One year early: you 'retire' or you're 'ousted'.

When Dan Rather left CBS one year before he had been due to because his vendetta against the Bush admin. had been exposed by bloggers, he 'stepped down', or 'retired' according to the BBC. They even found space to report that his last show increased CBS' ratings to their highest point since 2000.

However, when Michael Eisner of the Disney Corporation left his job a year before he was scheduled to, he was, apparently, according to the BBC, 'ousted'. Naturally this is what should happen to all fiendishly exploitative capitalists, in an ideal world. And since we don't have an ideal world I guess I'll just have to accept the BBC's pretence that there is one.

Of course, there's always a fly in the ointment: 'Mr Eisner is to remain on Disney's board till 2006. Under his contract, he is eligible for up to $18m in severance pay over three years, the Wall Street Journal reported.' the BBC report briefly, at the end.

Update: Admittedly the resignation statements of people in business, as in politics for that matter, are banal and usually covering themselves against the worst interpretations of their departure. However, if the BBC can accept the politicians' claim that he needs to spend more time with his family, why does the BBC always make big business seem like it emulates the mafia? Why not reserve that for the next IRA/Sinn Fein resignation? Forbes offers a different spin, Eisner 'yielding' to pressure, or 'stepping down'. Also, it's important to mention here that the BBC stealth editor has been fast at work since the original post. Sounds more reasonable now, though the ousted Eisner is still ousted.