The Bob Iger v Nelson Peltz rematch
The letter to Disney’s top brass, when it came, was devastating. It referred to failure in the television business, low morale, mismanagement, underinvestment in theme parks and “your consistent refusal to establish a clear succession plan”. It demanded that the chief executive resign. That might sound like just the sort of missive Nelson Peltz, an activist investor, would send Bob Iger, Disney’s chief executive officer (CEO), having secured control of a stake worth about $2.5bn in the entertainment giant. But it isn’t. It is the letter, quoted in Mr Iger’s autobiography, that Roy Disney, Walt Disney’s nephew, sent to Michael Eisner, Mr Iger’s predecessor, almost 20 years ago, which led to Mr Eisner’s downfall and elevated Mr Iger to the Magic Kingdom’s throne. He, of all people, should know how lethal such messages can be.
Call it Disney’s “Nightmare before Christmas”. Nine months after Mr Peltz, the 81-year-old co-founder of Trian Fund Management, gave Mr Iger a badly needed breather by ending a proxy battle for a board seat at Disney, the Brooklyn-born billionaire is back on the warpath. If anything, he is better armed than before. Adding his shares to Trian’s is Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter, an 80-year-old former Israeli soldier who sold his company, Marvel Entertainment, to Mr Iger for $4bn in 2009, making him one of Disney’s biggest investors and a frequent thorn in the CEO’s side. (Mr Iger, in turn, has portrayed Mr Perlmutter as a paranoid penny-pincher with little interest in the creative side of entertainment.)
Mr Peltz and Mr Perlmutter, who live near each other in Palm Beach, Florida, have what is understood to be just shy of 2% of Disney’s shares, which they argue have serially underperformed the stockmarket, not just since Mr Iger’s second coming as CEO almost a year ago, but since midway through his first 15-year stint, which ended in 2020. They want a shareholder-focused shake…
2023-11-09 08:59:47
Original from www.economist.com
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