Disney CEO Bob Iger is taking a victory lap today after squashing billionaire Nelson Peltz’s attempts to insert himself onto the company’s board of directors.
At the 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders held Tuesday, The Walt Disney Company announced that its entire slate of 12 directors has been elected by a substantial margin over the nominees of Trian and Blackwells, according to the tabulation of its proxy solicitor. Final voting results are subject to certification by the Company’s independent inspector of elections and will be included in the upcoming reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Shareholders voted to elect all 12 nominees recommended by the Disney Board, including prominent figures such as Mary T. Barra, Safra A. Catz, and Robert A. Iger. Mark Parker, Chairman of the Board, expressed gratitude to shareholders for their investment and confidence in Disney, particularly during a period of significant transformation in the entertainment industry.
“We are immensely grateful to our shareholders for their investment in Disney and their belief in its future, particularly during this period of great change in the broader entertainment industry,” said Mark Parker. “We are fortunate to have a highly qualified Board of Directors who possess a profound commitment to the enduring strength of this company and an enormous amount of experience and expertise, including succession planning.”
Bob Iger, Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company, echoed Parker’s sentiments, expressing appreciation for the trust and confidence placed in the Board and management by shareholders. With the proxy contest now concluded, Iger emphasized the company’s renewed focus on growth, value creation, and creative excellence.
“I want to thank our shareholders for their trust and confidence in our Board and management,” said Iger. “With the distracting proxy contest now behind us, we’re eager to focus 100% of our attention on our most important priorities: growth and value creation for our shareholders and creative excellence for our consumers.”
REELated:
The announcement comes after a very public fight for control between The Mouse and Peltz and former Marvel CEO Isaac Perlmutter.
Talking to CNBC, Iger addressed the fact that ousted and bitter Marvel Entertainment CEO Perlmutter was backing Peltz (which is also likely what led the latter to question the need for superhero movies with predominantly female or Black casts).
Iger says the fight wasn’t personal “on my side” and adds, “I was supporting the interests of the company, not my personal interests, and defending what the company and the board was doing, as opposed to defending myself.”
“If you are asking if it was personal on their side, [Perlmutter] would probably say no [but] I think there was probably a degree of personal animus there. We closed the Marvel offices and it did result in Ike leaving the company. But I am not going to put words in his mouth.”
Peltz’s attempts to appeal to the anti-woke crowd are thought to have backfired on him, particularly as those comments in his Financial Times interview got far more attention than any good points he made about what could make Disney more profitable.
Now, Iger can get back to overseeing the company as it gears up for its next CEO, all while attempting to put its film and TV offerings back on the right track.
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