Wednesday April 22, 4:04 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Disney Announces 3-For-1 Stock Split and Authorizes Increased Share Repurchase ("...can KO be far behind ?")
BURBANK, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--April 22, 1998--The board of directors of The Walt Disney Co. Wednesday approved a 3-for-1 split of the company's common stock, to be effected by means of a special stock dividend.
Separately, the board increased the company's share repurchase authorization to 133.3 million shares of common stock pre-split or 400 million shares post-split.
The split is subject to stockholder approval of a charter amendment to increase the company's authorized common stock, which is currently insufficient to permit consummation of the split.
In making the announcement, Michael D. Eisner, chairman and chief executive officer, said, ''We have enjoyed such growth in the company's common stock price since our last stock split that it has become desirable once again to return the per-share price to levels that are more affordable for our smaller shareholders.''
The company expects to file soliciting materials relating to the proposed amendment with the Securities and Exchange Commission within the next few days, and to commence mailing of the materials to stockholders as soon as practicable thereafter. A record date of May 1, 1998, has been set for the stockholder solicitation.
The company will be seeking approval to increase the total amount of authorized common stock from the current 1.2 billion shares to 3.6 billion shares, reflecting the same 3-for-1 ratio as the split. The company currently has approximately 680 million common shares outstanding.
If the charter amendment is approved, the company anticipates completing the amendment process and the stock split in early July.
The company last split its common stock in April 1992 on a 4-for-1 basis.
The increase in the share repurchase authorization brings the total to 20 percent of Disney's outstanding common shares and is consistent with prior authorizations. Prior to the board's action, the company had remaining authorization to repurchase approximately 87.8 million shares.
Since 1985, the company has repurchased 93.2 million shares at an average cost of $30, investing a total of $2.8 billion, which would be worth $11 billion at current market prices. The company has repurchased 16.9 million shares since Oct. 1, 1995.
A complete record of Disney stock splits over the years is as follows:
Stock Splits
Type Record Date Issued
2-for-1 Aug. 17, 1956 Aug. 20, 1956
2-for-1 Oct. 26, 1967 Nov. 15, 1967
2-for-1 Feb. 4, 1971 March 1, 1971
2-for-1 Dec. 6, 1972 Jan. 15, 1973
4-for-1 Feb. 10, 1986 March 5, 1986
4-for-1 April 20, 1992 May 15, 1992
Contact:
The Walt Disney Co., Burbank
John Dreyer, 818/560-5300 |
