There has been a leadership battle going on at The Walt Disney Company for quite some time now.
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Activist investor Nelson Peltz has been trying to snag a spot on Disney’s board for many months, and Peltz’s company has nominated him for one of the spots. However, executives at Disney don’t agree with some of Peltz’s ideas, and the company has put forth its own list of nominations. Who will get the spots?
The Wall Street Journal reports that Disney has gained an important ally in the battle for the spots on the board. Glass Lewis, one of the two major proxy advisers, has officially recommended that Disney shareholders vote for the company’s director nominees and not for Trian Partners’ nominees, which include Nelson Peltz and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo.
©Disney | Walt Disney Company Headquarters
Disney has battled with some financial struggles since the pandemic, and Peltz has proposed his own solutions to some of those problems, including merging ESPN+ with Netflix. However, Disney CEO Bob Iger has been outspoken about not wanting Peltz on the board, labeling him as the “ultimate detriment to shareholder value.”
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After Peltz and company released a 133-page memo publicly attacking Iger and Disney leadership, Iger responded with a video message to shareholders, listing reasons why they shouldn’t vote for Trian’s board picks. The vote for the new board members takes place at the annual shareholder meeting on April 3rd.
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Disney has put forth a list of 12 nominees for the board. Here are the people that Disney endorses:
- Mary T. Barra — Chair and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors Co.
- Safra A. Catz — Chief Executive Officer of Oracle Corp. and its former President
- Amy L. Chang — former senior executive at Cisco Systems, Inc. and Google and a current director of Procter & Gamble Co.
- D. Jeremy Darroch — former Executive Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of Sky
- Carolyn N. Everson — former senior executive at Instacart, Meta Platforms, Inc. and Microsoft Corp. and a current director of The Coca-Cola Co. and Under Armour Inc.
- Michael B.G. Froman — President of the Council on Foreign Relations and former Vice Chairman and President, Strategic Growth at Mastercard Inc.
- James P. Gorman — Executive Chairman and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley
- Robert A. Iger — Disney’s Chief Executive Officer, formerly also served as Chairman
- Maria Elena Lagomasino — Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of WE Family Offices and a former senior executive at JP Morgan Private Bank and Chase Manhattan Bank and a current director of The Coca-Cola Co.
- Calvin R. McDonald — Chief Executive Officer of lululemon athletica inc.
- Mark G. Parker — serves as Chairman of the Disney Board, is Executive Chairman of NIKE, Inc. and its former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
- Derica W. Rice. — former senior executive at CVS Health Corp. and Eli Lilly and Co. and a current director of The Carlyle Group Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., and Target Corp.
Cinderella Castle
In addition to the nominees from Trian, Disney’s Board also “does not endorse the nominations of Craig Hatkoff, Jessica Schell and Leah Solivan put forth for election as directors by Blackwells Onshore I LLC, Blackwells Capital LLC and Jason Aintabi (collectively, the “Blackwells Group”).”
We’ll be waiting for April 3rd and looking out for more news in the meantime. Stay tuned to DFB for the latest.
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I would vote in 2 seconds flat for the opposition if I knew the new direction was a return to family friendly content. And to get OUT of politics. As well as a return to customers being one of their top priorities.
Currently as it stands, Disney is more worried about how they are perceived by the woke police, and as of Bobby Paycheck, are more focused on milking every dollar from their customers over having a happy customer.