracle (stock symbol) ), Safeway (NYSE: SWY), General Electric (NYSE: GE), and Coca-Cola to recognize its importance. "Disney did a disservice to itself by not listening to its individual shareholders earlier," says Brian Heil, proxy expert and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of ProxyMatters.com. "Today's public company proxy voting Proxy voting is the delegation to another member of a voting body of that member's power to vote in his absence. It is essentially synonymous to delegated voting. Proxy voting is commonly used in corporations for voting by members or shareholders, because it allows members is directly similar to the ongoing national election - voters feel empowered when every vote matters. Unlike in years past, individual shareholders now can make a direct impact on the companies in which they own shares by researching and openly discussing their proxy ballots at investor activism sites like ProxyMatters.com." ProxyMatters.com, a new online forum for shareholder communication, offers an immediate and open Website for proxy voting commentary. The site offers a first-of-its-kind resource for common investors to exchange views and discuss proxy voting matters ranging from the election of boards of directors to controversial shareholder proposals such as limits on CEO compensation (see Tyco) and sexual orientation sexual orientation n. The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes, especially a direction seen to be dictated by physiologic rather than sociologic forces. non-discrimination policies (see Fifth-Third Bancorp). The new site will help transition today's passive investor into an active stakeholder. ProxyMatters.com offers activists, competing interests and challengers to management a national channel for open dialogue. Upcoming proxy campaigns such as those at PeopleSoft, Safeway, General Electric, and Coca-Cola are traditionally mounted in print media and are frequently expensive and inefficient in reach, allowing management to hold the pervasive voice. Attention Reporters and Editors Expert commentary about the need for open communication and active involvement between individual shareholders is immediately available. ProxyMatters.com's CEO is immediately available to comment on how PeopleSoft, Safeway, General Electric and Coca-Cola stakeholders can make their voices heard in boardrooms before upcoming proxy votes. |
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