Walt Disney Co on Friday patched up its differences with Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, two harshly critical shareholders, who pledged not to run a rival slate of directors or submit shareholder resolutions for five years, the parties said in a joint statement.
Roy Disney, who was named director emeritus and consultant to the company, and Gold expressed confidence in incoming Chief Executive Robert Iger.
The two dissident shareholders said they would drop all of their pending lawsuits against the company, whose shares rose 2 percent in after-market trading. The parties did not specify what led Roy Disney and Gold to drop their protest.
"It eliminates a hassle for the company and it didn't cost them much," said analyst Dennis McAlpine of McAlpine Associates. "Everybody gets out of this and saves face."
Roy Disney, the nephew of the company's iconic founder, and Gold, a former company director, filed a suit in May accusing the company of misleading investors about its search for a chief executive to succeed Michael Eisner. The two shareholders sought to void the election of the company's board of directors.
The company ultimately named Iger, the company's president, to the chief executive post, effective in September.
The two shareholders led a protest aimed at ousting Eisner after several years of lacklustre results and lagging performance at the ABC television network among other issues. Last year, however, ABC's fortunes have reversed thanks to hit shows like "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost."
The company's shares rose 46 cents, or 2 percent, in after- hours trading on the Inet electronic brokerage system to $25.46 from Friday's New York Stock Exchange close of $25.
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