New Disney boss announced by June

WALT DISNEY expects to announce a successor to Michael Eisner as chief executive by next June after a search, but says it will consider Eisner's own choice, president Robert Iger, the only internal candidate.

But dissidents who have been baying for Eisner's scalp, say they will not accept Iger.

'It's clear that any variation of an Eisner-Iger management team is illequipped to respond to the needs of those most interested in the Disney legacy, primarily the shareholders of this great American institution. Your choices will be heard by all of them,' leading protagonists for change, Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, told the Disney board.

Disney and Gold kept up pressure to have Eisner removed before his own cut-off date in 2006.

They have sent the board some 3000 emails from shareholders calling for immediate change, and also said that 'leading public pension funds such Calpers, North Carolina and Ohio have determined that two years is too long to await management transition'.

But despite the onslaught, the board said it has full confidence in Eisner and expects him to assist in the transition and remain with the company 'through the rest of his tenure'.

While Eisner says he expects a clean break from Disney in 2006, he will not retire.

'I have a full business life ahead of me. Clearly I'm not the type to retire, particularly after I've heard all these lectures from medical experts about how an active mind is good for the body,' he told Fortune in an upcoming interview.

He doesn't see himself resuming a role as Disney chairman, but does not emphatically rule it out.