Pair increase efforts to remove Disney’s chief

Former Disney board members Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold said Tuesday they would work as long as it took to oust Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Eisner, who they said has mismanaged the media company.

“We are not going away,” Gold said Tuesday at the Loews Hotel, which is across the street from where The Walt Disney Co. will hold its annual shareholders meeting today. “We will be here next week, next month, next year.”

The two, who resigned from the board last fall, said that if 20 percent of shareholders withheld their votes, it would send a clear message to Disney’s board that it was time to end Eisner’s control of the company.

Telecommunications

Sprint faces lawsuit alleging discrimination

Thirty-two former Sprint Corp. employees have filed consent forms to opt in as plaintiffs in an age-discrimination lawsuit against the telecommunications company.

The former workers, who lost their jobs during Sprint’s reductions in 2001 and 2002, consented last week to join the legal action filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan.

Sprint spokesman Dan Wilinsky said Sprint “strongly denies the allegations” of age discrimination “and is defending itself vigorously.”

The filing of such consent forms generally comes before asking a judge to certify a class action lawsuit.

Regulations

FCC loses court battle on phone competition

An appeals court on Tuesday rejected federal rules giving states more authority to determine which companies may offer local phone service within their borders.

The three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously sided with former Bell companies Verizon, BellSouth, SBC and Qwest. They claimed the rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission forced them to give competitors access to their networks at artificially low prices.

A coalition of Bell competitors, led by AT&T, urged the Bush administration to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Management

Sprint enlarges board

Overland Park-based Sprint announced Tuesday that it had appointed Gordon Bethune, chief executive officer of Continental Airlines, and Deborah Henretta, president of Procter & Gamble’s global baby care division, to its board of directors.

The two new independent directors brings Sprint’s board to 11 members. Nine of the 11 members are independent directors.