Welcome To Walt Disney World Presented By Comcast?

Oh, boy. Comcast has announced an unsolicited tender offer to buy the Walt Disney Company for approximately $66 billion in stock and debt.

I don't really see the deal going through as proposed, but it does effectively put Disney in play. Someone is likely going to end up owning the American icon. The only question now is, how high will the bidding go?

There will also, of course, be a great deal of teeth gnashing and complaining about the loss of independence for such a great, household name. But his is an issue of Disney's own making.

Michael Eisner should have been gone a few years ago. The board should have been involved in the governance of the corporation than they were. But they were a rubber stamp for all of Eisner's ideas - both the good and the bad.

By rubber stamping the reign of King Eisner, the board effectively failed to maximize shareholder value. Originally, they could say that the lack of return was due to taking a long term approach. But the long term is here and the value still isn't.

Disney has been a company in a bit of a crisis for a while. They had a crisis of leadership. Eisner is no longer a great leader like he was in his early days. The board is finally coming around to finding its collective voice, but it appears that it will be too little too late.

Soon, we will be entering the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom presented by So and So, maker of This and That. The great iconic theme park will become but another tawdry shtick for some company.

The days of Disney being the 800 pound gorilla are officially over. Soon, they will be part of another 800 pound gorilla.

And a part of the magic of the Magic Kingdom will be gone.