DISNEY Official suspects Comcast bid stemmed from anti-Eisner effort

Disney was prepared to reject Comcast's offer before it was made.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The two-month effort being waged by ex-Disney board members against Disney chief executive Michael Eisner may have created a false impression of weakness that encouraged cable giant Comcast Corp. to bid for the company, a Disney board member said.
"There is a perception of weakness," Disney board member Judith Estrin said Monday during a Proxy Talk investor conference call hosted by Glass, Lewis & amp; Co., an investment research and proxy advisory firm.
"There is a lot of innuendo out there that is being repeated that is not reality. In this case, if people make decisions based on reading the press, they will be wrong."
Stanley Gold and Roy E. Disney have waged a "Save Disney" campaign aimed at producing a protest vote against the re-election of four board members at the company's March 3 shareholder meeting in Philadelphia. The four are Eisner, Estrin, George Mitchell and John Bryson.
Estrin and fellow board members Mitchell and Raymond Watson defended the company's strength and current strategy and rallied around Eisner during the call.
Estrin said the "campaign to discredit the board and its management is very widely written about because Disney is such a big brand. Everything that is said gets amplified," she said.
Board members said Eisner had prepared them for the possibility of a rumored Comcast bid before Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts called Eisner to suggest merger talks on Feb. 9.
"Every member of the board was informed and aware of the fact that a phone call might be made, so the call was not unexpected," Mitchell said.
Response was ready
Eisner said that the board, along with three outside advisers, wrote a response to a possible Comcast bid and that Eisner had the response ready when Roberts called.
"I happened to be sitting at my desk and put the response up on the computer and gave it word for word," Eisner said. "He quickly changed the subject."
Philadelphia-based Comcast said late Monday that the board's actions were "troubling."
"We find it extremely troubling that Disney's board would have made up its mind to say no to our proposal before they even heard it," Comcast spokesman Tim Fitzpatrick said. "How could that possibly be in the best interest of Disney shareholders?"