Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome. It's a great pleasure for the Board and all the management of Walt Disney to be able to welcome you to the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Walt Disney Company. We're delighted to be with you here at this incredible new facility in San Antonio. It is, I understand, the largest Marriott that exists anywhere in the world. And having tried to find my way here yesterday, I'm prepared to believe it, almost need a GPS to get around here.
Board, but it's great for you to be here. I know some of you come from different parts of Texas and the surrounding area and we're grateful that you took the time to do that and we hope you'll enjoy the meeting. As you well know, last year was an extremely challenging one for the global economy. Very few companies were immune from the pressures brought about by high unemployment, tight credit and weak consumer spending. I'm very glad to be able to tell you that Disney's management team under the leadership of Bob Iger has done a very good job of steering through these challenges.
The team has maintained its strategic focus. It acted decisively as it should to limit the short term impact of the economic downturn on the company, but it didn't forget the importance of providing the very best possible experience, every child and every guest to invest and to go beyond that to invest for the long term in developing new and exciting entertainment and experiences of the kind that have made Disney so special to so many people all around the world. As your Chairman, I've had the opportunity to get to know more of the company's employees and cast members during the last year. I visited our Disney operations in Europe and a rapidly developing business in Russia. I also have the great pleasure of enjoying a Disney cruise with my family, which I hope a good number of you have had.
On every one of these trips wherever I've been, any part of this company, I've been most impressed by how the diverse and above all e. L. F. Passionate employees, passionate cast members and difference they are making and are dedicated to making in each and every person they meet. It really is rare to find individuals who care so much about what they're doing.
I can also tell you that having been on several boards during my career this Board, this company, your company is top notch. It's got an unusually good relationship with the management and it is of course working to deliver long term value to you, our shareholders, and what we all recognize is a very fast moving and highly competitive global economy. We're all especially excited about the nomination of Sheryl Sandberg to the Board. Farrell as the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook. And she is now a new independent director of ours and you can see her picture on the screen.
Cher is an outstanding executive. She brings to the table great expertise, of course, in the online world, but beyond that a great deal of international experience a deep understanding of consumer behavior of all kinds. We are very much looking forward to her joining the Board. I'd like to go on now to introduce you to the other members of your Board of Directors with whom I am very proud to serve. Susan Arnold, she's just retired Vice Chairman of the Procter and Gamble Company.
She's also President of all the global business units of Procter and Gamble. John Bryson is Senior Advisor to Colberg Travis Robertson Company and he's the retired Chairman, President and CEO of Edison International, one of the country's leading energy providers. John Chen is Chairman, CEO and President of Slibase, a software development company. Judy Yesterin is CEO of JLABS, a company focused on furthering innovation in business, government and nonprofit organizations. Bob Ager is of course our President and CEO.
Steve Jobs is CEO of Apple and the former Chairman of Pixar pictures. You'll be seeing some of their film in a minute. Brett Langhammer is Chairman, Global Affairs of ST Louder. Alan Lewis is President and CEO of Potbelly Sandwich Works. Monica Lozano is Publisher and CEO of La Opinion, that's the largest Spanish language daily newspaper in the United States.
Bob Mattschlott is a private equity investor. His former Vice Chairman and CEO of the Sequium Company. And finally, Oren Smith. Oren is the former President and CEO of Starbucks, as you may have noted, has a great presence in this building. I'd like to ask the directors who are here, if they would and please be recognized.
Would you join me in recognizing them, please?
Thank you.
Thank you very much. You're going to be hearing in a few minutes from Bob Iger. Walt. First, we'd like to give you a taste of the present and a glimpse into the future of the incredibly wide ranging and high quality entertainment experiences created by the Walt Disney Company. You'll enjoy this.
Ladies and gentlemen, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger.
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, and good morning. We're delighted to be here in Texas Hill Country and to share with you some of the exciting things going on at The Walt Disney Company as you just saw in that video. We're lucky to be in the business of creating great entertainment and memorable experiences for millions of people around the world and incredibly privileged to be stewards of some of the world's best known and most loved brands, Disney, Pixar, ABC, ESPN and now Marvel. Behind these brands stand our cast members and employees Board, whose job it is to create, to innovate and to grow our businesses. And I'm very proud of what we accomplished and are always coming up with new and innovative ways to reach the consumer and make their experience even better.
Last year was a really challenging one for the company, but in many ways it was a positive one as well. We took some big steps to strengthen our ability to create great original branded content and experiences and to deliver them to more people in more places. Notably, we acquired Marvel Entertainment, whose portfolio of globally known stories and characters talented creative people provide the company with new opportunities to create great talent to create great content, sorry. Another big step toward future growth came last November when we received the initial go ahead from China's government that will help share Disney stories and characters with countless millions more people in that part of the world. Last year, we also confronted a severe economic downturn, which badly shook consumer confidence and posed additional challenges to all of our businesses.
In the creation of high quality branded content, to use innovative new technology to make that content even better and to make it more accessible to consumers in more ways and to make Disney an even more prominent and successful provider of entertainment globally in the future. We're confident this strategy is the right one for delivering the best long term returns to you, our shareholders. Attention to quality is at the heart of everything we do at Disney, and I'm pleased that just 3 days ago, UP won the Academy Award for Best Animated Picture and also for Best Original Musical Score. It's a tribute to Pete Docter, the Director and the great creative team at Pixar who've consistently achieved great artistic and box office success. And audiences also embrace The Princess and the Frog, our other best animated nominee And Tiana has already become one of our most popular princesses.
Disney's Alice in Wonderland, which just posted the Biggest ever opening weekend for a 3 d movie is another example of how we bring together great storytelling, memorable characters and artistic excellence. The reimagining of this beloved story has unleashed great creativity across the company From the movie itself to iPhone apps, cool consumer products and really fun video games. As you can imagine, there's incredible excitement about our next animated film, Toy Story 3, as our creative teams have been inspired not only by the return of characters like Woody, Buzz, Jesse, but also by their funny and touching new adventures as Andy heads off to college. And we're really pleased to offer you an exclusive first look at this highly anticipated film as our old friends having left Andy's room to get settled into their new surroundings at a daycare center. Enjoy.
Toy Story is opening at a theater near you in 3 d on June 18th. I'm sure you're going to enjoy it. We would have shown you more, but we have other business this morning. Although that might have been more fun. It's also a great example of a creative pipeline at the company that's looking really good.
Before we get into that, I'd like to talk a little bit more about our fiscal 2,009 performance, which while it wasn't as strong as we would have liked, it underscored the competitive and economic advantage conferred by our brands, our special bond with consumers and the talents of our great employees. For the year, our revenues, operating income and earnings per share fell from the record levels set in fiscal 2,008, ending a 5 year streak of consecutive increases in earnings per share. Net income for the year was down by 25% to $3,300,000,000 largely as a result of the weak global economy and a poorly performing slate of live action movies. Despite the earnings decrease and our continued substantial investment in new business opportunities, we paid a cash dividend of $0.35 a share, the same as in 2,008. It was the 54th consecutive year in which we paid a dividend.
Last year was more a period of adaptation than growth, but it also reaffirmed the importance of investing aggressively for the future in high quality original branded content and experiences. Ultimately, that's the best way to assure Disney's prosperity. And with that in mind, we've committed our capital and creative resources to some very exciting projects in our movie studios, our media networks Parks and Resorts. A high quality Disney, Pixar or Marvel film can be of great value to the company over many years we have several coming up, including Prince of Persia, Sorcerer's Apprentice and Iron Man 2, which is the 1st Marvel film to be released since we completed that acquisition.
Here's a
look at the Iron Man 2 trailer, the movie is coming to a theater near you on May 7. Tron is our December action release and that's looking very promising as well in the TV series, the video game and other projects under development, and this could deliver real value to the company over the long run. We're also about to start production on Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides with Johnny Depp in a really funny and fast moving new adventure that reminds me of the original Pirates film and that hit theaters in May of 2011. On the animation side, Tangled, a clever musical retelling of the Rapunzel tale, they've used this Thanksgiving, while the next chapter of Cars, a very strong franchise for the company, will arrive in theaters in June of 2011. In addition to our own projects, we reached agreement to distribute the live action films made by Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks SKG.
Turning to Parks and Resorts, we're investing in making the guest experience even more enjoyable as well as increasing the scope of our attractions and our destinations. Work is underway on significant expansion projects at Hong Kong Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom at Disney World as well as our Aulani Resort in Hawaii, which will open up late next year. This summer, our expansion and enhancement of Disney's California Adventure will continue with the rollout of an amazing new experience called World of Color. Well, next January, the Disney Dream, the first of our 2 new cruise ships, sets sail on its maiden voyage, and that's quite a ship. In our media networks, we're focusing on creating content that's universal in appeal and adaptable to different technology platforms.
At ABC, fan favorites like the final season of Lost, Dancing With the Stars, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Modern Family Disney Channel, which is one of our best brand ambassadors and an important launching pad for new company talent, also continues to expand internationally. And the Disney Channel has become a huge value generator for the company. ESPN is extremely important to our bottom line, an incredibly valuable brand and is the number one destination for sports fans in the United States. Last year, ESPN had its highest ratings ever and is continuing to pioneer the use of technology purchase of Premier League Television rights in the U. K.
And at the same time deepened its relationship with U. S. Fans by setting up local online portals cities including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and right here in Texas and Dallas. While the quality of our products and the integrity of our people are paramount, more and more reputation is an important business driver for the company. And with that in mind, we know our consumers, our employees and our shareholders expect us to act in the most responsible ways.
We put important projects and processes in place to do just that, primarily in the direction of improving the environment. Our goal is to reduce our impact on the environment while also using our great media reach to teach and inspire young and old alike to care for the planet that we all share. Through Disney's Friends for Change, kids have made more than 1,500,000 pledges an environmental learning competition for 4th to 6th graders. Separately, in just over 2 months, 1,000,000 guests signed up to take part Give a Day, Get a Disney Day program at our parks and resorts, contributing significantly to a rise in community volunteerism across the country we've also been doing more to communicate with you directly. If you aren't one of the millions of Disney or Disney fans on Facebook or YouTube, you're You're missing out on some great content and information from around the company.
And those of you who attended last year's inaugural expo of D23, our new official fan club know how fantastic it was to get an inside look at some amazing new technologies and projects and and also to enjoy some exclusive screenings and events. We're planning an even bigger and better D23 Expo in Anaheim, August 19 to 21, 2011. And of course, we hope to see all of you there. A question that's frequently come up at our annual meetings is when will you offer a single annual pass for multiple parks. And I'm happy to announce today that starting tomorrow, you'll be able to the new premier passport at Disneyland Resort and at Walt Disney World.
This premium pass covers all of our U. S. Parks, has no blackout date, then it will be mailed to all of you who currently own dual or who are currently dual pass holders. And finally, I want to say just a few words about a true Disney legend, Roy Disney, who for over 56 years was an executive of our company and also served as a member of our Board of Directors. Right until he passed away, Roy was dedicated to Disney, particularly to the art of animation.
He fought valiantly to save feature animation in the '80s when its future wasn't particularly bright. And his introduction to us of Pixar helped sustain animation as a vital force of the company. Roy's enthusiasm and passion for Disney were infectious and his appreciation for our past and his keen interest in our future will be sorely missed. Now here with us today in the audience, we have Roy Sun, Roy, Patrick Disney. Roy, if you don't mind standing up, taking a balance.
Thank you for being with us, Roy. And now before I turn the stage back over to John Pepper to conduct the business portion of the meeting, I thought I'd provide you just one more treat. Every year is a big year in Texas sports. Your enthusiasm for your teams is infectious and our friends at ESPN have put together some of the finest moments in Texas Boards from last year. So enjoy this video and thank you, San Antonio.
Well, hello again.
We knew you'd like that. Hearing while you
were watching that Bob Iger and I were in the back debating whether we ought to allow you to vote on whether to to proceed with the business part of the meeting or show you the rest of Toy Story 3. We both concluded we wouldn't like the results.
So so
at this point, we will turn to the formal business before the meeting. And I want to first cover a few administrative matters. Today's meeting has been duly called and is being conducted in conformity with the laws of Delaware and the company's charter and bylaws. The notice of the meeting and proxy materials describing the meeting's business have been duly sent or made available to all the company shareholders. You have voted or by any chance you want to change your vote, you may do so at any point prior to the closing of the polls.
Balance for that purpose are available at the registration tables just outside the door she came in through. Copies of the rules for the meeting have been made available at the same location. I would like to ask for all of your cooperation in respecting the rules, including speaking time limits and assisting us in the orderly conduct of the business. The company has retained Broadridge Investor Communications Solutions as the Inspector of election for this meeting. We've got the following items on the agenda today.
First, the election of 13 directors that are named in the proxy statement, ratification of the appointment of our registered public accountants, approval of an amendment to the amended the 2,005 stock incentive plan, approval of 4 amendments to our restated certificate of incorporation, then consideration of 2 shareholder proposals if presented, one of those being on advisory shareholder votes on executive compensation in 1 on XK non discrimination policy. We're going to take those matters up in the order that they are presented in the proxy statement. After we considered all those items, the polls will close and we'll hear a preliminary report from the Inspector of Election. The business portion of the meeting will then conclude. At the end of the business portion, we'll proceed with a general question and answer period.
Bob Bob will come back up and a couple of other folks I'll introduce you to then. I would now like to introduce our Inspector of Election, Peter Daskovich, a representative of Broadridge and ask him to report on the number of outstanding shares present today in voting.
Thank you. My name is Peter Dziskovich, a representative of Broadridge Investor Communications Services Solutions, acting here today's Inspector of Election for this meeting. As of the close of business on January 11, 2010, the record date for this meeting, There were 1,935,000,009195 shares of common stock outstanding, each of which is entitled to one vote. There are at least 1,638,000,000,004 7,989 shares of common stock represented by proxy at this meeting, representing at least 84.6% the total number of shares entitled to both.
Thank you very much. Based on the report that we've just heard, I rule that the quorum is present and that the meeting is qualified to proceed with the business before us. The first proposal that we'll take up is the election of 13 members, the Board of Directors. Each of these directors will hold office for a term of 1 year. Those nominated for election at the meeting are Susan Arnold, John Bryson, John Chen, Judy Estrin, Bob Iger, Steve Jobs, Fred Langhammer, Alan Lewis, Monica Luzano, Bob Machalot, myself, Sheryl Sandberg and Oren Smith.
As you all know, the Board has recommended a vote for the election of all the nominees. Is there any discussion of this item? If not, thank you. And we'll proceed to the next item of business, which is the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's independent registered accountants for the current fiscal year that being recommended by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. Services provided by PwC 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.
Brian Cullinan, a representative of PwC is here today to respond to any questions you might have. The Board has recommended a vote for the ratification of the appointment of PwC as the company's independent registered accountants for fiscal 2010. There'll be any discussion of this item. Thank you. And we'll go on to the next item of business, that being the approval of the amended and restated 2,005 stock incentive plan.
We're proposing to amend the plan here to increase the number of shares available for issuance under the plan by 42,000,000 shares from 136,000,000 to 178,000,000 shares. The purpose of this amendment is simply to secure adequate shares to fund expected awards the company's long term incentive program through the next annual award in January next year. Which is an approval of an amendment to our restated certificate of incorporation to reduce from 4 5ths of outstanding shares to 2 outstanding shares, that's 4 5th to 2 thirds of outstanding shares, the shareholder vote required to approve certain business combinations with interested persons and to similarly reduce the vote required to approve amendments to this provision in the restated certificate of incorporation. After reviewing practices at other companies and the voting standards provided in the Delaware General Corporation Law, the Board has concluded that lowering the voting threshold from 4 5ths to 2 thirds of outstanding shares provides the right balance for achieving appropriate protection shareholder interests. We therefore proposed this amendment to the certificate of incorporation.
Would there be any discussion of this item? Okay. Thank you. The next item of business is a similar amendment to our certificate of incorporation in this one to reduce from 2 thirds of outstanding shares to a majority of outstanding shares, the the shareholder vote required to approve amendments to the company's bylaws. Again, as before, we're proposing this change as a result the review of evolving practices and corporate governance noted earlier.
Based on our review of practices at other companies and the underlying governance considerations. We believe that a voting threshold of a majority of outstanding shares for bylaw amendments those strike the right balance between majority rights and the protection of minority shareholders. Any discussion of this item? To eliminate the provisions relating to tracking stock. Back in 1999, we issued tracking stock in connection with an acquisition that we completed at that time.
In 2001, we converted all the shares of the tracking stock into regular shares of Disney common stock. The provisions relating to the tracking stock or therefore obsolete and they can be removed. And this proposed amendment is simply a technical amendment to remove that Oli language and the Board recommends a vote for this proposal. Any discussion here? The next item of business is an amendment of our restated certificate of incorporation to eliminate provisions that were created to achieve a transition from a time when 1 third of your directors were elected each year to our current practice, which sees every director being elected for a 1 year term.
That transition is long since complete and those terms are therefore obsolete and can be taken out. Like the amendment we just discussed, this is a purely O'Thinkle amendment that simply removes the obsolete language and the Board recommends a vote for this proposal. Would there be any discussion here? Thank you. I will now go on to proceed the consideration of the 2 shareholder proposals.
The full text of each of these proposals is set forth in the proxy statement. The first is a proposal submitted by Walden Asset Management. And I understand that Sister Susan Micah, a representative of the shareholder is here to present this proposal. And I would like to invite Sister to do so. I would like to ask if you would limit your presentation Sister to 5 minutes at most.
Thank you.
Good morning, John. Welcome to San Antonio. Those of us in San Antonio had trouble finding the place this morning too. So My name is Mr. Susan Mika, and I am here on the proxy of Walden Asset Management.
And it is the responsible investment division Boston Trust and Management Company, and it holds approximately 119,000 shares of Walt Disney. I also serve as the Executive Director of a group of religious investors here in Texas Called the socially responsible investment coalition and a number of us have been active sponsors of this resolution as well. I'm pleased to move the shareholder resolution, it's on Page 74, asking our company to give shareholders a say on page In the form of an advisory vote to ratify the Board compensation report. As everyone here is well aware, this Controversy around executive pay has reached a new level of intensity in the last 2 years. Press coverage on this issue has significantly increased a bill requiring companies to hold an advisory vote passed the House of Representatives and is before a Senate committee.
Board compensation committees are carefully scrutinizing their compensation practices and policies as never before. And of course, proxy statements feature significantly increased disclosure on executive compensation. Over 55 companies have already agreed to implement this say on pay starting either this year or in 2011. And the SEC Securities and Exchange Commission has formal guidelines for companies using TARP funds mandating them to implement an advisory vote. So in this sense, our discussion has changed dramatically even from last year.
This resolution was presented to close to 100 companies in 2,00970 in 2010 And we're sponsored by many different investors ranging from state and city pension funds like CalPERS in California all the way to the state of Connecticut from religious investors like ourselves and foundations to trade union pension funds. In 2,009, the average vote for this resolution was 46% and in over 25 company votes were over 50%. Last year, this resolution received a 42% here at Disney, a very strong showing indicating investor desire for this reform. We believe the resolution we're voting on today is a fair and reasonable reform to address the controversy surrounding executive pay. It would institutionalize a formal annual method of communication for investors To give Board feedback on compensation reports and it would complement other forms of communication with investors.
We believe the current system of paying CEOs and top management in the United States is in serious need of reform, And we're all aware of the growing public outrage about executive pay by us, the average citizen. We believe good governance usually enhances shareholder value by creating accountability to your owners. The vote today will demonstrate that investors are not afraid of having an advisory vote, but actually welcome it. Allowing an advisory vote would encourage our company to interact with its share owners and to receive their feedback. And we urge you not to be afraid to listen to us, your shareholders.
You can show your commitment to shareholder accountability By implementing this advisory vote reform, we encourage all shareholders to vote for this proposal. We thank you for your attention today.
Thank
you
very much, Mr. For a very thoughtful statement. And as you indicated, this was before us last year and it received the votes you indicated, not a majority, but a significant amount. And the subject has and will continue to receive very, very close attention by the Board and by the management. While respecting your view and I can see it's a deeply researched and felt, we really do believe that the proposed advisory would be in the best interest of the shareholders of Disney at this time.
The benefits of such an advisory vote, we do not believe can be generalized. And we believe having considered it as carefully as we can, that an assessment made for Disney, this point in time sees the balance tipping against the advisory vote and that an advisory vote therefore should not be implemented at this time. Well, we set our reasons out for this in some detail in the proxy and I won't go through that at great length, but I do feel it appropriate to mention a few key points. First of all, the Board has consulted with shareholders in designing its compensation system and is already willing and does maintain dialogue with shareholders on these matters. That's important.
2nd and very importantly, we've adopted a rigorous pay for performance structure and the compensation committee regularly reviews the relationship between performance and compensation. Finally,
it is
our view that a simple up or down advisory vote provides little information about the driving force behind the vote. We we believe an advisory vote on compensation would confound rather than add clarity with respect to the difficult and nuanced judgments an underlying executive compensation decisions at Disney. For these reasons that the Board of Directors has recommended a vote against this proposal, If not, I'll move on. Again, thank you, Sister, for your comments. And this is the final item on the agenda, which is a proposal from Bobby Strobar.
I understand that Greg Quinlan is here to present the proposal on behalf of Ms. Stroborn. I'd like to invite you to do so, sir. And again, if you keep your presentation to 5 minutes or less, I would appreciate it.
I'd be happy to keep it
to 5 minutes or less. And like you, it was a hard time finding this place, not even on the GPS. My name is Rick Quinlan. I'm a member of Parents and Friends of Ex Gays Engage known as SpeedBox. Tea Box is a non profit charity that supports families and the ex gay community and I myself am a former homosexual.
I ask you, The Walt Disney Company, to look at The Walt Disney Company Resolution Number 2, which explicitly prohibits discrimination based on ex gay status in Disney's sexual orientation policy and diversity training for its employees. Each year, men and women with unwanted same sex attractions respect that individual right of self determination. Consequently, ex gays like me are ridiculed and discriminated against simply because they dare to exist. The Walt Disney Company implements mandatory diversity training for employees to remain positive because they are not protected by diversity policies and are subject to open disapproval by others in the workplace. Employees who support the ex gay community are also not welcome to express their views.
Disney already includes transgenders, lesbians, homosexuals and bisexuals in its diversity programs and sexual orientation training session. Adding ex gays will cost Disney nothing to implement and provide true diversity and respect in the workplace. In response to this resolution, asking for inclusion and diversity for the ex gay community, Darryl Hirschhaft, Director of Workplace Project at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, was quoted by Daily Finance as saying that this resolution is wrong headed. The Human Rights Campaign known as HRC is the nation's largest gay rights organization advocating for gay equality. But how can HRC demand gay equality when they it refuses to extend equality to others?
HRC demands that gays and transgenders be included in diversity policies, but belittles ex gays who ask for the same rights the gays and transgenders currently enjoy. HRC insists that men can change their gender to become the opposite sex, Every year, the HRC Foundation issues a corporate equality index, which rates American companies on their equal treatment of gays, bisexuals and transgenders. HRC gave Disney a 100 rating, its highest score. HRC rated Disney on its corporate nondiscrimination policy, diversity training, benefits, employee resource group and diversity council, advertising the gays, sponsorship of gay community events or organizations and for not engaging in action that would undermine gay and transgender equality. But it is a conflict of interest for any corporation in this country to donate money or other form of support to HRC, which then rates those same corporations on corporate equality.
This week HRC is celebrating the 1st gay marriages in Washington DC, our nation's capital. As gay couples in DC lined up to apply for marriage licenses, they wore HRC victory buttons. They were in one victory they won one victory in Washington DC that HRC did that did not celebrate. Discrimination under the D. C.
Human Rights Act. Finally, ex gays are recognized as a protected class. P Fox calls on HRC to issue statements condemning hatred and discrimination against the ex gay community and to endorse this Disney diversity resolution. Human rights demand no less and I'm asking for nothing less than to be recognized as a human being for my right of self determination. Diversity.
Disney, your Corporate Equality Index score is 0 for XKs and their supporters. And on behalf of the ex gay community, I ask you to support this resolution and treat former homosexuals with the same respect and benefits that you give gays and transgenders. And as I close my remarks, I did bring a few brochures about tolerance for the XK community should anyone want them. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Suhir. Thank you very much. The Board does not believe that it's appropriate for the company to make the changes in our policies that you've just heard requested. I want to assure you that the company has non discrimination and anti harassment policies what we commit ourselves to that covers every conceivable variation in what people do, just to read from the proxy you have here. We broadly prohibit discrimination and harassment based on race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, covered veteran status, mental or physical disability, pregnancy or any other basis prohibited by state or federal law.
This is the policy that we stand on. We believe making this distinction here is not necessary in terms of doing the right thing for individuals and would lead us into complexity on so many other nuances that could come in. This is not a practical or appropriate thing to do. For that reason, we recommend before we get this proposal. Is there any further discussion on this item?
Holes are now going to close and I'd ask the Inspector of Election to give us his report based on proxies that were received by the opening of the polls at today's meeting. Those balance and proxies handed in during the meeting will be tabulated by the inspector and included in the final tally, which will be reflected in the minutes of the meeting and in a report that we'll file with the SEC during the next week. Inspector, may we have your preliminary report, please?
Right of 1, the election of directors, we have received proxies or votes for a total of at least 1,278,000,000, 58,829 shares for each director. All votes represented at least 90% of the votes cast for each director. For item 2, ratification of the appointment of Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP. We have received proxies or votes for a total of 1,619,083,630 shares on this proposal, votes in favor of the proposal representing approximately 98.8 percent of the votes represented at the meeting and entitled
to vote on this proposal.
For item 3, approval of an amendment to the company's amended and restated 2,005 stock incentive plan. We have received proxies for 874,634,348 shares voting in favor of the amendment representing approximately 61.5 percent of the shares represented at the meeting and entitled to both. The holders of 538,459,021 shares have voted against the amendment. The holders of 5,505,851 shares have abstained. Item 4, approval of amendment to the restated certificate of incorporation relating to interested persons transaction person transactions, We have received proxies for 1,602,827,648 shares voting to approve representing approximately 97.8% of the shares outstanding on the record date.
128,521 shares have abstained. Item 5, approval of an amendment the restated certificate of incorporation relating to by law amendment, we have received proxies for 1,612,150 1270 shares holding to approve, representing approximately 98.4% of the shares outstanding on the record date. The holders of 19,658,186 shares have voted against approval. The holders of 6,600 55,433 shares have abstained. For item 6, approval of an amendment to the restated certificate of incorporation Relating to tracking stock provisions, we have received proxies for 1,617,924,466 shares Voting to approve, representing approximately 98.7% of the shares outstanding on the record date.
The holders of 14,159,434 shares have voted against the approval. The holders of 6,383,009 shares have abstained. For item 7, approval of an amendment to Certificate of Incorporation relating to classified Board transition provisions. We have received proxies for 1,615,000,000
539,135
shares voting to approve, representing approximately 98.1 shares outstanding on the record date. The holders of 16,026,855 shares are voted against the Board. The holders of 6,901,900 shares have abstained. For item 8, approval of a shareholder proposal relating to shareholder advisory, votes on executive compensation, we have received proxies for 673,000,000 284,472 shares voting in favor of the proposal, representing approximately 47 point 5% of the shares represented at the meeting entitled to both. The holders of 638,000,000, 23,271 shares have voted against the proposal and holders of 107,291,445 shares have abstained.
For item 9, approval of a shareholder proposal relating to XK nondiscrimination policy, We have received proxies for 24,154,218 shares voting in favor of the proposal, representing approximately 1.7 percent of the shares represented at the meeting and entitled to vote. The holders of 1,178,000,000,000 38,028 shares have voted against the proposal and the holders of 216,409,000 562 shares have abstained. 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 the nominees for election to the Board have been duly elected, that the appointment of PricewaterhouseCooper has been duly ratified, that the amendment to the amended and restated 2,005 stock incentive plan is approved, each of the amendments to the certificate of incorporation is approved and that none of the shareholder proposals is approved. That concludes the business portion of the meeting. This point, I would like to ask Bob to rejoin me up here. Accompanying him will be Jay Rasulo.
Jay is our newly appointed Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the company and also Alan Braverman. Alan is the Senior Executive Vice President. The council and he is also Secretary of the company. And in doing that, we are opening the floor to your questions. If you'd like to ask a question, please proceed one of the microphones that you can see with these white signs here.
When you're recognized, please state your name. Please tell us where you're from and then proceed with your questions. I would like to ask that you limit your question to no more than 2 minutes in order to give all the shareholders an opportunity to be heard or ask questions on whatever they want to and also that you're not raised or repeat topics that have already been raised. I'd also like to ask that speakers refrain from raising purely personal matters since it's really not fair to make everybody sit through matters of sheer personal concern. So with that, we'll go ahead and I see someone here at mic number 1.
So please your question.
Good afternoon, everybody. My name is George Iguanste. I'm a shareholder and I'm very, very proud to say I've been at Disney Castle for over 12 years at Disneyland Hotel. I'm a bellman there. And before anything, I'd like to say that working for Disney, it's not just a job and I can testify to that.
It's every day that I go into work, It's an opportunity for me to create not a great vacation for anybody that stays at the Disneyland Hotel, but I create, along with other cast members, unforgettable and magical vacations for which they come back over and over again, not just once a year we have families that show up 2, 3, 4, 5 times a year. They know it's my name and we know them by name. That's something that sends me back to my family with a huge, huge smile on my face. And I just really wanted to point that out. Every day, we are empowered to create the magic that only Disney No other company can.
That I wouldn't change for anything. And my question is directed to the Board members, Mr. Pepper. Mr. Iger, I thank you for lending us your ears and for your time.
For the last 2 years, the 3 Disney hotels have been without a union contract. And basically, the main reason that has happened is because Disney has insisted in attacking our health care benefits. And to put it in a nutshell and not to take too much time away your hand. From my personal experience, which is not just mine, there's over 2,000 families that are affected by this. I would have to pay at least $500 or more for my 3 children and my wife a month just to have it.
That's just one of the downsides I know that $500 a month might not sound like a lot for a lot, but I do make minimum wage. Most of the people that's because I make tips, gratuities. Most people that don't make tip certificates make between $11 to $13 an hour, which would translate into a huge burden to families, which If they right now they could make it just with one job, they would definitely have to go out and find another one just to keep their health care, which would translate them not being at home with their children, which we all know, hopefully, that, that translates into not having their dad or their mom around helping them out with their homework And having them leading them at home and which could turn out to some other negative things from what I've read study. And what also what I wanted to point out is every other hotel in Orange County that's part of our union has agreed to put forth enough money to keep the health care benefits the way they are. And Disney has been unfortunately up until now the only a company that has denied to do that.
And once again, I want to make something very clear. This is nothing against Disney. Like I said, I love my job. I would never go and work for Hilton. I would never go and work for Marriott.
Whenever somebody asks me, Who do you work for? I very proudly say at the Disneyland Hotel, I've been over there. I've been there for over 12 years. My kids love the fact that I work there. My little 7 year old girl has told me, Dad, can you please make sure that you don't do 1 of 2 things?
Please don't quit or get fired from your job. Locke. My little 7 year old girl. So I just really wanted to put that out there and I'm hoping that my words touch your folks' heart, Mr. Pepper, Mr.
Eiger, the Board. I know that business is business. I understand that completely, but at what cost? At people's health We're putting people to help that risk. I think that that's something that nobody agrees with.
Hopefully, I find it unethical and it's more open. That's just my opinion.
The manner in which you presented your position. Secondly, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your commitment to the company And the passion that you obviously show for your job, that kind of commitment and that kind of passion creates huge value for us. And I know having Observed it in so many places around the world that how you interact with our customers and our guests is magical for them and it is what keeps coming back. It's not just about our attractions or our shows or the food we serve at our restaurants. It's about people such as yourself.
And I know that you're many cast members, including many members of your own union. I'd love to be able to engage in a dialogue with you on the issues at hand and negotiation that's been going on. But just recently, your union agreed fortunately to federal mediation in this process. And just yesterday, we heard directly from the federal mediator about this. And he exhorted us to not take our negotiation in public and to not express opinions about this negotiation to the public.
This just came to us yesterday. And so in keeping with his recommendation, we're not going to engage in the details in this forum. But I assure you that the issues that are at and their issues that have been raised with certain members of the Board of Directors and certainly have been brought to my attention. And we are trying really hard to see to it that we try to settle this negotiation. We've managed to oops, sorry, successfully conclude negotiations with the 30 other unions that represent FARC cast members in the United States.
And we hope that your union, the 31st, is successful as well. Thank you very much for the way representatives.
Thank you, Mr. Reichert. And in no way am I trying to infringe on what the federal mediator stated. I'm here on behalf of over 2,000 workers and just what we're feeling. I have not been part of the negotiations with the federal leaders and President, I want to make that clear.
And also about the other 30 unions, I believe that we are in the park mostly with California Adventure and Disney. We would love to be compared to our sister hotels. Once again, thank you very much for letting us your ears. And sometimes it's great to be in the same room as the CEO, which has been that position has been demonized lately, and I don't agree with that. We are all human beings regardless if you're a bellman, a dishwasher, a housekeeper, a CEO, Board member.
We are all human beings. Most of us have children, and we all have hearts, and we all, not all, but the majority believe in God, and I respect Don. And I pray to him every day to touch your hearts. And thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Microphone 1. Is there anyone at number 2? Okay, let's go to number 2.
Good morning. My name is Mike Tuchman from Orlando, Florida, and I've been a shareholder for over 20 years. Now as you will see, I'm not much of a salesman, but I'm going to try to sell you something you already own. This is what Michael Eisenstein used to call a pigment question. Once upon a time, Epcot had an attraction called Journey Into Imagination.
The original had 2 exclusive characters, Figment, beautiful dragon who represented spirit and creativity. Ken Greensteiner, a Santa Claus type who is Lincoln's creator, mentor, friend and guide On a uniquely Disney tour of the process of invention and discovery, it was Imagineering's way of sharing with the guests how they make the Disney magic. Because it's family appeal, its whimsical nature and catchy song is known as the it's a small world of Epcot. In 1998, Epcot closed the enduring attraction completely discarding characters and replaced it with possibly the most despised attraction Walt Disney World history. The grassroots fan movement spearheaded by an Internet campaign influenced the return of Penguin's character to Epcot in 2002 with a new story line.
5 years ago, at the shareholders meeting in Minneapolis, I asked a predecessor, Michael Izzo, about the status of the extremely popular character Dreamfinder. Pauline had one of the best questions of the year. He then expressed this regret. I have not been able to elicit the passion you expressed in our animation department, in our live action department and in Mr. Iger to my left.
I bet that you never got that opportunity to talk with Geisinger about the period of this 3 year transition period as you were probably both busy with the bigger picture. Regardless of his assessment and feelings and animation and live action, the passion is designed. To many in Imagineering, they are unofficial mascots of the engineering complex. Figment is featured with GreenFinder and Mickey's of Glendale. Pigment has also been used in 2 books written by Imagineers about the creative process, The Imagineering Way and The Imagineering Workout.
You see, they are Imagineering to own babies and that division has many good schools who would love to recreate the original imagination experience And the guests enjoy again. In our parks, both guests and guests lost and returned the original ride characters. At 25th anniversary celebration of the opening of Epcot, in October 2007, the fans and theaters driven event that attracted all over the world. Then the Disney Imagineering Ambassador, Marty Slaughter, much to his delight is greeted with Horace a chance of Greenbinder back with fans and attendants to this presentation. The repeated overwhelming and enthusiastic police and caused quite a stir.
At that time, Marty then stated that the reason that Ignat is not Apple was AODAA. This is ironic since Kodak in addition to sponsoring the attraction was involved in the development of the characters as well as the original show. But the copyrights belong to Disney, not Kodak. Now I love Kodak as made much of the next guy, but if they don't want to be involved in installing the show, Maybe we can find someone else with more imagination. To add insult to injury, an episode of I do about back to your questions.
Imagination Land made a mockery of the situation with an obvious screen finder knockoff character, limp like flying machine and an imagination song, all elements from the original Rise. Fortunately, merchantainment has kept the Dreamfinder character alive through a series of extremely limited additional collectible releases, mostly pins that sell out rapidly. The loyalty is well earned, Much cherished and missed by fans was character meet and greet with Dreamfinder and Figment Puffin. His unique way of relating to the guests is the stuff Disney Parks legends extended life with Hermely Old Child. If that isn't Disney magic, what is?
As CEO, you are lightning rod for blame. You have to assume the blame. You should also be able to pass in credit of your achievements as well. All of us were eager to see what the higher year you would working to our company. It is safe and in short demand by its character.
Since joining company's presence, sir, I need to get to your question. All right. I've got about 1 minute more. Since joining the company as President, COO, background is necessary to this. Since joining the company as President COO in January 2000, we've added several significant characters to Disney's table.
There have been many princesses added, Princess Mia from The Disney Diaries in 2000 and 1, Princess Giselle from The Wonderful Comedy Enchanted 2007 and most recently Princess Diana from the Princess in Prague. In May 2004, he acquired the Muppets Snow White. Vince became CEO in 2005 and the next year sees the return of Odd Wall, The Lucky Rabbit. Most important of all, the Pixar characters are now in
the Disney Cable. We now
have Pixie Hollow and Tinkerbell's new Pixie companion. And how about last year getting the Marvel Super Heroes on board? In the years that brings us both Cap and EO tribute and strong legacy, we'll confident asking for the return of another Disney classic.
Sir, I've got to ask you to wrap this up. You're way over the 2 minutes.
With Epcot's 30th anniversary coming in 2012, The time is right to bring our Dreamfinder and the original concept back. So my question to you is twofold. How do we elicit the passion in you that Eisner couldn't? And how soon can you get somebody working on this? Perhaps Spider Man, congrats to you the Dreamfinder.
Thank you.
Well, thank you very much for your interest in Dreamfinder. I do recall back in the early part of the Talking about Dreamfinder and Jay Rizzullo who ran Parks and Resorts until the end of last year reminded me that we actually tried create a new concept for Dreamfinder, but we weren't particularly enamored of that concept and decided that we would essentially spend our resources both on the creative side and on the financial side on other characters, both new and older characters. To To my knowledge, there's no other activity right now going on at the company to support the character that you obviously have so much passion about. I do not in any way want to get your hopes up, but the One thing I will promise you is I'll have a discussion with the imagineers and see whether there's any real interest there. You were great in pointing out how many great characters that we have at the company either new or newly acquired or those that were created over the years.
And I feel obligated to at least ask the question, which I'll do when we get back to Virbank.
Thank you, sir. Thank you.
Okay, we'll take the next one. My first general request for staying within 2 minutes obviously did not work. So let me repeat it only because I want to make sure we have time for everyone here and there are quite a few of you who want to ask a question or make a comment. We really like this. So we want to make sure we have time for everybody.
Betsy. Is there anything back there on 4? No. Well, then let me return to number 1.
Good morning. My name is Tom Bray. I've been a cast member at Disneyland Hotel as a bellman for over 22 years. I've also been a shareholder for roughly about 15 or 16 years. I really appreciate Mr.
Pepper, Mr. Iger and the Board for giving me this opportunity. Hopefully, I won't be parodying what has already been said, but I would like to just bring a different point of view to one of the things that has been discussed. Disney is an example of how the outrageous And balance between top executive pay and employee pay continues to grow in the U. S.
Starting Disneyland Hotel Housekeeper makes less than 21,000 per year, Mr. Iger made over $29,000,000 in fiscal year 2,009, meaning that his compensation was 13.95 times the housekeepers pay. Disney's employees are crucial to Disney's success and I don't think it is right that the compensation disparity is so high. I realize that much of Disney's executive compensation is performance based. When the company does well, the executives do well.
We employees have worked just as hard to make Disney successful, but instead of getting bonuses, we are facing takeaways in Anaheim that would make family healthcare unaffordable many of us and turn many full time positions at hotel into part time casual jobs without benefit. This is especially egregious the amount of money needed to settle the labor dispute amounts to less than 1 half of 1 percent of Disney's 3,300,000,000 profit last year, a drop in the bucket, I feel.
I know you don't want
to talk about the inner workings of the negotiations, which I'm actually a member of the negotiating committee for the union. But what do you think it'll take to settle this dispute?
I think again if I just speak to that as Bob didn't speak for himself, but again we are strongly advised by the federal mediator not to get into negotiations, not to be discussing that kind of matter. Let me assure you, the Board has been very involved in this.
I've been involved in it personally. We want to see this get resolved.
I am delighted. Oli. We want to see this get resolved. I am delighted that this mediation is now in place. I understand the process has started and I'm hoping it can come to a very good conclusion that the work that you do is vital.
I've been in this company now only 5 years. I visited it before. I know how important it is. Bob said, it's what makes this company special. But there's nothing we can say about these negotiations right now and that's the request we've received directly from the federal mediator who's just gone on the job.
Thank you very much. I just if
I could just add one more thing. The passion that was displayed by George is felt by all of the workers in our union and I appreciate you recognizing that Mr. Eiger. One thing that George failed to mention is that passion led several of our co workers Do a fast in front of the Grand Californian Hotel where they fasted for 7 to 9 days and actually slept in 10. So That just shows you that and I don't know how many people in here were aware of that, but there is a level of passion And we take it very seriously, these negotiations.
And hopefully, like George said, you'll find it in your heart to take a serious look at what's going on with the negotiation. Thank you for your time.
Thank you. Thank you and thank you for making the trip here. Number 2.
Hello. My name is Russell Maitland. I'm a shareholder and I'm also a
proud Disney cast member. I too am currently employed as a development of Disneyland Hotel. It's been a little flood to hotels and that's why I have to forgive the facial hair because
I have to schedule for the last couple of weeks.
One thing that really caught my eye when this first started right here.
It was flashed on the screen there
that there is nothing more important than family. And one of
the key reasons I became employed by Disney at a very young age, but was because of the history I'd read about Huntington Hill was such a large corporation.
It was a family run business started by Wolf. So
that led me to choose to work with Disney in place of another employer. And my question and I completely
am in agreement that I
With you guys that we have a resolution to the ongoing contract dispute. We also are welcome to looking forward to a compromise of federal mediation. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if everyone here is aware, federal mediation is not binding. And if there is no resolution developed from these proceedings, we're hoping that you guys will have discussions on how to end this dispute for the better of all the shareholders, which I am a shareholder also, I want to see this vendor. And also, if those do fail and break down, Will you guys be hoping, especially Mr.
Iger to having a dialogue specifically with the employees of this event?
I think at this point, we've just got to focus on the mediation, see what that produces, hope it produces something that we can all agree to and move on. That's what you want. That's what we do all want. Thank you very much for being here. Thank you very much for your time.
And again, if those do break down,
I hope that you'll consider our dialogue Board. Thank you. Number 1, please. Good morning,
Actually, Corey's question, she is so inspired too. And she was wondering if there will be any merchandise
I think that's something I better check on. I know there will be an array or a lot of merchandise, Corey, for Cars 2 next summer. And I think a lot of it can be used or worn or played with by both girls and boys, at least that's how we're designing it. But I'll have to look a little bit more at what's being designed and make sure that we've got enough stuff for people like you out there.
Thank you. Out of every shareholder meeting, we hope we get one great new idea. That may be it. Yes, number 2.
Yes. Good morning. My name is Ken Mays. I'm Houston
and I've
been a shareholder for about 20 years. I also just returned from Afghanistan
December 23,
And I wanted to say thank you very much for the benefit that you provided military soldiers. And I wanted to
find out if you're going
to continue that. Thank you.
Ken, as you'd expect, I get a lot of correspondence from people all over the world. And I think among the most heartwarming things that I've heard and read in the last year come from soldiers, veterans and their families, thanking us for doing whatever we can to make their lives a little bit better. We are committed to continuing to do that. We are interfacing with a variety of different organizations to help by donating things to families while their loved ones are overseas serving on behalf of the country. We've worked really hard to express appreciation to people like yourself who have come back from active duty.
We've got a hotel in Orlando called Shades of Green, which is now owned by the military and is just for military personnel and their families and Of all the things that I'm proud of at The Walt Disney Company, this is definitely up there in my top ten. Yes, we are going to continue. I think it's vitally important For this country, for us to show support and appreciation for people such as yourself. So very, very nice of you to come up to the mic and express that. Makes me feel great.
All very special. Number 1, please.
Good morning. I'm Sister Gabriella Logan of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit in Antonio, Texas, and we are shareholders. I want to congratulate business on its leadership in producing an excellent corporate responsibilities report. It is a relatively recent report and a very comprehensive covering of a wide range of issues providing real and substantial detail. The company sought substantial input from experts We agree with Disney that issues like the environment, diversity, Expectations of your global suppliers are not only important for society, But also affect our company's reputation and even its financial bottom line.
These reports and Disney's leadership on corporate responsibility is not only the responsible thing to do, But it is smart business as well. Thank you again, and I hope we will continue to see Disney publishing further comprehensive and truthful reports. All that being said, The Holy Spirit and many other religious congregations belong to an organization called the IAF, COPS, Communities Organized for Public Service and the Metro Alliance in San Antonio. The IAF is a national organization of grassroots I have worked myself very hard as have my organization Minimum wage is no wage. And I support the Disney and our congregation support.
The Disney request for good insurance and good wages. I'm going to work with my share and improving the wages of the workers who are here today. Very, very important. We are a wonderful company. We are a family company.
But you can't see the family on minimum wage.
Microphone number 2, please.
Ed Nabor House, a shareholder from New Braunfels, Texas. CBS split Viacom from CBS And General Electric is working with a French company and a cable company and apparently eventually going to get out of their television and their other media. Does it look like ABC and or their news Because I understand from your report that the news division didn't do very good.
Well, to your larger question, we are comfortable and actually quite proud of our current mix of assets in the company Under the ABC, Disney, ESPN, Pixar and now Marvel umbrellas. However, we always look at the long term prospects for each of our businesses with an eye toward making sure that we continue to grow our company and provide the kind of shareholder value that our shareholders what they expect when they invest in our company. So there are no guarantees in terms of what will remain part of our company and what will not. Specifically about ABC News, we're proud of their efforts. We're proud of their products.
They're in a business that is undergoing significant challenge And they continue to address those challenges. I'm actually extremely proud of the way they've stepped up and faced those challenges by addressing costs, addressing the way they deliver their product, the way they produce their product, and I hope they continue to do that. We also continue to invest Significantly in ABC News because it's a business that we're proud to be in and a business that is important to the ABC Television Network and to our local patients around the country. Thank you.
Thank you. Go back to number 1, please.
Hi, my name is Doug Reger. I'm from here in San Antonio, Texas, been a shareholder and what my friends describe as a Disney fanatic since 1990 when my wife Our first share of Disney stuff. Being here in San Antonio in between the two coasts and far away from the parts, one of the ways that we have to enjoy the Disney brand is through the Disney stores. It seems that since You took those back over, I believe, children's place. The stores have become kind of stagnant.
The merchandise, they don't have a lot of high end merchandise. It seems like there's not a lot of future directions for the stores. Can you comment on where you might be going with the Disney stores and any improvements and how you might make those more magical like they were when you first owned it.
I appreciate your comment. We have 3 stores in San Antonio and many more in Texas. And we consider the stores an important business for the company, not because of the possibility of contributing to our bottom line, but also because of the fact that they're good brand builders for the company. There are millions of people who visit our Disney stores in the United States and around the world every year. And it gives us an ability to market new product to them and basically to show off.
We sold the stores, as you referenced, in the United States, Children's Place a few years back. And then a few years after we did that, concerned that They weren't the brand builder or the asset that we had hoped they would be under new management or new ownership. We took them back and we're hard at work right now in creating implementing a new concept for those stores, which is to focus more on quality and not quantity, focus on the products in the shelves that we think are the most popular or what should be the most popular for the people who go into our stores and to basically make the experience overall better than it has been. We're going to roll out that concept, which is in final stage of design sometime this spring, but it's going to take some time to roll out completely across the country. We feel really good about the concept.
We hope that you do when you see it or it could be a while before it comes to San Antonio. And we think that long term that changing the concept and changing the mix of merchandise and the quality of the merchandise that's on the shelves would deliver a lot more value shareholders as well as to the shoppers who go into those stores. Thanks for your comment. We take it to heart.
Thank you. Number 2, please.
Morning, gentlemen. I'm Eric Jensen from Austin. I just returned from Hong Kong Disneyland, so I can now step into every park on the planet. I'm curious when the Shanghai Park will open and if there ever been any thoughts to
a global pass or a pass that's
good for more than 1 year?
Well, we the question about a Global Pass has come up as I referenced in my remarks a couple of times the last few years at these meetings. And we look really hard at being able to create one. Jay, if you want to chime in, feel free, but there were some complexities involved with that we couldn't create a global pass, but we could create a domestic pass, which is what I announced earlier today. And we hope at least that annual pass holders in the United States get a chance to take advantage of that. Shanghai, we reached an agreement with the Chinese government basically to go to the next step, which is to finalize all the details necessary to ultimately develop and build a park in Shanghai.
We're in the middle of that process right now. We're encouraged by the progress that's been made since the earlier announcement. We have not announced the date that, that park could open, and we're not about to do that today. But we certainly are very excited about the prospects of having Disneyland in Shanghai, one of the most populous cities in the world and in the most populated country in the world. And hope you get a chance to visit Shanghai Disneyland some point soon, but not with a global path.
Jay, you want to comment on that at all?
Or Only that the execution of that path from a logistics perspective actually looked like worse guest service than would be the case If you just purchased a pass when you got to your foreign destination. And frankly, although this question come up A lot of times in annual meetings, there are not that many people who manage to get around to
all of our parks in
a single year. So Given the complexity and the cost of making the system work with the number of guests interested, we decided not to
take it outside the U. S.
Okay, we'll go back to number 1.
Hi, Roger Longenbach from Austin, Texas. I'm a shareholder. I used to be a resident in the Orange Orange County. But with the new economy, companies need to
focus on the guest experience.
And at the Disney parks, there's going
to be 2 guests. There's going to
be the ones that are going
to come no matter what Disney does. So there's the ones that came to the E23 Expo and drove.
And then there's one like a co worker
of mine that took her kids for
the first time in the world in December.
The people who go all the time know the system. They know about advanced dining reservations. They know how to use FastPath. The problem that has happened with the advanced dining reservations, especially at Disney World, is that people can make reservations for the same time in multiple restaurants without any financial penalty to them. As a result, when you go to the parks and you You try and get a dining reservation on the same day, everything is cooked solid for the table service restaurant.
I had the same problem a few years ago when I went. Fortunately, we were staying in a concierge level room and we had the concierge to be able to keep going on the computer trying to find a reservation. But most regular guests, the ones that we want
to have come back to the parks
as shareholders to continue to strengthen the company brand are not going to be happy When they find out that they can't use their Disney Dining Plan because it's fully booked and they won't allow any waiting lists While you're waiting there, in case someone decides not to show up. That's basically, I just want to make sure that that's being addressed by the company.
Okay. As I mentioned, Jay Rizzulo ran our global parks and resorts until January 1st when he switched jobs with Tom Staggs and became our CFO. This is I know that our dining plan is very popular, maybe too popular, but
I appreciate your question. By the way, You're not the lone ranger. A lot of people have called me and written me about similar, not exactly the same, but similar issues. Let me tell you a couple of things that we've done. First, we've extended the booking date on the Dine plan, used to be 90 days for arrival and we pushed it back to 180 days.
What that simply does is spread out the reservation taking and Generally tends to make more restaurants available for more guests. However, I will agree that the popularity of the dining plans that we've introduced at Walt Disney World have outstripped our ability to make every single guest happy for every dining location that they'd like to have. And there are there is a large team of people working against how to make this both more equitable and how to solve for what you said, which we're aware of that people book multiple People are working on it and know that we are fully aware of the unintended consequences of a great guest service in that, those who come to our parks in a gorilla mentality, and many people do know exactly what they want to do before they get there, sometimes get in the way of first time families that, of course, we are thrilled to have as well. So problems being addressed, and I hope that any year you won't have to ask that question again.
Okay. Thank you.
Good to have you.
Number 2. Hello, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Reagor.
My name is Frank Guzman from Las Cruces, New Mexico. And we very much enjoyed your visit to Albuquerque, Albuquerque, New Mexico about 2 years ago, and we look forward to seeing you back in New Mexico someday. Me and my family have been shareholders since 1998. And we recently took a trip to Disneyland, but didn't see any fast passes Around where the dumbo ride is and all the kiddie rides are at. And we're just wondering if any consideration for fast passes have been for that area.
One of the problems that we have, I don't want to get too technical about this, is that we have certain rides that where the capacity in terms of number of people per hour stations would be fully booked almost at the moment the park opened in the morning. And no one would have a chance to ride that ride. So believe it or not, we're actually better off putting people online even though we realize that That can take a while, but at least when they're on the line, they have a chance at riding the attraction, which we had a pass, pass, pass, they wouldn't. To my knowledge, I don't think we're doing anything in Anaheim to change that. We are greatly expanding Fantasyland in Florida.
And actually, we're going to add a second Dumbo ride. It's so popular. It's one of the iconic rides with the company and so popular in fact that we're going to put 2 in side by side, which probably just made big news for the diehard Disney fans. That's one way to address it. Hard to believe that after 50 plus years and attraction like that is still as popular as it is.
Walt. It says a lot about the power of that character and the power of the film that Walt created back in the early '40s. People love it so much.
Thank you. Thank you. And number 1? Good morning. Eric Gutner from Dallas, Texas.
I'm a shareholder.
And I guess I would consider myself a former employee.
First of all, I wanted
to say that the sale of ABC Radio and the ABC Radio Networks was a brilliant move Looking down, unfortunately, I'm still with Citadel Media, the company that It is a very difficult thing for the last two and a half years to go into a job where one
day you're just an employee and
the next day. You're not, but my passion for radio as a Research Director has got me there. My question is a totally 180 from that, but And it's a great forum for it. We're in the South and one of Disney's most beloved movies that is yet to be released on DVD or Blu Ray in the United States Song of the South. And I was wondering if there would be with Blu Ray having so much capacity to you.
Any features for the sensitive nature or whatever makes a great presentation to bring this forward
30, 40 years people have not seen
the film, they write Splash Mountain, but they don't know the history of it. And your take on Blu Ray as a future Blu Ray and of course, Hong Kong.
Well, first of all, thank you for your comments Sorry about that sale of radio, but As I said earlier, we continue to look at our asset mix and that was a business long term we felt was not core to us and was challenged. Thank you for not disappointing me because just about every shareholder meeting, the question about Song of the comes up, but I was wondering whether that was going to be the case this year. We're running out of time. We have considered this on and off for at least the past four and a half years or so that I've been in this job and prior to that. And in fact, I screened the film not once, but twice since I've been CEO, because we know that when we release
films that
were made by the company years back that were considered good or popular at the time, it creates real value. That's a film though that in watching it just has certain themes the subject matter that in today's world just seem not only antiquated, but not necessarily in keeping from a value perspective with generally speaking the values of people today. In other words, there are elements to that film that I think would be considered fairly offensive to a large part of our population. And with that in mind, while I know that there is value to be reaped on the bottom line, I think there's value to be lost in terms of the company's reputation. And with that in mind, we are not currently considering re releasing the film.
You want to comment on Blu ray?
Blu Ray is a great format. We were very, very supportive of it. And anytime I mentioned in my remarks, you can take technology and make an experience more compelling, you're going to do more business. In fact, we released Snow White in Blu Ray sometime in the last 6 months or so and sold 6,500,000 copies of it. Think about the first feature animated film that Walt Disney made and here we are in 2010, 2009 I guess it was released And sells 6,500,000 copies.
That's more than most films sell that are made today, which is a testament not only to the strength of Disney in that great film, But also to the interest in watching it in a new format. That's one of the reasons why we're as excited about 3 d as we are ourselves. Again, offer the customer or the guest or the viewer more compelling experience and they'll want more of it.
Sometimes it takes time for these things to develop, but it looks like it looks like that is in its visual dimension. Number 2, please.
Hello. My name is Eileen Cardenas. I'm sorry, I'm very nervous. I My question Has been for a very, very long time. I've been diabetic for many, many years and have visited your park numerous times and hope to go back many more times.
There are no there's nothing for diabetics in any part, not San Antonio, not Anywhere. With the diabetic community being so big, I wish that there were more scans that would offer Diabetic food, drinks, sometimes I would take my own stuff in and they were like, you can't bring that in, while Being diabetic, I'm limited to certain lemonades and juices and candies. I was just wondering if you all were ever going to orphan diabetic community in CAR.
Well, first of all, in, I think it was October of 2007, we Launched a pretty extensive healthy foods initiative as a company that was aimed at a few things, basically not licensing our characters on foods or to foods that were deemed unhealthy to children in particular and to people in general. We feel strongly about the need to especially encourage people to eat better these days because the impact of obesity and diabetes on society and the cost, tremendous cost on society. What we also did at this time aside from the change and licensing as we made many healthy foods available at our parks and resorts around the world. I don't know specifically whether there is a line of product designed for diabetics, but I imagine that the healthy foods that we're now making available our foods that are probably more in keeping with the diet of someone who has diabetes than the foods that were available Board prior to that. I also know we pride ourselves in basically making the experience as good as we possibly can for everyone that there probably would be ways you arranged before you visited to have access to food that you could consume while you visit 1 of our parks.
Jay, are you
aware of anything specific Board. I know that
all of our restaurants where you order from a menu, you can request virtually any food restrictive diet can be requested and will be met. I know that takes a little bit of effort. It usually takes a little more time, but we were very careful that people like yourself, who have special needs are going to buying the availability of foods at any restaurant as I said when you order from a menu. I would also rush to say though to validate your question that. It is difficult to have everything available at every stand.
And of course, most of our food is sold from Stans and Quick Service Restaurants. So I think we're on a journey here. I think we continue to get better and better. There was a day 25 years ago where you couldn't find a piece of fruit in a Disney park unless some orange tree in Anaheim hadn't gotten cut down. But that is no longer the case.
Healthy foods are available everywhere, and we're trying as many different needs as we can.
Healthy foods are great, but I'm talking about junk food.
You want to eat junk food? Yes. That's good.
That's junk food for diabetics.
Actually, I'm saying green nutrition is, I'm sorry.
I'm conflicted, I think. It is.
But there's candies that are available to diabetics And I was just wondering if you all would ever
consider doing
something like that. Bring that message back. We will look at it. The kind of comment you make, I just make the general point can be very helpful. And bringing these things up can introduce new subjects or punctuate something already working to bring more emphasis to it.
So I just want you to know how useful this can be. You're taking the time to get up and say something that maybe you weren't inclined to. Number 1.
Yes. Sister Susan Mika, I was the one that presented the Milton's pay on pay resolution and I double checked with the auditor And the way that the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission figures the vote, it's just before and again. So there were 673,000,000 That voted for the resolution and $638,000,000 that voted against it. So technically, according to the SEC, and I wanted the Board and the shareholders to know that it did pass. So we will count this now amongst those that Because that's the way the Securities and Exchange Commission figures this.
They don't add in the extensions or the non bank votes and that type of thing. So I'm just announcing that. I don't know if you'll agree with that or not, but that is the way the Securities and Exchange Commission actually U. S. Whether or not it passed.
Let me ask Alan Breiblin to comment on that. Your
company's bylaws extensions do count with regard to votes on shareholder proposals. It's the bylaws that govern whether or not a particular shareholder proposal was approved or not. And under the standards and the bylaws, it fell short of 50%. Therefore, from the company's perspective and under the bylaws that govern this, it fell short of the requisite majority. SEC rules don't determine whether or not I think you know whether a particular proposal passes or not as a company's bylaw that governs that determination.
And I'm just expressing to you that that's how the SEC tells us that they rule on this. So thank you.
Sister in any event, obviously, this is a subject that we'll continue to get very close consideration. Obviously. Over to number 2.
Good morning. I'm Loretta Patterson, a former Orange County girl, but now a Texas transplant. Thank you for coming to San Antonio. My question is, I would love to see you develop a really strong female character and I have one in mind. Just to give you a hint, this woman was not a princess, she was a queen.
I've noticed that there's been a substantial amount of religiously Steve's animation produced. To my knowledge, Disney has not participated in that market. The book of Esther is although it does not have the word God in it, appeals to many of our faith traditions in this country and portrays a very strong female character. So I just throw that out to you to consider. I'd love to see Disney participate in some religiously themed projects.
Thank you.
Thank you. I bet
the sisters will back me up on this.
Well, first of all, we love the fact that people are interested as they should be in strong female characters in our movies and TV shows. And in fact, I think Alice in Wonderland is a great example of that. It's a women's empowerment film, if you haven't had a chance to see it, Which I'm proud of, particularly since if you look back in history, our princesses at times, while they may have had starring roles in the name of the film, Didn't necessarily have lead roles in terms of the strength of the character or basically the manner in which the story was told. I'd like to think that in today's world that the women or the girls that appear in our films are just as powerful and just as important and just as dimensionalized as the male characters that appear in our films. And again, I'd like to see more of that.
To my knowledge, we're not developing any films or properties right now that would be considered religious or religiously themed. We from time to time consider it biblical stories because they are somewhat universal in appeal. But at the moment, we don't have any particular plan developed, any specific one,
including the one that you mentioned.
But thank you for the idea.
Thank you. Brief book, investor. You've enjoyed her. Thank you. Number 1.
Yes, hello. My name is Javier Campos Levin, shareholder from Guadalajara, Mexico. Probably this question should be addressed to Mr. Rasulo. And it's regarding if you're again plans to design and open a park, a Disney park in Mexico, Latin America or some other developing country.
I think it will be a potential market for the company.
Thank you. Well, I'll speak for Jay. The only park right now that we're working to develop aside from the parks that exist is the one that we've talked about already in Shanghai. From time to time, we've looked at Latin America, not specifically Mexico, but other markets in Latin America as a potential place for us to build a Disney park, but right now we don't have any development ongoing to actually take it a step further. When we build parks, we consider a variety of different criteria as you'd expect.
And at the moment, we but also with our park in Orlando. I also want to say that Mexico is one of the best markets in the world for The Walt Disney Company. They love our product and we're really, really proud of our presence in the Mexican market with our movies and our products and television programs, etcetera. It's a great market for us, but no current plans to build the market.
Okay. Let's stay with number 1.
Thank you very much. My name is Kate Mudd. I live in a little town called Iowa Colony, south of Houston. I've been a stockholder for 27 years since I first became a grandmother. I'm a firm believer that all grandparents should own Disney.
Until just a few years ago, The annual report was a colorful booklet that I read from cover to cover looking forward to the coming attractions. The last couple of years, you haven't said it and I've really missed it.
Well, thank you.
Thank you. First
of all, thank you for your support. Grandparents are very, very important demographic for the Walt Disney Company here and around the world. And thanks. As a grandparent myself, I look forward to being able to take my granddaughter to one of our parks one of
these days.
It was just this year that we abandoned the practice of selling of sending that glossy full color multi page annual report to our shareholders because of 2 things, 1, the cost and 2, the impact on the environment. I've cut down a lot of trees basically to mail that report to the millions of shareholders that exist at the Walt Disney Company. We also live in a world where we're able to provide kind of those experiences online. I I don't know whether you're an Internet user, but if you were to go to the Walt Disney corporate site, you would find a great array of pictures and all the information that you typically find in not very interesting paper to shareholders. But again, we felt that in keeping with our desire to not only reduce costs in a difficult environment, but also to be our impact on the environment and also aware that a lot of other companies have taken similar steps.
We decided to abandon that process. One other thing, I don't know if you're a D23 member, but if you are, you get not one, but I think 4 glossy Disney magazines a year that give you a great insight into not only the company's history, but its present and its future.
Thank you, Mr. Macht. Thank you very much. Number 2.
Hi. My name is Yvette Castro. I'm a camp member in Austin, Texas through the Disney Store. And first of all, thank you for coming to Texas. We're all excited about that.
At the Disney store, we get asked and also a lot of time, How come you're not making clothing for adults? I have to say that a lot of the adults that go in there are kids at heart and they want to wear T shirts and so forth. And we're kind of limited because the T shirts basically have 5 or 6 characters. Some of us are interested in Stitch, in Cars, and some of the other brands that typically you only put out for kids. So that's my first comment that I just wanted to pass that on.
And then the other question that I have is actually from another former cast member that could be
here today, but she's also a stockholder.
With the fine reputation that Disney has for guest service And for taking care of the tiniest of issues. Her concern is why Busy affiliates themselves with certain companies like ereport.
One of the issues was when
you had the cars promotion, they totally botched it up. Their customer service is non existent. This particular friend of mine went as far as to talk to the VP of Marketing At E Rewards and they I'm sorry, E prize is what they're calling it. And They wouldn't even return the phone call. And it was very frustrating because for one thing, she's a former task member, as I stated, That it was just so annoying to have to deal with some of these companies that you The other one is the company that makes your like your cars TVs and so forth.
There's been lots of issues with some of those products And they just turned a deaf ear. They won't respond there are no responses to e mails Where you call the company about something and they don't return the call.
Well, okay. I'll take the second part of the question first. We do a business with a lot of different companies who provide goods and services to our company and to our customers. And we take Like that to heart because the last thing we tend to do or want to do is to disappoint people who come to expect as they should real quality, whether it's the quality of the product and the quality of the experience when the name Disney is on something. I was not aware that there were issues with P.
Price, for instance, but I'll look into that. Normally what we do when we hear such complaints is we try to remediate quickly either by fixing the problem with the company involved or by abandoning the relationship. And I take comments like this very seriously since you're a cash member. If you're aware of these things, excuse me, Send an email to me or to someone in Consumer Products and the stores report and what we'll make sure that we investigate. On the first part of the question, I hate to disappoint you, but as we looked at the Disney Stores in terms of their future.
One of
the things that we've determined is that in today's world, making them or turning them into real emporiums where they basically sell everything for everybody is not necessarily good for business or the guest experience because we have so much We have an array of so many things, both characters and different products that the shelf space and the cost of managing inventory that was so broad, just as too challenging at the store level. So what we've decided to do is to focus even more on a limited number of products in the stores on quality instead of quantity. And basically, as I mentioned earlier, to focus on the characters of the franchises that are not only most popular, but on product that is the most part for kids, not for adults. There will be some product in the stores for adults, but it will be very limited. We do have a growing presence online both at disneystore.com and through a variety of different retailers and licensees that we work with where you can buy an array of product for adults.
And we feel that the best thing that we can do is focus more at the store level And then make more available online. People are shopping more and more online anyway. And so it's easier for us to basically manage a supply chain as diverse as the supply chain of Disney with as many products online than it is to do at each of our stores. Thanks for that. You bet.
You bet.
You bet. You bet. You bet. You bet.
You bet. You bet.
You bet. You bet. You bet.
You bet. You bet. You bet.
You bet. You bet. You bet. You bet. You bet.
You bet. You bet.
You bet. You bet.
You bet. You bet.
I mean, one of the guests said to me the other day, you have 6 Mickey T shirt for those, 2 Nightmare Before Christmas and 3 Grumpy, Where's Tigger?
It's hard. The stores are on average roughly 4,000 square feet, which is just while that's sizable, it's still finite amount of shelf space. When you think of the hundreds of characters that we've created and how many that exist today that are still popular, it's just impossible to serve all of them and everybody. But we do seek to do that online. And as actually search engines improve and the ability for people to find things online Rose even more, not that it isn't significant today, the ability to find product for everybody will be a lot easier.
Thank you very much.
The online really works. My wife thinks I'm just a big kid again. I've got Disney pajamas, I've got Disney shirts, I've got Disney bathing suits. We are past noon now, and I'm going to take 2 more questions. And but Deb will stick here we'll stick around for a few minutes afterwards.
So if there are any individual questions or comments that we didn't get to, but recognizing the whole group, we'll wrap it up after 2 more, which actually makes complete everybody. Go ahead, number 2. My name is Jason Sliva.
I'm a shareholder and member of B23 from the Houston area. And I almost feel bad, I didn't have too much trouble finding this place today.
But my question relates to the
home entertainment portion of Disney. Disney has a vast library of television films and shows that have had no or very limited releases on the DVD. And I was just wondering if there were plans to Better utilize Disney's vast library and get more of these shows and films out there.
Do you have a specific one in mind?
Well, there's many Films and episodes like the Wonderful World of Disney like the Mr. Boogity and the sequel, The Bride of Boogity, as well as Disney Channel's current shows like some So Weird, Famous Jeff Jackson, American Dragon, Jake Long and other ones like that, that have had no releases at all. And I'm just curious if there's any plans to the type of shows out there.
We've as I hope you're aware, we almost annually put out a variety of different classic product from TV shows to movies, we've talked about movies before. I know noted recently, Spin and Marty coming out on DVD from Mickey Mouse Club, for instance. And they typically come in nice packaging and are designed basically to show off the classic nature of the product and I have a fair amount of it. So I know that it's been on the marketplace. It's difficult for again, as I talked about with doors to put everything out.
And it isn't really economically feasible because the people who are interested in each one of those things is relatively limited. What's great though is that the Internet is really our friend in this regard. And eventually what we hope to do because the cost of delivering the goods to people substantially less and the challenge involved is less, is to make a lot of our historic product or our archive product available on a proprietary Disney site down the road. We're working hard to develop such a site. The capabilities are going to be fantastic, not just in terms of inventory, but how we distribute it and ultimately how and where consumers consume it.
So I want to say stay tuned, Board. I think that it's still going to take some time to get everything out there that everybody is interested in. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
One more.
Yes. Marnas Fehr from Bristol, Connecticut.
I don't have a question. I just have
a big thank you. I'm also retired ESPN and I watched it grow from ESPN, ESPN2,
I can go on and on and on.
We're very proud of our Disney company in Bristol, Connecticut, and I'm proud to be a former employee, now retired,
What a nice way to
end the meeting. Thank you very much. Thank you. Well, you've been a terrific audience. I Thank you so much for the questions you've asked for being here in the 1st place, being supporters of Disney.
It means a great deal of all of us, certainly the management, but I can tell you all of us on the Board a particular nourishment out of feeling the intensity, the loyalty and the of the shareholders and the guests who come to Disney properties. It is oxygen for us. So thank you so much for expressing that here and for so many of you coming up with concrete ideas and suggestions, all of which are directed making this better company. So good luck. I hope you'll get home easier than you came here, but it's been wonderful having you.
Thank you. All the best. Thank you very much.