Bye-bye Shareholder's Club (probably) About This Page:

[Silvercat]

So The Walt Disney Company are finally buying up DLRP shares then. They already own 76.7% of Euro Disney, and are going to buy 9% of HRH Prince Alwaleed's stake (currently 10%), taking them up to 85.7% ownership.

Then they make a voluntary cash offer to all remaining corporate and individual shareholders, and if they then own over 95% of the company, they will mandatorily buy out the rest of the shareholders and de-list the company. It is highly probable that this will happen.

Good news for DLRP in that money will be spent on redevelopment and some debt will be written off, so the resort will finally start to break even and maybe even make some money.

Bad news for us tiny, individual shareholders, who will lose all our privileges, such as 10% off purchase in the Disney Store UK, 10% off food and drink whilst in DLRP, cheaper room and ticket bookings, and the icing on the cake - Salon Mickey, a tiny and exclusive club where we can chill out daily, enjoy complimentary refreshments, and just get away from the crowds for a little while. (I'll also lose a small amount of money, as the mandatory buy-out price is well below what I paid for the shares in the first place - however, I didn't buy them to make money, knowing the share price wouldn't ever rise to giddy heights). Selfish, I know, but I loved being a shareholder and feeling like I was part of the magic.

[chezp]

Shame about the DLP discounts going, but aren't you DVC Members? If you are, you still get 10% off purchases in the Disney Store over here.

[Cam22]

I thought about you when I read about this in the news. So sorry!

[Silvercat]

Originally Posted by chezp

Shame about the DLP discounts going, but aren't you DVC Members? If you are, you still get 10% off purchases in the Disney Store over here.

No, we're not. We seriously considered it when I got my divorce settlement a few years ago, but the annual dues put me off somewhat. Plus at the time, I had no idea we would turn into almost every year visitors!

Originally Posted by Cam22

I thought about you when I read about this in the news. So sorry!

Ah, thank you. I guess it's not the end of the world. Word on the street at the moment is that even if the mandatory buy-out takes place, we may still be able to use the Shareholders' card until our membership runs out. The membership used to be bi-annual, but last year they changed that so that membership now runs for 5 years from renewal - we now think that was a precursor to the buyout, as a sweetener.

Also, I was talking to DH about it last night, and we realised that although I will lose capital on the initial purchase, we actually saved enough in our first 3 trips to DLRP to cover the cost of the shares in the first place, so all in all I will have been financially better off having owned the shares for the last 5 years.

[Disneybine]

It makes sense from Disney's perspective but I can see how it stinks for you... Personally, I think Euro Disney should have never been a publicly-traded stock company in the first place, though.

[Silvercat]

That's an interesting take, why not?

[Disneybine]

Because it was a risky venture and the fact that the stock did so poorly did major damage to Disney's reputation (financially). DLP's failure to perform financially wouldn't have been such a big deal if it was just part of Disney's overall portfolio instead of a whole separate company.

[Silvercat]

Hmm, very good point - I can see where you are coming from with that. It is such a shame, as the premise of the park is such a good one, but for a variety of reasons it has always struggled to prove itself as a Disney resort. You're right, if it was just part of the whole Walt Disney Company package, it wouldn't have been as obvious that it has never performed well.

We are off there in a couple of weeks, and whilst our timing sucks and we are going to miss the 25th Anniversary celebrations by a week, at least the crowds should be a bit more manageable!

[Disneybine]

Have fun on your trip!!!

[Silvercat]

Well, the crowds weren't really any more manageable, despite my careful planning - the parks were packed! But the start of the 25th Anniversary celebrations that we saw (décor, merchandise) were really lovely, all silver and shiny dark blue, and Tinker Bell looking gorgeous!

The good news is that we've just found out that the Shareholder's Club will be running for another 10 years, despite the potential takeover by TWDC, and even if we have our shares mandatorily bought out and the company delisted.

At least that gives us a bit longer to gratefully receive the benefits!