TheQuartering [10/9/2023]
Billionaire investor Nelson Peltz is planning a fresh push to grab seats on Walt Disney’s board, as shares of the company have slumped since he locked horns with CEO Bob Iger in the spring, according to a report.
The 81-year-old Peltz has built up his stake in the company to more than 30 million shares from 6.4 million earlier this year, priming his Trian Fund Management to request multiple board seats — including one for himself, according to The Wall Street Journal.
That makes Trian — which has over $8.5 billion under management — one of Disney’s largest investors with a stake valued at some $2.5 billion — and sets Peltz up to finally get the board seats he’s been vying for since early this year.
In January, Peltz blamed Disney’s stock slump on its board and signaled interest in a board seat.
Peltz — who’s worth $1.5 billion and often presents himself as a partner with constructive advice for companies — did not reportedly support bringing Iger out of retirement and back into Disney’s chief role.
He has also pushed for operational changes and cost cuts at the media giant, as well as a board seat.
Disney snubbed his request to join its board, saying Peltz — who serves as a board member at the Wendy’s Company and Proctor & Gamble — “does not understand Disney’s business,” per The Journal.
Peltz then launched a proxy battle against the company.
However, it was short-lived, and Peltz withdrew his nomination to become a director in February — the same month Iger, Disney’s then-newly-reinstated CEO, initiated a sweeping revamp that slashed 7,000 jobs as part of an effort to achieve $5.5 billion in cost savings.
The move temporarily lifted Disney’s flailing share price, though it has since crept down from around $113 to about $80 per share, near a 52-week low of $78.73.
Shares have tumbled nearly 18% in the past six months.
Disney shares were up more than 2% on Monday, closing at $84.70.
Trian, which Peltz co-founded in 2005, thinks Disney shares are significantly undervalued, according to The Journal, and has been putting pressure on Iger — who signed an extension to remain at the helm of the Mouse House through 2026 — to reverse Disney’s stock decline.
Trian Fund Management declined The Post’s request for comment.
Iger, meanwhile, has been taking steps to increase the company’s profits, including jacking up the price of its Disney+ streaming service and cracking down on password sharing.
The increases will raise the monthly cost of ad-free Disney+ by $3, or roughly 27%, to almost $14.
The cost of ad-free Hulu will likewise rise $3 to almost $18 — a 20% hike that will make it more expensive than the most popular ad-free tier at Netflix.
Iger acknowledged that the price hikes are intended to steer consumers toward cheaper ad-supported versions of these services, whose subscription prices are not changing.
He also acknowledged the need to improve the quality of Disney’s films, to position the company’s flagship sports brand ESPN for streaming directly to consumers and to resolve the writers and actors’ strikes in Hollywood that have halted much film and television production.
