Walt Disney Company (DIS)

Turmoil in the financial markets could increase our cost of borrowing and impede access to or increase the cost of financing our operations and investments.

U.S. and global credit and equity markets experienced significant disruption beginning in late 2008, making it difficult for many businesses to obtain financing on acceptable terms. In addition, equity markets experienced rapid and wide fluctuations in value. These conditions tended to increase the cost of borrowing and if they recur, our cost of borrowing could increase and it may be more difficult to obtain financing for our operations or investments. In addition, our borrowing costs can be affected by short and long-term debt ratings assigned by independent rating agencies which are based, in significant part, on the Company’s performance as measured by credit metrics such as interest coverage and leverage ratios. A decrease in these ratings would likely increase our cost of borrowing and/or make it more difficult for us to obtain financing. The disruption in the global financial markets also impacted some of the financial institutions with which we do business. A similar decline in the financial stability of financial institutions could affect our ability to secure credit-worthy counterparties for our interest rate and foreign currency hedging programs and could affect our ability to settle existing contracts.