Suit Seeks Disney Workers’ Vote Data

Former Walt Disney Co. director Roy E. Disney sued the company Thursday to release information that would show how shares held by employees were voted in a recent referendum on Chief Executive Michael Eisner.

Representatives of Roy Disney and another former director, Stanley P. Gold, led a protest vote last month at the company’s annual meeting at which 43% of the shares cast were withheld for Eisner’s reelection as a director.

As part of their ongoing public relations war, they hope to further embarrass Eisner by showing the number of employees who joined in, suggesting a lack of confidence by Disney’s rank-and-file in their boss.

Disney spokeswoman Zenia Mucha said the company wanted to release the data. But, she said, Disney must first make sure it abided by confidentiality requirements dictated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

Roy Disney representatives have said they believe as much as 70% of the 28 million shares held in the Disney 401(k) plan were withheld in the Eisner vote.

Disney has countered that the vote totals won’t reflect how its employees feel overall because only 24,000 of the company’s 110,000 workers participate in the plan and, of those, only about 40% are believed to have voted.

Roy Disney and Gold want to oust Eisner, arguing he is mismanaging the firm’s long-term prospects. Eisner and his supporters say the firm has turned around, and that its profit and stock price are improving.