Disney Reaches Out to Big Holders

Disney's (DIS Quote) board, a lightning rod for criticism over the past year, appears to be on an outreach campaign.

In what some outsiders are calling an unusual move, the company's board of directors is inviting major investors to a cocktail party scheduled for Wednesday evening in New York City.

The reception, hosted by what the company says are "representatives from Disney's board of directors," comes as a Delaware shareholder trial explores the degree to which Disney's board was in the loop during the company's expensive and unproductive mid-1990s employment of former agent Michael Ovitz.

The get-together also comes a few months after two disgruntled former Disney directors, Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, spearheaded a campaign to oust then-chairman and CEO Michael Eisner, along with other directors. That particular campaign -- which resulted in Eisner's replacement as chairman by George Mitchell, one of the other targeted directors -- appeared to crystallize a longstanding sense among Disney shareholders that the company's board had been too complaisant in its oversight of company management and an inadequate champion of shareholders' interests. ...