While Disney (DIS) CEO Bob Iger is campaigning against proven value creator and activist investor Nelson Peltz, Unilever CEO Alan Jope has made the multi-billion dollar change agent his own.
Peltz joined the board of consumer goods giant Unilever in May 2022 and has since brought “all kinds of good ideas” to the company, according to Jope – who has announced he will retire in 2023.
“His view of what the company needs to do is very much in line with the agenda we are working on,” Jope told Yahoo Finance Live at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland (video above). “A big part of our agenda over the past year has been to simplify our organization. This was something he felt was necessary. He’s someone who has a strong track record in the consumer goods industry and we thought he would make a good board member for Unilever.”
Investors end up looking to Peltz to help turn around Unilever, a maker of everything from Hellman’s mayonnaise to petroleum jelly.
Nelson Peltz Founding Partner of Trian Fund Management LP. speak at the WSJD Live conference in Laguna Beach, California October 25, 2016. Portal/Mike Blake
“Nelson preparing for a fight”
Peltz has a similar track record in consumer products – he was instrumental in the restructuring of P&G (PG) as a then board member.
The company restructured its businesses, reduced costs and has been in a product innovation boom ever since. Over the past five years, P&G stock has been a top performer, up 66%.
Peltz also worked closely with former P&G CEO David Taylor, who praised Peltz’s work after a controversial proxy fight.
Since Peltz joined the board, Unilever has held a well-publicized investor day in late 2022, where the company outlined its efforts to restructure and strengthen its product pipeline.
While Unilever has let Peltz into the boardroom, yachtsman Iger of Disney fame has taken a different approach. He doesn’t want to get anywhere near Peltz and his ideas for the media monster.
“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 said in an updated proxy statement Tuesday. “The current Disney board is the right board for shareholders.”
The story goes on
The company again defended its stock performance under the watchful eye of CEO Bob Iger, noting that Disney’s total return in its first fight as CEO was 554%, beating the 244% total return generated by the S&P 500 over the period.
Trian, Peltz’s company, filed a proxy statement last week asking Disney to restore its dividend, improve succession planning, and cut spending.
“Nelson is preparing for a fight here,” a source familiar with the matter told Yahoo Finance.
Peltz reportedly owns approximately $900 million worth of Disney stock.
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Brian Sozzi is a freelance writer and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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