Disney (DIS) initiated another smart move in reference to its distribution deal with Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) in selling its stake in the E! Entertainment Television company to them for a pretax total of $800 million, according to the company in an annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The stake that Disney had in E! was 39.5 percent, which they sold overall for $1.23 billion. At the time of the deal, comcast owned 60 percent of E!.
In the filing the company reported a gain of $500 million after taxes, which they plan on including in their first quarter of fiscal 2007 as a gain.
The thing that is smart about this is that Disney is satisfying the short-term outlook of some of its investors while keeping its eye on where the growth of the 
future is. This doesn't hurt them at all, or interfere with their strategic plans in the long-term.
Again, it seems that Iger is making a lot of smart moves in positioning the company for the competitive future.
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