Iger Sells 124,400 Disney Shares in Prearranged Plan

Robert Iger, who will take over as chief executive at Walt Disney Co. in October, has sold $3.5 million in Disney stock under a prearranged trading plan, according to a regulatory filing.

Iger, currently Disney’s president and chief operating officer, acquired the stock by exercising options with strike prices of $21 on 124,400 Disney shares. He sold the shares last week for $28, netting him $870,800 before taxes.

The stock options were slated to expire next February, according to the filing made late Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Disney spokesman David Caouette said the sales were triggered when the company’s stock price reached $28.

Meanwhile, Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday placed the company’s debt on CreditWatch with positive implications, the first indication of a possible increase above its BBB-plus rating in almost three years.

The possible increase to an A-minus rating reflects improved performance at Disney’s theme parks and media networks, the ratings company said. Such a ratings boost would increase the company’s financial flexibility as Iger takes over.

A higher credit rating typically decreases a company’s cost to borrow.

The news came one day after a conservative Christian group said it had ended its boycott of the media giant, launched nine years ago in response to what leaders perceived as the erosion of Disney’s squeaky-clean image.

“There are so many other issues we need to move on to and deal with that are taking our time and energy,” American Family Assn. President Tim Wildmon said in a letter posted on the group’s website.

The Tupelo, Miss.-based group has protested Disney’s extension of benefits to domestic partners of gay employees, the promotion of gay-related events at its theme parks and the content of movies made by its Miramax subsidiary.

The group blamed longtime CEO Michael Eisner and said some of the problems had been resolved by Eisner’s upcoming retirement and the company’s break with Miramax founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein.

Disney shares rose 11 cents to $27.66 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Dow Jones/Associated Press and Bloomberg News were used in compiling this report.