Good morning. What a great way to start the day. We created that video especially for this meeting, and it truly captures and celebrates what is just so extraordinary about The Walt Disney Company and why so many millions of people all over the world just love Disney. We're thrilled to be here in San Francisco. In fact, this is actually my second visit to San Francisco this week. While I was here earlier in the week, I picked up something special for this meeting. It's one of the first Apple Watches with Mickey Mouse on it. If we don't have a camera, I'd show it to you. Mickey actually taps his feet. This is going to be in the market fairly soon. I just have a feeling it's going to be a big hit.
I have the original Mickey watch from the 1930s. I usually wear it on special occasions like this because I just love its link to Disney's heritage, and I love the watch. It's a prized possession of mine. The symbolism of Mickey Mouse on this new device just spoke to me because if the original watch reminds me where Disney comes from, I think this one surely reminds me where Disney's going, and just seemed fitting to wear it here in San Francisco, where creativity and innovation intersect and actually change the world. This is also a great Disney city. In fact, The Walt Disney Family Museum is here. Not too far away, right? It's also home to our great TV station, KGO-TV. We've got Disney Stores in the area. Pixar is right across the bay in Emeryville. Let's hear it for Pixar.
Lucasfilm is right across the street, so the Force is definitely with us. Okay. Speaking of the Force, unless you've spent the last few months in a galaxy far, far away, you know that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opens on December 18th, which is something that we're all incredibly excited about. Obviously, we're not alone. The teaser trailer for the film was released just a few months ago. It's now been viewed over 150 million times. We think that response is unbelievable. Just take a look.
You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder Meeting. The program will continue in a moment.
Just wait until you all see the whole movie. Based on what I've seen so far, I can tell you that the unprecedented excitement captured in that video, totally justified. Director J.J. Abrams and the amazing cast have created something truly spectacular. Unfortunately, that's all I can tell you about this movie since secrecy is a long-standing Lucasfilm tradition. Figure I'd blame it on Lucasfilm, right? Okay. All right. I know you're disappointed, I didn't come empty-handed. I do have just some "Star Wars" news to share with all of you. As you know, we're also planning multiple films that go into characters and events that go far beyond the core "Star Wars" saga.
The first of those films is going to be released in December of 2016, Oscar nominee Chris Weitz is writing the script, Gareth Edwards is directing, and we're thrilled to have Oscar nominee Felicity Jones in a starring role. I'm also very pleased to announce, drum roll please, that the title of the movie is "Rogue One." "Rogue One." The storyline actually came from John Knoll, who is the Academy Award-winning visual effects guru and chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic. He's worked on many big films, including several "Star Wars" films. We start filming "Rogue One" this summer, and even though I can't say anything more about it, I did bring something special to show you.
This is the world's first glimpse at some original concept art for the film, no one has seen anything from this film before, so I hope you're intrigued, feel just a little bit special. I think it says a lot, actually. Anyway, while we're on the subject of Star Wars movies, I also have one other announcement to make, that is mark your calendars because Star Wars: Episode VIII, written and directed by Rian Johnson, will be in theaters on May 26th of 2017. Between now and 2017, we're going to bring three Star Wars films to the world. It's obviously an incredibly exciting time for our company, not just because of that, because we have so much to look forward to. By the way, our recent past hasn't been too bad either.
We've had four straight years of record results, fiscal 2014 was truly a year to remember. Driven by extraordinary creativity, innovative technology, and global expansion, 2014 was in fact the biggest, best year in Disney history. Our revenue was up 8% to $48.8 billion. Our net income was up 22% to $7.5 billion, our EPS was up 26% to $4.26. Total shareholder return for the year was 38%, almost double the 20% return. Thank you. It's almost double the 20% return of the S&P 500 during the same period. We also paid our 59th straight year of dividends, increasing the dividend per share by 34%. Some highlights, our studio delivered some of the biggest movies of 2014, surpassed $4 billion in global box office for the second year in a row. We also welcomed a record number of guests to our parks and resorts.
With an unparalleled portfolio of sports rights and the addition of the new SEC Network, ESPN continued to reign as the number one sports brand. ABC launched its best season in recent memory, and Good Morning America completed another year as the number one morning show. Thank you. It's also a great year for Disney Consumer Products. I love these statistics. 11 separate franchises in Consumer Products generated more than $1 billion each in global retail sales. I'm also happy to report that Disney Interactive achieved its first year of profitability. Our stock price keeps climbing. In fact, it's trading above $105 at the moment. That's compared to about $80 a year ago, giving us a market cap of just about $180 billion, and that's $40 billion higher than it was at our last shareholder meeting.
Disney is now also consistently recognized as one of the world's most admired companies, respected for our products and our people, as well as for our performance. In our shareholders meeting a few years ago, we launched something called Heroes Work Here, that was to promote career opportunities for veterans and to raise awareness of their tremendous value as employees. Since then, thank you. This is something we're really proud of. Since then, more than 5,000 former servicemen and women have joined the Walt Disney family, which is something, again, we are incredibly proud of. On top of that, I'm pleased to report that another 5,000 veterans have found careers with companies across the country as a direct result of our program. Just fantastic.
The vets at Disney are in good company because they're among our 180,000 cast members and employees around the world who work tirelessly to tell great stories and create magic in the lives of millions of people every day. I'm always inspired by their endless creativity, grateful for their countless contributions to our success, and I am reminded every single day what an enormous privilege it is for me to lead The Walt Disney Company. Last summer, I celebrated my 40th anniversary at the company, I can honestly say that I've never been prouder to be part of Disney, nor have I never been as optimistic about the future of The Walt Disney Company. There's so much to look forward to. I thought I'd take you through some of those things across our businesses.
First, starting in May, I hope to see a lot of you at Disneyland when we start celebrating the 60th anniversary of Disneyland. Theme park that started it all back in 1955. It's more fun than it's ever been. We plan to celebrate, of course, in true Disney style. We also just completed the historic expansion of Fantasyland at Walt Disney World, as well as the rollout of MyMagic+ and so far, more than 10 million guests have used our MagicBands, and we're getting rave reviews. We're also looking forward to the 2017 opening of a truly incredible Avatar-themed land at Disney's Animal Kingdom. If you thought Pandora in the movie looked magical, just wait until you see Pandora in person.
Our guests in Hong Kong Disneyland will soon be able to experience the first Marvel-themed attraction in any of our parks when the Iron Man Experience opens next year. Of course, there is growing excitement about the Shanghai Disney Resort. As you know, this is the largest investment that we've ever made outside the U.S., and it well may be the single most creatively ambitious project that we've ever attempted. The artistry is just unbelievable, the attention to the smallest detail incredible, and the scale is bigger than you can imagine. It's coming to life a bit more with each passing day. I was there last month, and as you can see in this video, the progress is just remarkable. We just topped off our signature Shanghai Disneyland Hotel.
We're nearing completion of iconic features throughout the park, including the largest and most impressive castle we've ever built. That's the castle in the middle there. We've begun casting for the hundreds of performers who will entertain our guests. Incredible footage. Thank you. We're going to wrap up major construction by the end of this year, and we're already planning a spectacular grand opening celebration for the spring of next year, which we think is the perfect time to open the gates and give the world its first full look at the grandeur of this magnificent destination. Very, very exciting. It's also an exciting and great time for our media networks. ABC is thriving with compelling programming that sets it apart, especially when it comes to reflecting the rich diversity of the world around us.
Shows like "Scandal" and "Black-ish," "How to Get Away with Murder," "Fresh Off the Boat," and recently, "American Crime" bring new perspectives and authentic voices to television, along with great storytelling. Thanks to the winning combination of inclusion and quality, ABC is the only broadcast network to grow its audience this season. We also think it's really important for kids to see themselves, their families, and their different cultures reflected in a positive way on the Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior. Young viewers have eagerly embraced characters like Doc McStuffins and Sofia the First, along with their favorite classic Disney characters. We're looking forward to introducing our first Latina princess when Elena of Avalor debuts on Disney Junior next year. Great stories transcend culture and language because they speak to our hearts.
No one tells the great stories in sports better than ESPN, take a look.
You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder Meeting. The program will continue in a moment.
That's high energy, I think. ESPN continues to define excellence and innovation in sports coverage, the tremendous success of the new college football playoff is a perfect example of ESPN at the top of its game. The Megacast gave fans unprecedented access to the action, offering more than a dozen different ways to watch their teams battle it out on air, online, and just about on any mobile device or screen you can imagine. For the final, more than 33 million fans tuned in to see Ohio State beat Oregon for the national championship, the largest single audience in the history of cable television. No one but ESPN could do something so big so well, that's why ESPN remains the undisputed leader in sports.
Our studio has been setting the bar pretty high these days, too, it only goes up from here. This is a huge year, as I talked before, because "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is just one of the fantastic movies on our slate for 2015. Let's start with Marvel. Obviously, an incredible success story since joining Disney, the studio goes from strength to strength to strength. In fact, the five movies that we've released so far have averaged almost $1 billion each in global box office, we're planning to release 11 more Marvel films in the next four years. As every Marvel fan knows, "Avengers: Age of Ultron," the highly anticipated sequel, opens on May 1st.
The trailer that we released just last week was viewed 35 million times in just the first 24 hours, which is a new record by the way. Obviously, we aren't the only ones looking forward to this movie, I know everyone has seen the trailer by now. Instead of showing you the trailer, I brought you something new. It's just a quiet little scene from the movie that we haven't shared with anyone yet. I hope you enjoy this exclusive, quiet first look at Avengers: Age of Ultron.
You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder meeting. The program will continue in a moment. You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder meeting. The program will continue in a moment.
Small movie. I know it's hard to believe, but that's not even the best part. The movie is absolutely fantastic. We also have more from Marvel this year, as you noticed maybe in the clip that I showed at the beginning. In July, Paul Rudd suits up and shrinks down as Ant-Man. Two Marvel movies in one year. As you may have heard, we recently struck a deal with Sony to produce the next Spider-Man movie and bring the iconic web slinger- back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's Marvel. Onto Disney Studios. Tomorrow is a big day for Disney Studios, as our first ever live-action Cinderella opens in theaters. We absolutely love this movie. This is a fresh take on one of our most cherished characters, and it showcases her courage, her kindness, as well as her beauty.
Lily James is just breathtaking as Cinderella, and she's everything that you had hoped this character would be and more. So far the reviews call her dazzling, which I think is definitely justified, and they say that this movie is enchanting enough to make you believe in magic, and we agree. We're also looking forward to the May release of Tomorrowland, which is a fantastic futuristic adventure. This one is directed by Brad Bird. Brad Bird did The Incredibles for Pixar and Ratatouille, and it also stars none other than George Clooney in his first Disney film. We released a trailer of this online just a few days ago, but you're the first audience to see the trailer on the big screen, so take a look.
You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder Meeting. The program will continue in a moment. You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder Meeting. The program will continue in a moment.
Doesn't that look great? This is also another great year for Disney Animation, with more storytelling and extraordinary pictures, and you name it, than we've ever had before. When Pixar joined Disney in 2006, we were hoping to spark creative resurgence in animation across the company. Looking at our recent stream of successes, I think we can actually say that that worked. Pixar has always been home to some of the most original and innovative stories in animation, and we're thrilled to share two new Pixar movies with the world this year. In June, "Inside Out" will give audiences an all-access pass to the mind of an 11-year-old girl named Riley. This film reflects the creative genius that Pixar is known for, and we can't wait for you to see "Inside Out.
You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder Meeting. The program will continue in a moment. You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder Meeting. The program will continue in a moment.
Just a coincidence, that movie does take place in San Francisco. I had some pretty good pizza last night too, I don't think San Francisco ruined pizza. At Thanksgiving, Pixar's "The Good Dinosaur" will take the world on a humorous look at what the world might look like if the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs had actually missed the Earth. You get that, I think? Well, anyway, later on in the year. You know that animation's incredibly important to this company, and it's always been the very heart and soul of Disney. Throughout Disney's history, our most successful time as a company has been when our animation is strong and thriving, and that's certainly the case today. The Walt Disney Company is once again home to some of the best animation in the world, with the box office and the awards to prove it.
With almost $1.3 billion in global box office, Frozen remains the most successful animated movie in history. "Big Hero 6," our most recent release, is now Disney Animation's third highest grossing film of all time, behind only Frozen and The Lion King. Disney Animation has earned Academy Awards for best animated movie two years in a row. Frozen won last year, and Big Hero 6 took the Oscar this year. Feast also won this year, making us the only animation studio to win Oscars for Best Feature and Best Short in the same year. As I said, the creative resurgence and recent string of successes started with the acquisition of Pixar, thanks to the leadership of John Lasseter and Ed Catmull.
John is here with me today, so if you don't mind, please welcome John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. John.
I tell you, I'm so happy to be here. First of all, to thank you and to thank the board for nine years ago of bringing Pixar into the Disney family and having my partner Ed Catmull and I come back to the studio I love so much, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and help run it. I'm so excited of the success that we've had.
It's been a fun nine years, huh?
Oh, yeah. It's been fantastic. No. I have to say, this guy has been our biggest supporter to bring back Disney Animation.
Thanks, John.
Give him all the credit.
Thank you. Okay. Speaking of Disney and animation, I mentioned this is a huge weekend for the company because Cinderella comes out tomorrow. With Cinderella, something really, really special. Take it away.
Not only do you get Cinderella, The Walt Disney Company loves to over-deliver. We have a short in front of it from a little movie called Frozen we're calling Frozen Fever, We're so excited that you get to be the second audience in the world to see it. You want to see Frozen Fever right here, right now? Frozen Fever, everybody.
To The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder Meeting. The program will continue in a moment. You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder Meeting. The program will continue in a moment. You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder Meeting. The program will continue in a moment. You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder Meeting. The program will continue in a moment. You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder Meeting. The program will continue in a moment. You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder Meeting. The program will continue in a moment. You are listening to The Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholder Meeting. The program will continue in a moment. The program will continue in a moment.
Did you guys like that? That was great. We are so proud of the Walt Disney Animation Studios for the incredible work that they've been doing through these last few years. I think that shows the incredible talent that's at the studio.
Yeah. Fantastic.
Yeah.
Fantastic. A fitting next chapter for Frozen, I think, too.
Yeah. Thank you.
It was great.
Thank you.
John, thank you very much for coming.
Guys, aren't you forgetting something?
Olaf? Hey, is that you?
Yeah. You know me, I just love shareholders, and meeting, and pie charts.
You're here at the shareholder meeting, huh?
ESPN.
Good. Good, Olaf. Thank you very much. That was great, Olaf. Really appreciate you coming.
No, my pleasure. It was a little short, but otherwise great.
Ladies and gentlemen, the voice of Olaf, Josh Gad.
That was pretty great, right? That was a lot of fun. I thought we were going to do that other thing that we had talked about.
Shh.
We're not.
Shh.
Are we?
I don't know.
not doing it?
Not here
did you talk-
No
did you talk to Bob about it?
Oh, you didn't speak to Bob? Hey, Bob. Josh Gad.
He actually wasn't sure you were coming.
Oh, I just figured you guys know Bob.
I didn't know if he would go for it.
Yeah. Not here.
No?
We need to ask him.
Can please-
Stop, please. Please. Stop.
One, give me one in summer.
In summer.
Yeah.
No warm-up.
Okay, go ahead.
No warm-up.
All right. Go ahead. You do it. Go ahead. I've had a lot to say today. Go for it.
All right. Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to announce the Walt Disney Animation Studios is working on "Frozen 2." At the Walt Disney Animation Studios, as with Pixar, when we do a sequel, it is because the filmmakers who created the original have created an idea that is so good that it's worthy of these characters. We enjoyed making "Frozen Fever" so much and being back in that world with those characters. We love these characters and this world so much, of Arendelle, that Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck have come up with a great idea for a sequel. You will be hearing a lot more about it. We're taking you back to Arendelle, and we're so excited about that. Olaf's going to be in it, Josh.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Very excited. It's also called "Rogue One.
Frozen: Rogue One." Thanks, Josh. John. Thank you.
Thanks, everybody.
Thank you so much. Bye, guys.
Thank you.
Should we play again that lion song? Oh, sure. I just know how you-
I know that I've said this before, but I think it bears repeating that this is an unbelievable privilege to lead The Walt Disney Company, especially in this very, very dynamic era of endless possibility and opportunity. I'm thrilled and grateful to have the chance to continue to lead this phenomenal company and the incredible team of cast members and employees around the world who bring some of our most exciting historic projects through to completion. It's just fantastic. Last month, we added the position of Chief Operating Officer to our senior management team and asked that Tom Staggs step into that role. As many of you know, Tom led our parks and resorts to record performance during a period of incredible growth. He was also a successful CFO of the company before that, and he's got 25 years with The Walt Disney Company.
Tom definitely knows Disney and what it takes to make Disney so special. Here with us today is Tom Staggs. I'd like Tom to stand and be recognized. Tom. Thank you. I also look forward to working with Tom and the rest of our extremely talented senior management team across the company as we continue to build our future. There's also someone else in the audience that I'd like to introduce. He's a great friend of The Walt Disney Company and a true member of the Walt Disney family, Roy P. Disney. Roy, would you stand? Now I'd like to introduce The Walt Disney Company's board of directors, starting with our Lead Director, Orin Smith, who was formerly President and CEO of Starbucks. Orin. Actually, I'm going to have the whole board stand at the end when I finish introducing them all.
Susan Arnold is here with us today. Susan is an operating executive of The Carlyle Group and is retired from Procter & Gamble, where she was the company's vice chairman as well as president of all global business units. John Chen is executive chairman and chief executive officer of BlackBerry Limited. Fred Langhammer is chairman of global affairs of Estée Lauder. Aylwin Lewis is chairman, CEO, and president of Potbelly Sandwich Works. Monica Lozano is chair of the board of US Hispanic Media Inc., and the former chief executive officer and chair of the board of ImpreMedia LLC. Bob Matschullat is a private equity investor and former vice chairman and CFO of The Seagram Company. Sheryl Sandberg is chief operating officer of Facebook. Last but not least, our newest board member, Jack Dorsey, is chairman of Twitter and CEO of Square.
I'd like to ask the directors who are here, please stand and be recognized. The board of directors of The Walt Disney Company. Okay. I'm over here. Thank you. Now it's time for the formal business portion of the meeting. Yes, right. Comedy hour. We call it comedy hour. The meeting has been duly called and is being conducted. By the way, this is an interesting transition. The meeting has been duly called and is being conducted in conformity with the laws of Delaware and the company's charter and bylaws. If you have already voted by proxy, you don't need to vote again at this time. If you haven't yet voted or if you want to change your vote, you may do so now. Please raise your hand if you need a ballot to vote. We've got people in the audience to pass around ballots.
I guess we may need the house lights for that. Anyone need a ballot? A bunch. Ballots need to be turned in by the end of the business portion of the meeting. We will have someone collect them at that time. Copies of the rules for the meeting were provided at the registration table. I would like to ask for everyone's cooperation in respecting the rules, including speaking time limits and assisting us in the orderly conduct of business. We have five items on the agenda today, including two shareholder proposals. I will introduce each of the first three matters, and shareholder representatives will present the two shareholder proposals. After all five matters have been presented, there will be an opportunity for any shareholder who is interested to address any of the matters.
The polls will close, and we will hear a preliminary report from the Inspector of Election and adjourn the business portion of the meeting. After the business portion, we will have a general question and answer period. The company has retained Broadridge Investor Communication Solutions as Inspector of Election for this meeting. I would now like to introduce Belinda Masafra, a representative of Broadridge, and ask her to report on the number of outstanding shares present today and voting. Belinda?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As of the close of business on January 12th, 2015, the record date for the meeting, there were 1,694,975,006 shares of common stock outstanding, with each share entitled to one vote. As of the beginning of this meeting, there were at least 1,468,276,676 shares of common stock represented by proxy present at the meeting, which represents approximately 87% of the total number of shares entitled to vote.
Thank you very much. Based on this report, I rule that a quorum is present and that this meeting is qualified to proceed with the business before us. I now declare the polls open, and the first item is the election of 10 members of the Board of Directors. Each director holds office for a term of one year, and those nominated for election at this meeting, in addition to me, are Susan Arnold, John Chen, Jack Dorsey, Fred Langhammer, Aylwin Lewis, Monica Lozano, Bob Matschullat, Sheryl Sandberg, and Orin Smith. As you all know, the board recommends a vote for the election of all the nominees. The next item is ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP as the company's independent registered accountants for the current fiscal year, as recommended by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.
Services provided by PricewaterhouseCoopers to the company include examination of the company's financial statements and review of its reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Wayne Jackson, a representative of PricewaterhouseCoopers, is here today to respond to any questions. The board recommends a vote for the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's independent registered accountants for fiscal 2015. The next item is the advisory vote on executive compensation. We are seeking advisory shareholder approval of the compensation of our named executive officers. We believe the design of our compensation program and the compensation awarded under it creates an appropriate relationship between performance and compensation. The board recommends a vote for this proposal. The next item is a shareholder proposal presented by James McRitchie. The full text of the proposal is set forth in the proxy statement.
I understand that Mr. McRitchie is here to present this proposal. I would like to invite him up so that he can do so. I would ask that he limit the presentation to five minutes at most. Mr. McRitchie.
Thank you very much. This proposal requests the Disney board adopt a policy of having an independent board chair, starting with the next CEO. We're not looking to take anything away from Mr. Iger. Any such action would likely be viewed by the markets as disruptive, causing a share price drop, and tarnishing the reputation of Mr. Iger, who is doing a fantastic job as Disney's CEO. Serving both as CEO and as Disney's board chairman is too much of a conflict of interest to be an ongoing policy. When our CEO is also our board chairman, this arrangement can hinder the board's ability to monitor our CEO's performance and of shareholders to speak candidly. The board's opposition statement would have shareholders believe that a lead director offers equivalent advantages. If lead directors actually held equivalent authority, they wouldn't object to a mere change in title.
As a 2012 report by GMI Ratings found, companies that split CEO and chairman positions generally showed a five-year shareholder returns were 28% higher. A Spencer Stuart survey found that 64% of directors agreed or strongly agreed that splitting the positions led to more independent thought by directors. 60% said it leads to more effective CEO evaluations. National Association of Corporate Directors found that 73% of directors serving with an independent chair said their companies greatly benefit from that arrangement. Only 7% disagreed. CalSTRS, Florida SBA, Ontario Teachers, and many others have already voted in favor of having the next chairman of Walt Disney be an independent chairman. I hope you will join with us.
Thank you, Mr. McRitchie. The board of directors has recommended a vote against this proposal for the reasons set out fully in the proxy statement. Next, we have a shareholder proposal presented by William Steiner. The full text of the proposal is set forth in the proxy statement. I also understand that Mr. McRitchie will also present this item as representative of Mr. Steiner, and I would like to invite Mr. McRitchie back to present this proposal. I would ask again that he limit the presentation to five minutes at most. Thank you.
Thank you. This proposal is to limit accelerated executive pay. It asks our board of directors to adopt a policy that in the event of a change of control, there shall be no acceleration of vesting of any equity award granted to any senior executive. That any unvested award will vest in a partial pro rata basis. Like the proposal on independent directors, this resolution is prospective, implemented so as not to affect any contractual rights now in existence. The vesting of equity pay over a period of time is intended to promote long-term improvement and performance. The link between executive pay and long-term performance can't be served if such pay is made on an accelerated schedule. Please vote to protect shareholder value. Limit accelerated executive pay. Thank you.
Thank you. The board of directors has recommended a vote against this proposal for the reasons set out fully in the proxy statement. At this point, I will open the floor to discussion on any of the proposals that have been presented. If you would like to address one of them, please proceed to a microphone and wait to be recognized. When you are recognized, please state your name, tell us where you're from and identify which item you wish to address, and then proceed with your remarks. Please limit your remarks to 2 minutes in order to give other shareholders an opportunity to be heard. Note that we will have a general question and answer session following the business portion of the meeting, so please limit your remarks at this time to the proposals that have just been presented.
If we have any comments or questions. Yes.
Lindsey Wasserman, shareholder. The named executives that we vote on should be questioned. More corporate strategy, Kevin Mayer's position, and human resource decision, Jayne Parker's decision, are made at the profit centers, the networks, parks, and the studio, and they certainly make more money. Anne Sweeney and John Skipper at the networks are responsible for 43% of revenues and 56% of operating income. Mr. Staggs at Parks was responsible for 31% of revenues, and I do look forward to his compensation report next year as COO. Alan Horn at the studio oversees some of the highest-paid individuals, period. As part of his compensation, he should answer not only for the quality of the films but for the compensation packages of his A-list actors like Mr. Clooney and of the successful studio heads like Mr. Lasseter, Mr. Lucas, and the head of Marvel.
Thank you very much. Do we have other comments or questions on those proposals? Anyone at number 2? No. At this point, I think we've heard the principal range of views on these items, so it's time to close this discussion. This concludes consideration of all the items to be presented at the meeting. If anyone has not yet voted and you are holding a ballot, please raise your hand and we will collect them from you. Lights up, please, again. Polls will now close, and I would ask the inspector of election to give us her report based on proxies received by the opening of the polls at today's meeting. Ballots and proxies that are being handed in now or have been handed in during the meeting will be reviewed and validated by the inspector and included in the final vote tally.
The final vote will be reflected in the minutes of the meeting and a report we will file with the SEC within the next week. Inspector, may we have your preliminary report?
Regarding proposal one, the election of directors, all directors have received a majority of votes for election, ranging from 94%-99% of the votes cast. Regarding proposal two, to ratify PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's registered public accountant for 2015, we have received proxies representing 99% of shares voting to approve the ratification of the appointment. Regarding proposal three, to approve an advisory resolution on executive compensation, we have received proxies representing 84% of shares voting to approve the resolution. Regarding shareholder proposal four, relating to independent board chairman, we have received proxies representing 28% of shares voting to approve the proposal. Regarding the shareholder proposal number five, relating to acceleration of executive pay. We have received proxies representing 24% of shares voting to approve the proposal. That concludes my report, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you very much. Based on that report and subject to the final confirmation of voting results by the Inspector of Election, I declare that all of the nominees for election to the board have been duly elected, and that the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers has been duly ratified, that the advisory proposal on executive compensation was approved, and that neither of the shareholder proposals was approved. That concludes the business portion of the meeting, which is now officially adjourned. We are now ready to take questions on other matters. If you ask a question, again, please proceed to one of the microphones and wait to be recognized. When you are recognized, please state your name, tell us where you're from, and then proceed with your question.
Again, I would ask that you limit your question to no more than two minutes in order to give other shareholders an opportunity to be heard, and that you not raise or repeat topics that have previously been raised. I would also ask that speakers refrain from raising personal matters or grievances, since it's really not fair to make everybody sit through matters of personal concern. With that, we will open the floor to questions. Let's start with number one.
This is for Bob Iger. Hi, Bob. I'm Mike Tuffman from Orlando, Florida, home of Epcot. When you introduced Tony Baxter at the 2013 Disney Legends Awards, you told the crowd about how the company found out the hard way how important the Disney properties Figment and Dreamfinder were to their fans, how those enthusiasts always show up at shareholder meetings and other events to celebrate the Disney characters they grew to love and cherish. Last year, our Marvel publishing sector released a series of five graphic novels with the title of Figment, featuring both Figment and Dreamfinder together again. The books were so popular that each installment had to go into extra print editions.
Since we know that you know about the enthusiasm of the fans of Figment and Dreamfinder, since these properties have successfully crossed platforms as well as generations, we ask if now, finally, is the time to reinstate the original characters, stories, and essence of the experience that was Journey Into Imagination at Epcot. We hope that you agree that it is time to bring Dreamfinder back home to our parks and have him tell the classic Disney story all over again and share it with new, veteran, and future generations of visitors so that they too may fall in love with the spirit of imagination and the original ambassadors of Epcot. Thank you.
Thank you very much. By the way, we were blown away by the success of those graphic novels. I don't know what that says about the future of Dreamfinder and Figment, we certainly took notice. We don't have plans right now to do what you suggest, you've been persistent on the subject and certainly expressed enthusiasm over the years, we appreciate that a lot. Thank you very much. Number two. Another old friend.
Bob, my name is Dwight Morgan. I'm a shareholder, premier pass holder, pin trader, D23 Day One charter member, Carolwood Historical Society member. My favorite character is Peter Pan, I live in Pasadena. Last year, I came to this meeting and asked a question about treatment of pin traders in the parks. You said you'd have someone get in touch with me, I want to thank you for doing just that. I'd also like to report that though we have met a couple of times since then and we've discussed the problem, so far nothing has changed. In the past, I've brought subjects before this meeting in a couple of years to resolve them, so I'll be patient. We're only one year into this. I have another problem for you to help me with, though.
Gift cards seem to be an item that is handled differently by some third-party vendors, both inside and outside the park. On two separate occasions, I've received my pass holder discount from a merchant, yet my gift card has been refused. Once at Ghirardelli in Disney California Adventure, once at the Uva Bar in Downtown Disney. It seems to me that if the annual pass is accepted for a discount, then the gift card should also be accepted, but that's not always the case. The reverse has also been noticed, that the gift card gets accepted, but you don't get a discount. Seems to be a mixed message there, and I'd like to know if there's a reason for that.
Okay. First of all, on the first item, I won't dwell on it, but as you mentioned, and I appreciate it, we have put you directly in touch with representatives at Disneyland. It's my understanding that some progress has been made regarding pin trading, although I don't know whether that apparently hasn't been communicated with you. You should go back to the people you've been talking to and maybe get an update. I must admit that I'm not 100% certain I have an answer for you on your gift cards and your discounts, but again, I will put you in touch with the right person. You can be more specific about it. I just don't understand the mechanics that you described. So I'm not the expert on the subject to respond fully.
Sometimes it's just easier to get the quest to the right person by going to the top.
Well, thank you very much. Thank you. I do follow through, though. I'll make sure you get to the right person. I'll look in my Rolodex of 180,000 cast members and I'll find that one person. Who uses Rolodexes today, by the way? I don't even know where that came from. Yes, number one.
Hi, good morning. I'm Justin Danhoff of the National Center for Public Policy Research. I was also at the Apple meeting earlier this week with you, but I didn't leave with a watch. I guess we have a different status there. You may recall that last April, the CEO of Mozilla was forced from his job because he had contributed $1,000 to a 2008 referendum here in California that defined marriage a certain way. Colleagues at Mozilla held a different view, and he was ousted from his job. The story received sustained national attention because many people thought it was simply unjust for a person to lose his job for participating in civic activities. We discovered that some corporations, such as Coca-Cola, had made a pledge to its employees that they would not be fired or treated adversely at work because of off-the-job legal, political, or civic activities.
Most corporations had no such protections. Employees could be fired, demoted, denied promotions or raises because their supervisors simply disagreed with their politics or their views on policy issues. We began approaching many CEOs, and we submitted proposals to Walt Disney and over 20 other corporations asking them to hold a shareholder vote on whether to adopt these protections. Most of the corporations were very willing to give their employees this protection and made formal changes to their workplace policies. This includes, but is not limited to, General Electric, Pepsi, and Time Warner. Only a very small number of companies opposed even letting their shareholders vote on the idea. Unfortunately, Disney was among them. Disney fought at the Securities and Exchange Commission to prevent us shareholders from even voting on the issue.
It is disappointing that the holder of one of the country's most iconic brands would fight to maintain the ability to terminate or penalize its employees for off-the-job private, political, and civic activity, and to block us shareholders from even expressing a formal but non-binding opinion. Disney's standard of business conduct notes that the company does not allow discrimination that is prohibited by, quote, "applicable law." Unfortunately, that's not enough because in many jurisdictions, including Florida, it is perfectly legal to terminate employees in Florida and where many other Disney employees work. That is one reason that we ask Disney to voluntarily protect its employees from this potential for discrimination. My question is simple: Why does Disney's management oppose granting its employees the same kind of freedom of conscious protections that General Electric, Pepsi, and Time Warner have seen fit to do?
Why did you spend shareholder resources asking the SEC to block shareholders from voting on the non-binding recommendation on this issue?
Thank you very much. Your proposal was studied very carefully by our team, and they concluded that it really would not have had a material impact on our existing policies. We made that argument to the SEC as to why the proposal should be excluded, and they agreed with us. We actually have policies in place that encourage participation by our employees in political and civic activities. This is a subject that we're quite familiar with, and we believe that the policies that we have in place, on top of encouraging those activities, also define activities that would be perfectly acceptable to us. Obviously, there are some that might not be, and that is obviously subject to judgment on our part in terms of what is in the best interest of the company.
The decision that was made and the recommendation we ultimately made to the SEC was that your proposal would not have brought material change to our policy.
Okay.
Thank you.
I just urge you to personally take a look at the policies then, because we still find there's a big void, and many of your workers are still subject to potential discrimination. I'm not saying it would be intentional, but we've studied the issue intensely, and there is a big void still there. I'd urge you personally to take a look.
I will do that again. I have done that already. I will do that again. I happen to believe that we've behaved very responsibly when it comes to managing our employees and managing the relationship that we have with them and monitoring the relationship they may have outside of the workplace to make sure that it is in keeping with standards that we feel are appropriate to the company and to its shareholders. Thank you.
Thank you.
Number 2.
Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Iger. My name is Gina Schuler. I am a shareholder. I live in San Francisco. I'm also a critical care nurse. I've been a nurse for 25 years, and I've taken care of thousands of patients who die of tobacco-related diseases. We know that the surgeon general produced a report in 2012 that showed conclusively that if children are exposed to smoking images in movies, it will cause them to begin smoking. Any of us who know smokers or have known people who have died from smoking, is that they have started when they were young. Disney has a policy to discourage smoking in youth-rated films. Between 2008 and 2013, however, about 9% of all smoking images shown to children were from Disney Studios.
In 2014 and so far this year, there have been no smoking images in any Disney movies thus far, and I'd really like to have a round of applause for doing that. This shows a commitment to real corporate responsibility to children's future health. Marvel Studios, you may not know, 43% of their youth-rated movies show smoking. Mr. Iger, I will ask if you would be willing to change the world and commit to an ironclad policy that your PG-13 and youth-rated films never show smoking in them. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Well, the answer to that is yes. I will commit to that. We are extending our policy to prohibit smoking in movies across the board, Marvel, Lucas, Pixar, Disney films, except when we are depicting a historical figure who may have smoked at the time of his life. For instance, if we were doing a movie on Abraham Lincoln, he was a smoker, then we would consider that acceptable. In terms of any new characters that are created for any of those films under any of those labels, we will absolutely prohibit smoking in those films.
Thank you so much for being an industry leader in this field.
Yes, number one.
Good morning. My name's Matthew Hansen. I'm a shareholder from Salt Lake City area. I have a question in regards to home video. First, as a bit more of a request, as far as catalog titles, I'm not sure what goes into deciding whether something gets a wide release, such as "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," and others get limited releases through the Disney Movie Club. I'm not sure how familiar or aware you are of those exclusive releases, but in my opinion, they don't represent the same quality of other Disney releases for the fact that titles such as "The Love Bug," "Old Yeller," "The Apple Dumpling Gang," and others, such as "Pollyanna," that were released as two-disc sets with an abundance of bonus features and commentaries with the actors. All of those bonus features and commentaries are completely left off of those Blu-rays.
I just ask that that would be maybe included in future releases. My other question is in regards to 3D Blu-ray releases. Ironically, the company decided to let go of those releases with the release of "Frozen" last year only in the United States. Just about every other country and territory received a 3D Blu-ray release of that title. It's getting a bit frustrating and annoying to have to try and track down and import a copy of "Frozen" as well as others. I got "Need for Speed," "Maleficent," and "Planes: Fire & Rescue" from Mexico because a release was not provided here. No matter where I ask or email, I can't find anybody who has an answer as to why.
Thank you. I'll put you in touch with the right person who can answer the specifics of that. The whole business of home video is changing dramatically and has changed, which is affecting what we release, when we release it, where we release it, in some cases, how it's priced as well. Clearly, in an era of digital technology, the ability to release more, not only more films, but more information, more background material about that films grows because the cost of releasing in a digitally distributed world is substantially less than releasing physical goods. I have a feeling that in terms of getting extra basically add-ons or features in the future in digital releases, meaning non-physical copies, you'll be more satisfied.
I can't speak on the 3D side except I imagine that adoption of 3D TV I know is relatively limited, and I'm sure that we decided that it wasn't cost-effective to bring 3D copies out because there weren't enough people to buy them. Again, I'll put you in direct touch with the appropriate people.
Thank you.
Back to two.
My name's Stanton Glantz. I'm a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco, who'd been working on the issue of smoking in movies for a long time. I'd first like to thank you for the unequivocal statement about getting smoking out of youth-rated films that Disney produces and distributes. I would point out that the policy you have on your website isn't as strong as what you just said and would hope you see that they're brought into sync. My question is that the CDC has estimated that a million kids' lives among kids alive today in the United States. And will Disney take a public position in support of an industry-wide standard of an R rating for smoking and use its seat on the MPAA to push for an industry-wide level playing field policy?
It would essentially institutionalize the policy that you just outlined, since we do think an exception for actual historical figures who actually smoked is appropriate.
First of all, I will make sure that the policy that is described on our website reflects the policy that I just articulated. The policy that I articulated was amended within the last 48 hours, actually, to be broader than the policy that we had because I thought it was the right thing for us to do. We are a member of the MPAA. However, we don't get involved in how the MPAA applies ratings to films. They do that independent of us, and occasionally we lobby with them on how they've rated some of our films. We certainly don't get involved in how they rate the films of other studios, nor do we really try to influence what the policies are of the other studios that we compete with.
We just like to think that we have a responsibility to shareholders of the company and to customers around the world. We like to behave in a very responsible way in that regard, as evidenced by the policy that I outlined. I doubt that you're going to get much support from us on lobbying the MPAA to put an R rating on films that have smoking. I think it would be a little bit presumptuous of me to commit to doing that today without getting a little bit more of a flavor or perspective on the dynamic that exists at the MPAA on the subject. I'm just not well-versed in that. I don't know what positions the other studios have even taken about this.
We have had meetings with the MPAA. They've told us to go to the studios because it's the studios that sit on the board and make the policy.
Well, that's-
It's a little bit where the studio. The MPAA actually is why I'm asking you this question, because the MPAA has told a wide range of health groups and representatives of groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics that it's really up to the studios to make the policy, and that the MPAA is just implementing the policy that the six studios on the board established.
Well-
It's a little bit back and forth.
I think there might be nuance there. It's up to the studios to make policy regarding their own standards and the films that they create, as, again, I described for Disney. I don't believe it's up to the studios to set ratings policy for the MPAA. They determine how they apply ratings independent, really, of even the six board members that sit on the MPAA. I'll inquire. I don't believe, Alan, I'm accurate in that regard, correct?
No. The board doesn't rate movies, the rules for rating, the policies that are implemented in the ratings, the MPAA has told us are determined by the board of directors of the MPAA and then implemented by the MPAA.
Okay. Our general counsel, Alan Braverman, is here, and he's one of our representatives on the MPAA board. Alan, you have a microphone.
It's a separate group than the MPAA board. It's a separate group that administers the ratings in an independent fashion. I think the best way to close out this conversation is to take the point to the group that administers the ratings because there's a dynamic that goes on within that group, the purpose of that rating organization was to set up an entity independent of the studios to apply a series of ratings to the studio productions so the studios weren't engaged themselves in self-rating their own content.
We will make sure that we communicate, at least to the board of the MPAA, that this came up at our shareholders' meeting when you brought it up.
Okay. Well, I'd appreciate an opportunity later for some more detailed discussions because I think the MPAA is kind of talking out of both sides of its mouth, the result is a million kids are going to die unnecessarily.
Well, it's a serious issue. I agree with you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Back to one.
Hi, my name's Andoni. I'm from here in San Francisco, and I just wanted to first start off by saying I am a humongous Disney super fan and a big fan of you, Mr. Iger.
Thank you.
This is actually a very cool experience for me to be speaking to you directly.
Thank you.
I am a Disney shareholder as well, and I'm actually flying to Japan this afternoon. Disney is the most important thing in the world to me, and this is all really fantastic.
Well.
Two really quick questions.
You better get going.
Yeah.
There's a lot to do there.
I have to reschedule my flight.
Yeah
because of this, actually, yeah. Two really quick questions. One, what is your personal favorite Disney theme park ride? Then two, is the third gate in Anaheim still something in the books? Is it something in the pipeline? Is that something you can't speak to, or is it something pushed back because of Shanghai and all the other projects going on with Avatar?
Well, we have the ability as a company, as we've demonstrated, to develop and expand in multiple places around the world all at once. In fact, beyond Shanghai, there's a significant amount of development expansion going on at other locations, as I described earlier, including Avatar as one example. We have plans specifically at Disneyland for expansion that we have not announced. Those plans, at the present time, do not include a third gate. They include expansion of the gates that exist. I don't rule it out forever, but it's not something that we're currently focused on because we have room for expansion, ample opportunity in the existing two gates. Okay?
Great. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
What is your personal favorite?
I'm sorry. I didn't answer the question. Usually, I'm asked what my favorite character is, and I'm always hesitant because I don't want to offend the other characters. Today it would be Olaf, though. All right? I can answer this. Not a big deal. I've always loved Pirates, particularly the original one in Disneyland. It's down for some maintenance, much-needed maintenance, by the way. That said, it's just, I think, a great attraction. It's actually one of the last that was designed and conceived by Walt Disney before he died, and I think it's just a great experience that combines so many different elements that go into a great Disney theme park attraction and experience. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Hello, Mr. Iger. My name is Brad Ledwith. Drove up here from Morgan Hill, California, with my daughter, her first shareholder meeting. She has a question as well, but I'm also a financial advisor and her custodian for her shares for her college fund as well. Sheryl, thank you for being on this board. I am really excited that women like you are leading our country as far as the companies that I get excited about, especially Disney. That being said, Brookie's babysitter was a cast member at Disney for four years while she was at Chapman University, and she just got a job with Maker Studios. She told me about it, and I was so impressed that I figured I'd come to the shareholder meeting and ask you, me being a baby of ESPN, are my kids babies of Maker Studios?
Is it going to be as big as ESPN 20 years from now?
Well, I certainly hope so. Maker Studios was an acquisition of ours, I guess, just about a year ago. For those of you who may not know, Maker Studios is, I think, the number one distributor of short-form video to YouTube. They also have their own destination. I think it's maker.com, and they've done quite well since they've been part of Disney. We aim to not only continue to let Maker continue to be in the business of producing short-form videos, but they're a great place for us to better distribute short-form videos that are made under the various Disney brand umbrellas, including ESPN, ABC News, et cetera. How big Maker Studios become, I can't really predict right now, but we were very enthusiastic when we bought it, and everything we've seen so far has only contributed to even greater enthusiasm about it.
Your daughter lives, like my grandchildren, in a new world where short-form video is extraordinarily popular and a completely different way of enjoying storytelling. We're glad as a company to be part of that wave and hope that there's a lot more in store. Brooke or Brookie, thank you for coming to your first shareholders meeting.
My name is Brooke. I am six. My favorite Disney character is Anna. My question is, who was the first Disney princess to walk on the Disney cruise ship?
Wow.
The reason she's asking is we're going on the Dream on Saturday.
That's good. There'll be some Disney princesses on the Dream on Saturday, Brooke, I promise you that. The first Disney princess. We've had multiple Disney princesses on our ships, right, Tom? Can you answer Brooke? Do you know the first? Was there a first? We had many.
There wasn't actually a first because the first ship had several of the princesses on because we couldn't choose just one. Cinderella was definitely one of the ones on the first cruise.
Thank you.
There you have it. Thank you, Brooke. Yeah.
My name is Richard Murphy. I'm a shareholder from Whittier, California. I wanted to ask you about net neutrality. There's a lot of discussion in Washington right now and activity about new rules, and I would like to hear from you about what the company's decided would be in the best interest of shareholders in terms of those new rules.
Appreciate it. It's a very complicated subject. I'd prefer not to bog this meeting down by getting into the description of it, partially because I'm not sure you'd understand all the nuances. It's very complicated. We have not taken a formal public position on this subject. There are elements to net neutrality and the change in the rules that we don't necessarily agree with, and there are some that we think will be just fine. Either case, we don't believe that the change in the rules will have a material impact on the future of this company. A specific position on it is not something that we've been vocal about, so I'm going to refrain from doing that here. It's a big hot-button issue, particularly in Silicon Valley, and well, again, it's very complicated, so I'm not going to get into more detail, but appreciate it.
Hi. My name is Corey, I'm a shareholder from Arizona. My question today is, what advice would you give a kid like me who would like your job someday?
Were you at our shareholder meeting last year?
Yeah.
You were. Yes, I remember. Well, one thing you can do is keep coming to our shareholder meetings. We'll get to know you better. Well, I'm extremely fortunate, as I mentioned earlier, to have this job, I also mentioned I've been at the company for 40 years. I guess one of the reasons I'm in this job is I've totally loved and appreciated the company I've worked for and the businesses I've worked in. Over the years, I've learned a tremendous amount, which comes from partially the passion and the commitment that I've had. I think the best advice I could possibly give you would be to have patience, work hard, enjoy what you do, continue to pursue opportunities that come your way, and just go for it.
Also for my project at school, I'm working on a PowerPoint for me being at the meeting, I'm just wondering, after the meeting, if I could have your What is it? Autograph.
Sure. Yes. Right backstage, we'll arrange for a quick picture and an autograph.
Okay. Thank you.
My name is Alan Kipnis. I'm a shareholder. I'm a bit concerned and distressed by a trend I noticed where things are referred to as Disney presents or from Disney and not Walt Disney. I'd like to just come and say it all started with Walt.
I'm sorry, what was your specific-
I noticed that on some of the films today, for example, it just says Disney, not Walt Disney.
Oh, yes. Correct. First of all, Disney Animation, we still call Walt Disney Animation. On the Disney films in general, we call them Disney, the name of the studio. We use Disney as the formal brand these days. The name of the company rather remains The Walt Disney Company. We just thought that it was a shorter way to describe or to apply our brand to describe our movies, simple as that, keeping Walt's name on animation since that's where it all started.
Hello, Mr. Iger. Bob, if I may, since we are fellow cast members and I'm from Disneyland Resort. My name is Craig B. Smith. One thing I wanted to talk to you about, first preface it by saying, I'm not one of these guys who's like can't stand to see any exec making multimillion-dollar salaries because to me, you either earned it or you didn't, and you and the others have certainly done that as far as shareholder value. Thank you. Having said that, I think maybe you get a little isolated up there in that position because you and the other executives as well, because there's a lot of people who make this company run every day who are not getting compensated very well.
For instance, my wife has worked at the resort for almost four years in the custodial department, yet she doesn't even make $10 an hour. I would challenge any of the executives for even a month to try to live on that in Southern California. What I would ask of you is, would you consider, because it's a trend that's coming, raising the minimum wage? I promise you, the unions will not object if you did that before negotiations came up. Bring it more in line with what it costs. Just a suggestion, if you wanted to tie it in with how much it costs to go to Disneyland every year, the raise that goes there, I think that would be a very fair compensation. These are real people with real issues, and I hope you would.
If ragbag Walmart can do it, I would hope our corporation can do it. Thank you.
Thank you. I actually think you make a very good point, and in one of the collective bargaining agreements that we reached just this past year with one of the larger unions of the company, we agreed to take their wages up significantly, and we were among the first U.S. companies to commit to a $10 an hour wage starting actually in 2016. After doing that, we've extended that to all hourly employees of the company, so whether they're covered by union or not.
When will this be announced? I'm sorry.
It has been.
It has been.
Already. It was announced.
Okay.
Yes.
I'll look for that. Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Iger. I'm very happy to be here. My name is Gavin Doyle, and I run a Disney fan site online called disneydose.com, as well as I'm a shareholder, and I'm very happy to be at the meeting today. Recently, you did the fantastic appointment of Tom Staggs to COO. Congratulations to him, and that is very well-deserved. I know now you have Bob Chapek is stepping up into the head of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, and I was hoping that you could discuss his new leadership position and also some of the goals of the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts under him in the next few years.
There's not much to describe other than he continues with the responsibilities that Tom had before him and that Jay Rasulo had before Tom. This is a large, extremely complex, but very important business of The Walt Disney Company that fortunately has been growing nicely and will continue to grow. His responsibilities remain similar, if not the same, to those that preceded him, and his goals are also very similar, which is to continue to provide the guests of our Parks and Resorts and our cruise ships and the other businesses that come under Parks and Resorts with great experiences around the world, a great price-to-value relationship, and continue to see that this business, which is a cornerstone of The Walt Disney Company in so many ways, continues to thrive in the United States and markets around the world. As simple as that.
Thank you very much.
It's also one of the best jobs of the company, by the way.
That absolutely is the fact.
Okay. Thank you.
Buenos días, Mr. Chairman. I'm Jane Garcia from the comeback city of Detroit. I want to make sure that I come here today to give you greetings. I also sit on the National Board of SER. My thank you to the Board of Directors, my fellow stockholders. On the issue of Disney and diversity, you were first. I think that that's very important that people understand that you take care of the communities that you serve. You also take care of the military, and that's very close to our heart. I think this is very important that the Board of Directors know that the shareholders may not know.
I have a special shout-out to Monica Lozano, who sits on several committees across this country and gives back to our community very much like the rest of the Board of Directors. That's because your Board of Directors are so diverse. I think that it's very important, hopefully, that you'll plan a meeting to our comeback city, Detroit, in the near future. I've been to Minnesota, Portland, Phoenix. I just think that it's very important that we spread out that kind of revenue to a comeback city like Detroit. My thank you to Lourdes Moya from Florida, who always returns calls. That means so much when you have people that are working in your company that returns the calls, the messages, and gives back to the community. On that behalf, I wanted to make sure that I come personally, as I always do, to give you my thanks.
[Foreign language]
Thank you very much. Extremely nice of you.
My name is Gideon. I am six years old, and I'm a Disney shareholder. Is the name of Disney Hollywood Studios can be renamed?
I didn't understand the second part. Is it what, Gideon?
The name of Disney Hollywood Studios can be changed?
The name of Disney Hollywood Studios-
Yeah
being changed. No. It is being changed? Oh, not announced. We used to be MGM Studios.
Yeah.
We changed to Hollywood Studios, and we're doing some significant work there right now that I guess will result in a name change. Huh? Now we can announce that. It's not been announced, right? No. We'll announce that we're changing the name, but we won't announce what we're changing it to. How's that? We're not changing it to "Rogue One." Thank you, Gideon.
Hi. Matthew from San Jose. I am a shareholder. I couldn't help but notice that ESPN is expanding more and more into college Division I sports. I'm a sports nut, and I love basketball, I love college football. The more I study the system in Division I, the more I become concerned that these colleges are exploiting their athletes. Not all of them, but most. I realize, Disney, this is not your fault. You pay colleges quite a bit of money. At the same time, it doesn't look like the forces right now are sufficient to beat back the lack of integrity at the Division I college level.
That, to me, indicates that we need someone from the outside, like Disney, to come in and assist in helping college athletes get at least maybe a base kind of pay or something that would diminish the influence of boosters and cash payments. If we don't do this, at some point, someone's going to turn on the TV, look at that Oregon State game, or look at that SEC game, or look at March Madness and tell themselves, "These guys are not getting paid any money." When this television gets shut down or shuts off, these guys go back, they may not have had a college education at all, or they may not have graduated. At some point, I think the lack of integrity at the college level will impact your bottom line as you expand more and more into Division I.
What are your thoughts on that?
Well, I think you hit the nail on the head in that we do pay a significant amount of money to colleges, universities, conferences around the country, for the right to carry their sports on ESPN, which we believe we do quite well. It's obviously in our best interest to see to it that the whole area of college sports is conducted with the utmost integrity, in essentially all directions, because the quality of the sport that's played on the field, the quality of the people involved in it, I think reflects on the interest that people would have from an audience perspective watching those sports on ESPN. We have not taken a public position on some of the specifics that you reference. That doesn't mean that we haven't expressed positions with those that we are directly in business with at the university and the college level.
We don't believe, at least from a policy perspective, that it would be appropriate for us to take a position publicly about it. That said, on the journalism side, ESPN covers in, I think, a high quality and rather aggressive way, a variety of different aspects of sports, both at the college and the professional level. In doing so, I think creates perspective and enlightens people on a variety of different issues as it relates to athletes and the conduct of the sports that they participate in. In doing so, I actually think ESPN serves the public good and the good of the sport in that way. In effect, it's, I think, a good use of journalism in essentially striving to keep people and organizations honest in a sense.
Taking a public position about it's obviously in our best interest for sports to be played under the highest quality circumstances and however you look at it. I don't think we'll be taking a public position about things that you cited.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Iger. My name is Joel Matrice. I'm from Grand Blanc, Michigan, and a shareholder. My question is more related to the financial end right now, the strong dollar and the impact. I know that Disney has a presence around the world, so there's a lot of natural hedging, you might say, in operations and expenses. What do you foresee over the short-term and the long-term impact to the financial earning power of Disney with the strengthening of the dollar?
Well, we won't get too specific about this. From time to time during our earnings calls, we either address this issue proactively or we respond to questions that come from the investor community on this subject because of the exposure that Disney has to the fluctuations in value of the dollar against foreign currencies. We have seen some, what I'll call headwinds, in the last 12-18 months, certainly, as the dollar has strengthened against certain foreign currencies. The two, I think that would be most obvious in terms of the size of our business would be the JPY in Japan and the EUR in Europe, where essentially, our business in those territories is affected to some extent.
As you mentioned, we do, from time to time, hedge currencies done through our treasury department, and that protects us somewhat on this, but doesn't guarantee that protection lasts forever, particularly in a relatively volatile circumstance. There's not much more I can say about it other than this is something that we're extremely mindful about, that we speak about publicly from time to time, but I don't have anything to update you on. The other thing that obviously is something that we track is that as the dollar gets stronger against certain currencies, it can be more expensive to travel to the United States. That sometimes has had an impact on visitation to the U.S. and on tourism, although I don't think we've seen in the recent six months or so anything profound in this regard. Our theme parks seem to be thriving.
I think there was probably some drop off of international travel to the United States this past year, particularly from Europe. That's been filled in by some growth in some other markets. Certainly, as the U.S. dollar strengthens against currencies, which affects how expensive it is to travel here, it's something that we track very carefully.
Just a follow-up question. Does it affect your future production plans of feature films or locations or things like that you would consider?
Not really, no. We tend to take a very long-term view on this. There's a cyclicality to basically currency fluctuation. I'm not aware that we've made any changes in our plans in terms of where we're developing businesses or where we're making movies based on currency. We take advantage of certain subsidies that are made available to us as territories around the world seek to attract movie and television production to create jobs in their locale, and we've certainly taken advantage of that. We haven't made any vastly different plans as it relates to production or investment just because of currency.
Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to take two more questions.
Hi, Mr. Chairman. I'm Gary Patton from the Bay Area, and I'm a shareholder. I want to thank you for coming to San Francisco. I was in Portland last year, did a day trip to go up, and I rode the Caltrain for the first time, been here five years, to come see you. I was also present with another shareholder in the Apple meeting, and it was wonderful seeing you there. I've been telling everybody, "I'm going to be in your presence two times this week." I suggested last year that if we squirt you with acetone, I'm sure you'd dissolve. I didn't mean that with any disrespect. I was eight years in Anaheim, Orange County, and my first meeting ever to attend was your first as CEO.
I want to reiterate how much I appreciate and to support everything else the others have said in complimenting you and the board and all the cast members, because I've got to be really good friends with some, and one retired two years ago with 34 years service. Thank you so much for putting your heart and soul into this company. I think you are in bringing John to this meeting. It seems like you can't think anything can get better, but it does. I have a little eight-year-old friend that I've known since she was two, and last Friday when I said, "Stephanie, 'Cinderella' is coming out next week." She started mimicking me, and I don't want to take too long, but I think this is pretty important. She was mimicking me when I was talking to her, teasing me.
I said, "We've got a date next Friday." She said, "We've got a date next Friday." Her mom said, "No, you can't go Friday, but you can go Saturday morning." I said, "Well, 10:30 A.M. Saturday morning or 1:10 P.M. Saturday afternoon." She said, "No, I can't go at 10:30 A.M. because I'll sleep till 11:00 A.M." We saw "Frozen" five times. We'd miss the sing-along because her mom wouldn't let her go during the time of that. It was very solemn. She would beeline to the back of the theater, and we made it the sing-along. I saw "Maleficent" 12 times on the big screen and once on a DVD. Every time I see that movie, there are a few scenes in there that hit so deep as if I saw it for the first time. Those comments you made last year were true.
I apologize for taking so much time.
I get it.
There's one question I'd like there, a suggestion I'd like to make. When I was down there during the homecoming, the park shut down for a day, and when it opened up, there was an article in the paper. A student from Long Beach State saw on the news before Disneyland opened up in 1955. He got on his motorcycle, and he rode up and slept by the ticket booth and was the first person to walk through Disneyland when it opened. He was not invited back, and he lived in Monticello, Utah 10 years ago. Is it possible, is the Diamond Celebration going to have a day closed, and is it going to be like it was with the homecoming?
Well, we're going to have a huge celebration in May, as I mentioned, for the Diamond or the 60th anniversary. There'll be a big event as we did at the 50th at Disneyland. If he is interested in going, there are ways that he can do that by contacting us if he's got proof, not that I'm suspicious at all that he wasn't there, but that he was there on day one. We would want him to be with us when we celebrate an anniversary like this. There'll be ample opportunity throughout the celebration for people that are special to Disneyland to enjoy it in pretty unique ways.
Well, I apologize for not keeping the article.
All right. Well.
Thank you.
Thank you. If you can connect with Jane.
We will see Cinderella.
Okay
as many times as.
Thank you
Thank you for letting me-
Thank you. Thanks for your support and your business. Okay, last question.
Hello, Mr. Iger, Bob. My name is Richard Leboff, and I'm a shareholder from Glendale, California. I am very pleased to, in fact, see that Glendale has had a continuing presence for Disney in that Disney Imagineering, of course, is located there now and has added to the economy of Glendale. I am also, by the way, a distant cousin of yours with your grandmother, your maternal grandmother, Eva Iger, having been a first cousin of my maternal grandmother. I have tried to communicate with you over the years about that. I am here today at my first Disney shareholder meeting, and my question really is about the Disney Foundation and how much is awarded by the Disney Foundation to various communities around the country or the world.
I recognize, of course, that Disney, I'm sure, is called upon by many people throughout our country and elsewhere for funds. That has, in fact, been the reason I've tried to communicate with you over the years is to get some fundraising money for organizations I've been involved with. I've been told recently that the Disney Foundation does make significant contributions to organizations, and I was just curious about what approximately is given.
Do I call you cousin in responding?
You're very welcome to do so.
First of all, thank you. I'm now curious specifically how we're related. My paternal grandmother died probably about 15 years ago at 99 years old, and she knew that I had worked for ABC, and she used to go to sleep with her television on ABC Network because she thought it would be good for my career. By the way, I thought that was endearing. To lift the ratings because she left it on that channel. We are, I think, great corporate citizens, not just of the world, and the U.S., but the state of California, and specifically the environs around where we do the most business in California, notably Anaheim, Los Angeles, Burbank, and Glendale.
There are ways, if you have specifics in mind in terms of what you would like us to consider supporting, there are certainly ways that you can communicate that by sending it directly to my office. I'll make sure now that there's some relationship. Your name is Mr. Leboff?
Leboff. Right.
Your first name was Alan?
Richard.
I'm sorry, Richard. I'll make sure that I see it and that I get it to the right people to consider it.
Thank you.
I don't know why you haven't been able to reach me before, but it's no excuse. I get a lot of correspondence. Saying it's just been lost in the mail wouldn't quite work.
Well.
I'll make sure to look out for it at my Burbank office.
Right. I once, in fact, sent you a copy of a picture from my bar mitzvah that had your grandmother in the picture.
I didn't respond?
You didn't respond.
It probably didn't get to me. I don't remember getting it.
I have a copy of the picture.
Okay
that I'll leave with someone today.
Why don't you meet me somewhere here, and I'd love to see it and talk to you. All right?
Thank you.
Okay. That's fun. Not only a shareholders meeting, it's an Iger family reunion. This is good. Thank you very much for your support, for your attendance, for your commitment and your interest in The Walt Disney Company. We truly appreciate it. On behalf of myself and my fellow executives, and cast members who are here, and the board of directors, I thank you very much, and here's to another great year. Thanks.