Walt Disney Co

An Antelope Valley woman who was a performer on television's original "Mickey Mouse Club" has sued the Walt Disney Co., alleging that she and her family were robbed in the Disneyland parking lot and then held for hours against their will as park security officers questioned them.

Troubled film financier David Bergstein has sued the owners of Miramax, alleging that they denied him money and an equity stake owed for his role in the acquisition of the film label from Walt Disney Co. in 2010. The suit, filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court by the law firm Weingarten Brown, contends that Bergstein — who has been involved in dozens of lawsuits, many related to his activities in the film business — played a crucial role in the deal to acquire Miramax. It asserts that Santa Monica private equity firm Colony Capital, one of Miramax's new owners, and its principal Richard Nanula conspired to deny Bergstein a $6.1-million fee and 3.3% stake they agreed to provide him as part of the purchase.

Fiscal 1992 was a banner year for Walt Disney Co. CEO Michael D. Eisner helped it increase profit by 28.2% from a year ago and revenue by 23%. A new digitally restored version of "Snow White" was released last Friday--the first time the cutting-edge high-resolution technology has been applied to a feature-length film. Also last week, an environmental impact report for the Westcot expansion in Anaheim received unanimous approval from the City Council.

Walt Disney Co. says it plans to launch a broadcast version of Disney Channel in Russia next year, enabling the entertainment giant to deliver its family programming to about 40 million households in the increasingly important market. Disney will acquire a 49% stake in Seven TV network, a national TV network in Russia, enabling it to air Disney Channel programming on broadcast stations in 54 urban markets, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in rural areas. The company did not disclose financial terms.

Editor's note: Due to an error in production, a portion of this story was missing in Friday's Times Orange County Edition. It is reprinted here in its entirety. Boosted by Bambi, four shrunken children and a crush of amusement park visitors, Walt Disney Co. on Thursday reported record revenue and net income for the three months and the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Michael D. Eisner and President Frank G.

In the lore of Disneyland, it is said that Walt Disney signed up corporate sponsors for many of the original rides in the park because he was too strapped for cash to build many of them alone. Hence, the rocket ship in Tomorrowland was at one time emblazoned with the names of sponsors Douglas Aircraft and TWA and the monorail carried the monogram of the Santa Fe Railroad. Those names are long since gone. Lately, however, the cash-rich but deal-happy Walt Disney Co.

Premiere magazine Editor in Chief Susan Lyne has been hired as a top executive at Walt Disney Co.'s Motion Pictures Group, where she will acquire and develop material for films. Lyne, who will be based in New York, plans to buy books, screenplays and stage plays for Disney. Her formal title in the newly created job will be executive vice president in charge of acquisition and development of intellectual material and new opportunities.

Lobbying efforts for a transportation hub near Disneyland to serve rail, bus, car-pool and other mass transit have been launched in Washington by a coalition of local and state public agencies and the Walt Disney Co. led by Gov. Pete Wilson's office.

Walt Disney Co. has scuttled plans to build a $611-million theme park and shopping mall in downtown Burbank, saying estimated revenue would not support the project. The abrupt withdrawal, announced Friday by disappointed Burbank officials, brought an un-Disneylike tone to the city's 15-year effort to develop a 40-acre site as the centerpiece of redevelopment in the troubled downtown area. It also was seen as a victory of sorts for entertainment rival MCA Inc.

Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday that its profit rose 3% in the October-December quarter, led by a 15% growth in the company's film business that was driven by the box-office smash "Toy Story." The entertainment company earned $496 million, or 93 cents per share, in its fiscal first quarter, beating by a penny a share the average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research. Disney earned $483 million, or 91 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. For the quarter ended Dec.

The owners of Hulu have taken the pioneering online video site off the market after hoping to fetch $2 billion. News Corp., the Walt Disney Co. and Providence Equity Partners issued a statement Thursday, saying they saw more value in retaining the popular 3-year-old service than in selling it off. "Our focus now rests solely on ensuring that our efforts as owners contribute in a meaningful way to the exciting future that lies ahead for...

Days of tributes and memorials to the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 may have taken their toll, a surplus of sadness pooling like the waterfalls at the new New York memorial. At least most of the stories showed a merciful precision. Most in the media heaped praise on the right figures -- the Goldman Sachs official who died helping co-workers to safety, the firefighter who led a perilous rescue. That restraint didn't extend, unfortunately, to one media giant's communications. In a video memorializing its $5-million contribution to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the Walt Disney Co. put the focus squarely on that unknown 9/11 hero, CEO Robert Iger.

In an effort to strengthen its retail business, Walt Disney Co. has consolidated sales of toys, books, apparel, DVDs and video games under a single division to be headed by Robert Chapek, the newly named president of consumer products. The former distribution chief for Walt Disney Studios will oversee an expanded consumer products group that will handle retail and licensing across the entertainment giant's businesses, from its film units — Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Entertainment and Disney — to the interactive media and television groups.

Paul Alter, 89, a veteran TV game-show director and producer who won a 1993 lawsuit against the Walt Disney Co. over similarities between a story outline he wrote and the film "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid," died of natural causes Saturday at his home in Los Angeles, his family announced. He was 89. From the early 1950s through 2000, Alter directed TV game shows, including "Family Feud," "I've Got a Secret," "The Price Is Right," "To Tell the Truth" and "What's My Line?" He won Daytime Emmy Awards for directing in 1982 for "Family Feud" and in 1996 for "The Price Is Right.

David Rone, a former agent at Creative Artists Agency and senior executive at Fox Sports and Walt Disney Co., is joining Time Warner Cable as president of sports. The move further signifies Time Warner Cable's desire to become a force in sports programming. This year, Time Warner Cable snagged the television rights to the Los Angeles Lakers away from Fox Sports and is using the team as the foundation to launch a regional sports network in Southern California. But Rone's background and stature in the media industry is too big for one channel.

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert A. Iger commanded a 35% jump in salary and bonuses in 2010, rewarding what the board of directors' compensation committee called his "exceptional performance" in the face of a slow-recovering U.S. economy. Iger's salary and bonus reached nearly $16.3 million, up from $12 million a year earlier. His total compensation, including equity awards, reached $28 million, according to the company's proxy filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Newspaper Reports Meetings on Euro Disney: The Sunday Times of London said executives of Euro Disney and Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. met over the weekend to discuss options for the troubled French theme park's future. The paper says the discussion topics included an injection of new funding, a rights issue or even, potentially, closing the park. Since opening in April, 1992, Euro Disney, 49% owned by Walt Disney Co.

Disney to Sell Property: The Burbank-based media giant has put about 600 acres near Haymarket, Va., up for sale after plans for a $650-million theme park there were terminated amid opposition, the Washington Post said. Quoting sources familiar with Walt Disney Co., the paper said the company is dismantling operations in the area.

Walt Disney Co. signed an agreement with a company operated by the Shanghai government Friday to build a long-awaited theme park in the commercial capital of China, both parties said. The signing, 15 years after the two sides first opened discussions on the project, moves the $3.6-billion Shanghai Disneyland closer to becoming a reality. The deal was struck with Shanghai Shen Di Group Co., a municipal company registered in August and inaugurated Friday that will serve as Disney's joint partner in the joint venture.

Two prominent California High-Speed Rail Authority leaders who are already under scrutiny for holding potentially "incompatible" public offices have received tens of thousands of dollars in consulting fees from firms with financial interests in the $43-billion project. Rail board chairman and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, a public affairs consultant, has been an advisor to a major construction supplier that owns property along proposed bullet train routes, records and interviews show.