Disney to strip Eisner of chairman role

Walt Disney Co directors’ decision to strip chief executive Michael Eisner of his chairman role stops short of what some investors said is needed to boost the company’s shares, which have fallen 25% in five years.

George Mitchell, Disney’s presiding director, will replace Eisner as non-executive chairman of Burbank, California-based Disney, the second-biggest US media company. Mitchell lobbied investors to support Eisner before yesterday’s annual meeting in Philadelphia, where holders withheld 43% of their ballots from Eisner, who has led Disney since 1984.

“There are obviously certain people that are not happy with me,’ Eisner said in an interview last night on Nightline, a programme that runs on Disney’s ABC television network. Eisner said he intends to honour his employment contract, which runs to 2006.