Disney faces proxy fight as Peltz pushes to join board
Activist investor Nelson Peltz is fighting for a seat on the board of Walt Disney Co., claiming that the company is struggling with self-inflicted problems.
Peltz's attempt to join Disney's board comes just months after the company brought back longtime CEO Bob Iger to lead Disney again. Disney urged shareholders to vote against Peltz and named current board member Mark Parker as its chairman. Parker, who also serves as executive chairman at Nike Inc., succeeds Susan Arnold, who won’t stand for re-election due to Disney’s 15-year term limit requirements.
With the departure of Arnold, Disney's board will shrink to 11 directors.
Peltz said that he should be elected to Disney's board because of his prior experience turning around companies to improve performance and increase long-term shareholder value. Peltz has previously waged successful proxy battles at blue chip companies including DuPont and Procter & Gamble. Peltz’s Trian Group said in a regulatory filing that he’s seeking a one-year term.
Trian argues that Disney's recent operating performance is disappointing, and said that the stock is almost at an eight-year low despite the return of Bob Iger to the CEO post two months ago.
“The Trian Group believes that Disney’s recent performance reflects the hard truth that it is a company in crisis with many challenges weighing on investor sentiment,” the filing said.
Shares of Disney, based in Burbank, California, rose nearly 2% before the market open on Thursday.
While Trian acknowledges that Disney — which owns Marvel, Pixar and ESPN — is like many other media companies in the challenges it faces shifting from legacy content distribution channels to streaming, the group argues that it should still be performing better given its intellectual property, diversified...
