Another Disney executive is GONE.
©Disney | Walt Disney Company Headquarters
Earlier this year, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that there would be 7,000 job cuts from Disney, and since that time we’ve seen some executives step down while others have been laid off. Now, we’ve got an update on one controversial executive within Disney who will be leaving.
According to The New York Times, Isaac Perlmutter is the latest executive at Disney to be laid off as part of the job cuts sweeping the Company. Perlmutter was the Marvel Entertainment Chairman. This is a small division separate from Marvel Studios that mainly focuses on consumer products.
Perlmutter was reportedly told that Marvel Entertainment was “redundant” and would be “folded into larger Disney business units.”
©Susan Walsh/Associated Press via The New York Times
Perlmutter is described by the New York Times as being an “irascible and unrelenting executive” who has been “seen as a distraction inside Disney for more than a decade.” Interestingly, it was Perlmutter who had gained control of Marvel in the late 1990s and “expanded its merchandising business” by licensing many of its properties to movie studios. He then sold Marvel to Disney in 2009.
His role within Marvel has diminished over the years and hasn’t been involved in any Marvel movies since 2015. At that time, Perlmutter reportedly had a fight with Kevin Feige over Doctor Strange costs. Perlmutter wanted to fire Feige, but Iger overruled him. Perlmutter later lost oversight of Marvel tv shows in 2019. Perlmutter’s job was ultimately limited to things like comics publishing, Marvel game licensing, some Marvel consumer products, and some superhero arena shows.
©Marvel
Most recently, Perlmutter was caught up in the debate surrounding activist investor Nelson Peltz. As a reminder, Peltz sought a seat on the Board of Directors at Disney and began to mount a proxy battle to encourage investors to vote him onto the Board, after Disney refused to give him a seat. Peltz later ended the battle with Disney after Iger announced some big changes for the company (including job cuts and a $5.5 billion cut in spending).
Perlmutter actually pushed for Peltz, his friend, to join the Board. He contacted Disney board members and senior executives six times between August 2022 and November 2022 to push for Peltz to join the Board. Since then, Perlmutter’s future at Disney has been a matter of internal debate “with most employees concluding that his days were numbered,” according to the New York Times.
©Disney
According to The New York Times, Disney “arguably allowed Mr. Perlmutter to keep a fief long after it made financial sense to do so,” perhaps because he was a significant shareholder or perhaps because without him Disney would not have been able to buy Marvel.
But he has a “zealousness for corporate frugality” that is well known. In the fall of 2022, he “demanded financial information related to Mr. Feige’s operation and questioned the decision to spend $200 million to make the sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”
©Disney
Perlmutter may have been at odds with Iger. In a CNBC interview about the issues with Peltz, the interviewer asked whether Perlmutter’s involvement with Peltz’s attempt to get on the board was being fueled by a potential feud between Perlmutter and Iger. Iger shared a bit about Disney’s history with Perlmutter, how Perlmutter had been “intent on firing Kevin Feige,” which Iger prevented, and how Iger eventually moved moviemaking away from Perlmutter.
The interviewer asked whether that created some ill will between Iger and Perlmutter, to which Iger responded “He was not happy about it. And I think that unhappiness exists today. And you know, what the link is between that and Nelson, his relationship. I think that’s something that you can speculate about. I won’t.”
©D23
But, Perlmutter isn’t alone. Other executives from Marvel Entertainment have also been laid off, including Rob Steffens (co-president) and John Turitzin (chief counsel). President of Marvel Entertainment, Dan Buckley, will remain and report to Kevin Feige.
We’ve seen a number of other executives cut from Disney recently. We will continue to keep an eye out for updates about how the job cuts at Disney impact key leaders in the Company. Stay tuned for the latest news.
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Goodbye Perlmutter. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
This guy is your “controversial executive” because he’s a conservative.
Disney stock drops 40+ percent due in part to underperformance of Marvel since Disney took it over. Was the failed content driven by Perlmutter or was it mainly driven by Victoria Alanso who also was fired.