Will there be a happy ending for Bob Iger? It's the question the business world asks about Disney, the entertainment giant. The company holds its annual shareholders meeting this Wednesday. The appointment ends a virulent campaign of several months against the CEO by activist investors Nelson Peltz and his investment fund Trian and the firm Blackwells Capital Group, who are seeking two positions on the board of directors to promote changes in the management of the company's veteran executive.
Trian owns 1.8% of the company's shares. The fund launched a major operation last fall under the name Restore the Magic. The effort was promoted after a year in which the company's shares were at their lowest point in nearly a decade. Trian tries to place two people he trusts within the Council. One is Peltz, who has experience in companies such as Heinz, DuPont and P&G and the other is Jay Rasulo, who was the company's chief financial officer between 20210 and 2015. “Something broke in the company's creative content creation” says Rasulo in a campaign video.
The Board of Directors is made up of 13 positions. The vast majority are aligned with Iger's vision. Twelve executives are up for re-election this Wednesday, April 3 at the annual shareholders meeting. Trian has targeted the seats held by Maria Elena Lagomasino and Michael Froman, to be replaced by Peltz, Iger's nemesis, and Rasulo. Blackwells Capital, for its part, has three other candidates that it seeks to introduce to the governing body.
Peltz shoots Council members in another of the videos. “It is time for them to understand that with their large fees and enormous compensation they owe us something to the shareholders (…) They have mistreated us for a long time and that must change,” says the investor, who has launched several attacks on Iger for almost two years since he returned to the company at the end of 2022. In January 2023, the CEO announced the layoff of 7,000 people and a cut of $5 billion to appease Peltz.
Disney counterattacked Peltz's challenge by mounting a million-dollar campaign that includes a page with documentation that tells its shareholders how to vote in this Wednesday's elections. The company asks to support the 12 current board members who now hold the position, including president Mark Parker, who took over in 2023 from Susan Arnold, the first woman to preside over Disney in its 98-year history. The company asks not to give votes to the candidates proposed by Peltz or Blackwells.
Directors on the board question Peltz's ability to sit on the board. They highlighted his lack of experience in media companies and have highlighted discreet results in some companies he has worked for, such as Pepsi and GE. They have also reminded their shareholders controversial statements, among them his criticism of Kevin Feige's successful management at the head of the Marvel studio and some comments that clash with the atmosphere of political correctness that exists in Hollywood. Peltz complained in an interview about Marvel making superhero movies with an all-female cast, The Marvelswhich raised $1.3 billion, and one with black and Latino protagonists: Black Panther and Wakanda forever.
Disney's defense against attacks by Peltz and company, including his partner Ike Perlmutter, who was fired from the company a year ago, included features of a black campaign. A three-minute ad went against the investor's style. “Nelson Peltz has a long history of attacking companies that ultimately harms investors,” indicates the video, which was launched at the beginning of last month and sent to institutional voters. The company assures that resentment drives Rasulo, who left Disney after not being promoted to be the CEO's number two, and Peltz has had a personal fight against Iger for some time.
In accordance with The Wall Street Journal, Bob Iger will emerge well from this battle. Peltz appears to lead Lagomasino in votes, according to the newspaper. The election has been open since February and concludes this Tuesday night. Rasulo, on the other hand, seems less favored to remain within the governing body.
He Journal He assures that Iger, who has a contract until 2026, has the support of BlackRock, Disney's second shareholder. The fund manager has a stake of $9.5 billion, 4.2% of the company's shares. The CEO also has the support of T.Rowe Price, another asset management company that owns 0.5% of the shares.
Trian has managed to convince shareholders that times of change await within the entertainment giant. Neuberger Berman, another resource management company, which owns 0.1% of shares ($254 million), has promoted voting for Rasulo and Peltz. So has California's public sector retirement system, known as Calpers, which has the retirement funds of thousands of employees invested in shares in Mickey Mouse's house (a stake of about 0.4%).
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