As a shareholder in a few companies (not Disney), I cannot disagree more strongly with Martin K. Vesole’s call for “a law” against “golden parachutes” such as the one recently provided by Disney to Michael Ovitz (Voice, Dec. 28).
While I am equally disgusted by the size of the award ($90 million), as a shareholder of a public company, Mr. Vesole has three clear avenues of recourse: Initiate a shareholder motion to limit such payouts at Disney; vote against those current directors standing for re-election at the next annual meeting; or sell his shares. None of these actions requires governmental intervention.
My sense is that Mr. Vesole may follow the course of action the rest of us (unfortunately) end up implementing–if the stock price keeps rising, quickly (and conveniently) forget about the corporate “looting” and enjoy the ride.
