Essay about Walt Disney Financial Analyis - 4488 Words

Executive Summary The Walt Disney Company (DIS) has a long and prestigious history in the entertainment business covering a period of greater than 75 years. The DIS objective is to be the world leader in production of entertainment using their diversified portfolio to differentiate its brands including Walt Disney Parks, ESPN, PIXAR, MARVEL, and ABC. The financial goals are to maximize cash flow, maximize earnings, and capital profits that will drive longer-term shareholder value (The Walt Disney Company, 2012). The DIS conglomeration offers brand recognition although DIS faces high sunk costs including updates of their parks. Although DIS is faced with a number of industry competitors, it remains the industry leader with a†¦show more content†¦Walt Disney strengths include shareholder reviews of executive compensation; stock incentive plans, and shareholders proposals (Proxy Statement, 2012). While Standards of Business Conduct binds employees, the Board of Directors a re governed by a separate Code of Ethics for Directors (Proxy Statement, 2012). Although Walt Disney determined the roles of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer as separate roles (Proxy Statement, 2011) in 2004 Walt Disney wanted to separate themselves from the perception of a rubber stamp board (Lieberman, 2012). The reforms improved governance (Palmeri, 2012), shareholder protection, and oversight of the accountability of management. Finally, Walt Disney establishes four independent committee’s including Audit, Governance and Nominating, Compensation, and Executive (Proxy Statement, 2012) that are all 90% independent (Lieberman, 2012) within the standards of the New York Stock Exchange. The independent, outside directors including former Starbucks Corporation chief executive officer (CEO) Orin Smith, ensures Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger provides a system of checks and balances regarding shareholder and stakeholder interest. Although Walt Disney’s them e parks, film, and Television Company’s enjoy a positive public image, the Board of Directors have faced several challenges during 2012. In March 2012, Institutional Shareholder Services