Business: BRIEFS

Cable World, March 12, 2001

DISNEY VOTE

Walt Disney shareholders voted down a proposal to limit the number of stock options issued to company executives. At the company's annual meeting last week, 90% of shareholders rejected a resolution limiting the number of options issued to a single executive to no more than 5% of the total options issued. Disney chairman/CEO Michael Eisner told shareholders that Disney expects to generate $2B in cash flow by 2002 and that the company has the wherewithal to make a huge acquisition, according to reports.

SEACHANGE EARNS

Seachange International posted a net loss that was slightly less than analysts expected for its 4Q ended Jan. 31. The company posted a loss of 7 cents a share, on revenue of $24.7M. Analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected a loss of 9 cents a share. In the year-ago period, Seachange reported a net loss of 6 cents a share on revenue of $20.8M. In February, Seachange said a delayed order would cause a revenue shortfall.

LIBERTY STAKE

Vivendi Universal subsidiary Canal Plus told the French daily Le Monde it would be interested in buying out the 27.4% stake Liberty Media owns in a Canal theme-channel unit. Le Monde said the move could open the door to Canal taking over control of the channel.