Disney Strikes Back! The company claims billionaire Nelson Peltz “doesn’t understand” the business and has no place to interfere after making a sweeping bid for a seat on the board
- Nelson Peltz is fighting for a seat on Disney’s board of directors, which he says is failing
- Disney fought back today and filed a 16-page pitch deck with the SEC
- They say Peltz doesn’t understand the business and has the wrong skills
- Peltz is known for turning his back on companies with his no-nonsense approach
Disney is opposing billionaire activist Nelson Peltz’s bid for a seat on its board of directors, filing a 16-page slideshow with the SEC explaining why they think he’s the wrong man for the job.
Peltz, the 80-year-old father of Brooklyn Beckham’s wife Nicola, filed a petition with the SEC last week for a seat at the Mickey Mouse table.
He pointed out that Disney has consistently underperformed the S&P 500 and said his business acumen could make it a success. Peltz holds a 0.5 percent stake in Disney through his company Trian Partners.
Now it’s up to Disney shareholders to decide whether Peltz gets a seat or not. The vote will take place at the 2023 Annual General Meeting. A date has not been set.
Disney CEO Bob Iger returned to the company after Bob Chapek’s brief tenure. Now he’s fending off a proxy fight with billionaire Nelson Peltz
Billionaire activist Nelson Peltz with his son-in-law Brooklyn Beckham. He made an offer for a Disney board seat last week
He followed up on Disney’s “poor corporate governance” and said he would infuse the company with a “leadership mentality” that has been lost in consumer reviews thanks to a series of sparked controversies.
He also targeted the “over-the-top compensation packages” — an issue that has long been a thorn in the company’s side.
Shareholders recently voted overwhelmingly to change their policy to ensure more pay transparency.
When Bob Chapek left the company last November after a disastrous two years, he walked away with a $20 million severance package. That was on top of his $24 million-a-year compensation package.
Igerl returned with a base salary of $1 million a year — but he’ll also earn $1 million in an annual bonus and has stock options of up to $25 million.
Disney, in its rebuttal to Peltz, claimed that it was already taking steps to address the pay gap at the company.
In the slideshow filed Tuesday, Disney says, “Nelson Peltz does not understand Disney’s business and lacks the skills and experience to assist the board in delivering shareholder value in a rapidly changing media ecosystem.”
Disney also provided a series of statements proving that Peltz cannot be trusted, picking up on a recent CNBC interview he gave in which he admitted he was “not an expert” on theme parks.
Disney filed a 16-page deck with the SEC Tuesday explaining its case. The company says Peltz’s track record doesn’t lend itself to media or technology
The Disney deck also points to Peltz’s ‘contradictory’ statements as evidence of why he shouldn’t be trusted
The company also pointed out that Peltz admitted in a recent interview that he’s “not an expert” on theme parks
Disney commended Bob Iger for creating value for shareholders over the past 18 years
Nelson Peltz, the legendary activist investor, plays for Disney. Peltz is notoriously conservative, but not to the extreme: he prefers profits to politics and urges companies to follow the same philosophy if they want to be successful. Pictured with wife Claudia and daughter Nicola
Peltz starred for Disney with an SEC filing asking for a board seat and a multi-faceted social media and website campaign to restore his lost “magic.”
The company claims it has excelled financially without him, and says Iger — brought back after Bob Chapek’s disastrous and short tenure — is the right man to lead.
Peltz has yet to respond to the filing, signaling the beginning of a long and brutal proxy fight.
The Brooklyn-born business titan is known for going after companies he believes are financially self-harming by getting into politics.
His approach is to put business first.
Peltz’s bid for Disney isn’t his first attempt to take control of—or at least direct—a once-thriving company that he believes has gone astray on virtue signals.
In September 2021, he did just that with Unilever, the company that owns a number of brands, including Ben & Jerry’s.
During a meeting in London, the New York-born Peltz confronted Unilever CEO Alan Jope about the famously liberal Ben & Jerry’s and its many political pronouncements.
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