The Disney proxy fight continues, with CEO Bob Iger gearing up to stave off advances from activist shareholder Nelson Peltz, former Marvel chairman and CEO Ike Perlmutter, and former Disney exec Jay Rasulo. Kim Masters and Matt Belloni discuss.
Why is this push from Peltz different? He’s teamed up with support from former Marvel and Disney execs, notably billionaire Ike Perlmutter. “He is backing this Nelson Peltz play with [his own] stock,” Masters says. “This time they have Jay Rasulo, who had run the theme parks before becoming CFO and was seen as a potential contender to replace Bob Iger. So now [Perlmutter] is involved with this attack, and he has many years of Disney experience, and in the opinion of some adds credibility to this attempt to get seats for Peltz and now Jay Rasulo on the Disney board.”
How is Iger bracing himself? He brought in another big shareholder, ValueAct Capital, to fight Peltz and company. Belloni explains, “They are essentially saying ‘Nelson Peltz is a clown; he's doing this for his own self interest. We believe in Bob Iger and his track record as CEO since 2005 speaks for itself. This company does need a reinvention, and Iger is the guy to do it, so why would you screw around with that in the middle of it?’”
Will shareholders buy into it? It’s a bit early to predict, but this appears to be an uphill climb for the activist investors. “The problem is that this is all smelling like a spite store, like something that these disgruntled guys, Perlmutter and Rasulo, have decided to do to Disney to exact revenge. And that is not an argument that I think will win over Disney shareholders,” Belloni speculates. “You've got to say exactly what your ideas are, and how listening to you and putting your seats on the board is going to help Disney enact change.”