by Matthieu Demeestere
NEW YORK, Sept 10 (AFP) - Michael Eisner, the embattled chief executive at Walt Disney Co., said Friday he will resign in September 2006, yielding after a bitter battle in recent months with disgruntled shareholders.
Eisner said he had made the decision at the approach of his 20th anniversary as CEO and the end of the company`s fiscal year, according to a copy of his letter to the Disney board obtained by AFP.
"I plan to retire from my role as chief executive officer of the company upon the conclusion of the term of my employment agreement on September 30, 2006," Eisner said in the letter.
Eisner, who has been the target of a shareholder revolt this year, also said: "Until then I shall continue to exert every effort to help the company achieve our goals, to assist the board in selecting the new chief executive officer, and to make the transition expeditious, efficient, and smooth and easy."
Eisner`s leadership sparked a shareholder revolt led by Roy Disney, nephew of the company founder, who blamed the top executive for lackluster performance in recent years.
The group was forced to fight off a hostile bid by US cable group Comcast in April, while Eisner finally won support from the Disney board in May after 43 percent of shareholders voted to oust him in early March.
Eisner was nonetheless replaced as chairman of the board by the former US senator George Mitchell, while remaining as CEO.
In Friday`s letter, Eisner noted that he had reinvested a "substantial portion" of his pay into Disney stock, which amounts to 14 million shares in the giant that controls the Disney Hollywood studios, ABC television network, theme parks and other interests in media and entertainment.
"That and my strong feelings for the company are the incentive to make the company even more successful and to be sure this success continues beyond my tenure as CEO," he said.
Disney climbed 34 cents to 23.20 dollars in morning trade Friday.
"We think this will remove a major overhang to the stock, as management has been under tremendous pressure to reveal its succession planning in greater detail," Smith Barney analyst Jill Krutick said.
Eisner pointed out in his letter that in the past two decades, Disney`s revenue has expanded to the 30 billion dollars projected for this year from 1.7 billion.
The company has built seven new parks, 28,458 new hotel rooms, 70 new cable TV channels and released 800 movies under Eisner.
The letter confirmed an interview with the 62-year-old Disney chief published Friday by the Wall Street Journal.
Eisner told the newspaper his decision had nothing to do with recent crises at Disney. It was "not asked for, not motivated by current circumstances at all," he said.
Eisner told the daily he would play a role in the coming succession process, but emphasized the decision belonged to the board of directors, without indicating whether he would seek to keep his board seat once he resigned.
Among the names cited as possible successors are Robert Iger, chief operating office at Disney, as well as eBay chief executive Meg Whitman and former Disney executive Paul Pressler, head of the Gap clothing chain, the newspaper said.
News Corp chief operating officer Peter Chernin and Jeff Bewkes of Time Warner were also named as possible candidates, along with Mel Karmazin, who left a top post at rival Viacom in June.
"This announcement will spark a heated horse race for the top job," Krutick said.
"The logical internal candidate to succeed Eisner is the current president and COO Bob Iger (whose own contract expires in September 2005), who may face a difficult battle to win the CEO prize unless ABC turns in substantially improved performance this season."