The Drudge Report is reporting a Wall Street Journal story (paid subscription required for WSJ link) that claims Roy Disney submitted his resignation from Walt Disney’s company board and his chairmanship of Disney feature animation on Sunday and called for Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner to do the same.

Disney sent Eisner a three-page letter saying Eisner “deserved credit for a successful first decade after taking the helm at Disney in 1984” but went on to severely criticize his leadership during the past seven years. “The list of complaints included everything from the performance of the struggling ABC broadcast networks and Disney theme parks to Mr. Eisner’s reputation for ‘micro-management of everyone around you'”. The Disney board will be meeting later this week.

The New York Times (free registration required) adds that the note said “You well know that you and I have had serious differences of opinion about the direction and style of management in the company in recent years. For whatever reason, you have driven a wedge between me and those I work with even to the extent of requiring some of my associates to report my conversations and activities to you. I find this intolerable”.

The Associated Press (via The Miami Herald) adds that “Disney’s resignation may be a pre-emptive move to avoid being forced off the board of The Walt Disney Co. The board’s governance and nominating committee has decided not to recommend Disney for another term because he is over the mandated retirement age of 72, sources close to the company said Sunday… the two other board members who will not be renominated are Raymond Watson, 76, and Thomas Murphy, 77, according to a source”.

(The text of Disney’s letter originally posted here has been moved to its own page available here.)