Disney Bonuses Total $33.6 Million

Michael Eisner and the other top corporate executives at Walt Disney Co. can thank “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” for the millions of dollars in bonuses they are getting, and they didn’t have to answer a single trivia question.

Disney executives, most of whom received no bonus a year ago because of the company’s poor performance, earned a collective $33.6 million during the 2000 fiscal year as results improved, thanks largely to ABC and the “Millionaire” game show, according to the company’s proxy statement released Friday.

Topping the list was the chief executive, Eisner, who was awarded an $11.5-million bonus, bringing his overall compensation to $14.3 million, which includes $2 million in options in Disney’s Internet operations.

Eisner usually is among the nation’s highest-paid CEOs, setting a record when he exercised $570 million in stock options in December 1997, which put his total take for that fiscal year at $576 million.

Despite the improved results, Disney has warned that its first-quarter results will be soft. In addition, Wall Street has hammered Disney’s stock over concerns that the advertising market is softening and about whether ABC can sustain the huge ratings enjoyed by “Millionaire.”

Separately, Disney’s proxy shows that Eisner’s stock options package was restructured by directors in June to ease any tax burdens for Disney and Eisner if the company is ever acquired.

Disney went out of its way, in the proxy and through company spokesman John Dreyer, to stress that no acquisition is in the works. Dreyer said directors were being prudent in revisiting the issue of potential tax liabilities.

Still, the move by Disney in June came amid rumors that the company could be the next media acquisition target in the wake of America Online Inc.’s deal to acquire Time Warner Inc. and Vivendi’s agreement to buy Seagram Co. Those rumors have eased in recent weeks with the pummeling of Internet stocks. Companies such as Yahoo were considered by Wall Street to be the most likely Disney suitors.

The proxy shows that Eisner also received his first raise in annual base pay since joining the company in 1984, going from $750,000 to $1 million. It also shows an unusual deferment of $3 million of Eisner’s bonus until 2004, an incentive to stick around.

As part of the options restructuring, Eisner agreed to exercise 3 million options in August that were then worth $60.5 million.

Since those options were to have vested in 2003, Eisner is restricted from selling any of those shares until then. Those options are worth much less now, since Disney’s stock has dropped about 25% since early August. On Friday, Disney closed at $31.56, up $2.06, on the New York Stock Exchange.

Disney’s executive bonuses in 2000 come in the wake of an improved financial performance last year at the Burbank entertainment giant, driven largely by better results at ABC and the company’s theme parks. In the year ended Sept. 30, Disney earned $240 million, nearly triple its results a year earlier.

President Robert Iger received a $5-million bonus, bringing his total to $9.3 million. Recently departed Vice Chairman Sanford Litvack received a bonus of $3.2 million, and Chief Financial Officer Thomas Staggs and chief strategist Peter Murphy received $3.4 million each.