With a volley of harsh words, Roy Disney on Sunday quit the board of the company founded by his uncle, Walt Disney, and called for the resignation of Chairman Michael Eisner, saying the entertainment conglomerate had "lost its focus, its creative energy, and its heritage."
Disney told Eisner in a three-page letter that "you are no longer the best person to run the Walt Disney Co." The 73-year-old vice chairman accused Eisner of maneuvering to have the board's nominating committee leave his name off the slate of directors that will be elected in the coming year -- "effectively muzzling my voice."
In perhaps his sharpest rebuke, Disney said that Eisner's leadership had led to a widely held perception of the company as "rapacious, soul-less, and always looking for the 'quick buck' rather than long-term value which is leading to a loss of public trust."
The letter, addressed to Eisner, was delivered to Walt Disney Co.'s Burbank headquarters and Eisner's apartment in Manhattan in advance of a company board meeting there Tuesday.
Eisner declined to comment. But board member George J. Mitchell, the former U.S. Senate majority leader, said in a statement that the directors were simply enforcing new Disney governance rules requiring board members to retire when they reach 72.
"It is unfortunate that the committee's judgment to apply these unanimously adopted governance rules has become an occasion to raise again criticisms of the direction of the company, and calls for change of management, that have been previously rejected by the board," said Mitchell, the board's presiding member.
Two other long-serving board members -- Ray Watson, 76, a former chairman of the board, and Thomas Murphy, 77, the former chief executive of Capital Cities/ABC -- also have been asked to step down. Both men have been strong supporters of Eisner.
Disney, son of company co-founder Roy O. Disney, also announced that he was quitting his job as chairman of the company's bedrock animation division, which he helped build during the heyday of the 1990s.
Disney, the company's second-largest individual shareholder behind Eisner, recently announced plans to sell as much as 43% of his stake. For nearly a decade, he was a major Eisner backer. During the last three years, however, tensions between the men have escalated as the company's stock price and earnings have been sluggish.
