US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Ike Perlmutter, CEO of Marvel Entertainment, before signing an executive order at the US Department of Veterans Affairs April 27, 2017 in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
Ike Perlmutter, the former chairman of Marvel Entertainment at Disney, is planning a massive donation to support former President Donald Trump’s presidential bid in 2024, according to his spokesperson.
Perlmutter has yet to decide how much to donate to Trump’s campaign, but the businessman’s spokesman said Thursday the financial support was “meaningful.”
Perlmutter and Trump have been close for over two decades. Perlmutter previously donated $10.5 million to a pro-Trump super PAC in the 2020 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records. Perlmutter’s wife also donated $10.5 million to the same PAC, according to records.
According to ProPublica, Perlmutter also served as an outside adviser to then-President Trump on Veterans Affairs matters.
The former Marvel boss, who has a net worth of just over $3 billion, is one of the richest supporters of Trump’s 2020 campaign so far. Many big donors who once supported the ex-president are looking for alternatives after the pro- Trump’s January 6, 2021 riot on Capitol Hill and some lackluster 2022 midterm election results.
Trump-allied Make America Great Again super-PAC is likely to receive money from Perlmutter. The Super PAC started this year with just over $54 million and has spent over $19 million on TV and digital advertising to date.
Trump currently leads the Republican primary, well ahead of his second-place rival, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Perlmutter’s decision to once again endorse Trump over his Republican rivals could deal another blow to DeSantis. Some of the governor’s donors are worried about his campaign going. According to campaign finance records, Perlmutter donated over $250,000 to a state-level PAC that supported his run for governor in 2018 and 2022. According to the documents, his wife donated over $2 million to the same pro-DeSantis PAC.
The New York Times reported that Perlmutter recently had dinner with fellow GOP member Vivek Ramaswamy.
Perlmutter told The Wall Street Journal after being ousted from Disney earlier this year that he called DeSantis and agreed that the company shouldn’t get involved in politics. “Ron, you’re right. Disney has no right to get involved in politics,” Perlmutter reportedly told DeSantis in a phone call. Disney and DeSantis have been at war since the entertainment giant last year criticized a Republican-backed bill that critics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”
Perlmutter told the Journal that Disney fired him as CEO of Marvel Entertainment because he was too aggressive in pushing the company to cut costs and had problems with executives allied with newly-returned CEO Bob Iger.
A Disney representative told the Journal that the company’s general counsel called Perlmutter and told him his job had been terminated due to the company’s broader cost-cutting efforts. Perlmutter told the publication he did not recall such a call having taken place.
Iger told CNBC Thursday that he dismissed DeSantis’ campaign rhetoric against the company and called the Republican presidential nominee’s attacks “absurd and inaccurate.” Iger also said there will be a decrease in content spending and content creation for the Star Wars and Marvel franchises.