We continued to aggressively repurchase Disney stock this past year as a means of returning capital to our shareholders. During fiscal 2007, we repurchased over 200 million shares of Disney stock for approximately $6.9 billion. From August 2004 through the end of fiscal 2007, we have purchased over 550 million shares of Disney stock for over $16 billion. Our stock purchase activities reflect our discipline in returning value to shareholders while at the same time strengthening our financial position.
We are also proud of our Company's consistent track record of returning value to shareholders through annual dividends. In November 2007, Disney's Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.35 per share or approximately $660 million in total. This marks the 52nd consecutive year that Disney has paid a dividend and the fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth in dividends per share.
We are committed to upholding the trust our shareholders place in us and we take great pride in the strong creative and financial results we have achieved for the past several years. We also believe our strong portfolio of brands and businesses represent an attractive base from which we can grow in the future.
We will continue to apply financial discipline in our creative and day-to-day business decisions in order to strengthen our competitiveness and enhance Disney's long term value. At Disney we understand that these goals – uncompromised quality, constant innovation and financial discipline – must coexist in order to deliver on the high expectations of our stakeholders.
Thomas O. Staggs
Senior Executive Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer,
The Walt Disney Company
