Activist investor loses out to Disney in board election vote

April 4th, 2024

Activist investor Nelson Peltz has lost his proxy fight against Disney after shareholders voted to re-elect the full board.

Peltz’ company, Trian Partners, vied to oust two members of Disney’s board of directors, Maria Elena Lagomasino and Michael Froman, from the board, CNBC reports.

Peltz ran against Lagmasino and lost by a 2-to-1 margin, according to CNBC, while former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo, nominated by Trian, lost to her by a 5-to-1 margin.

Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times both reported that Bob Iger received 94% of shareholder support, compared to just 31% for Peltz in his bid for a seat on the board.

The turnout for the vote was in the mid-60s, compared to 63% shareholder turnout in 2023.

Peltz hoped to remove both members of the board, claiming they were responsible for the media conglomerate’s sustained share underperformance, billions in misdirected investments and a failed succession process that saw Iger step from his role as CEO for just two years before returning.

Iger was reappointed as CEO for Disney by the board in November 2022. He had previously served as CEO and chairman of the board from 2005 to 2020, when he stepped down from the role.

Iger remained working as executive chairman and chairman of the board through to 2021 while his successor Bob Chapek first began as CEO. Chapek was removed from the role in 2022 and the board voted to reinstate Iger.

Iger said: “I want to thank our shareholders for their trust and confidence in our Board and management.

“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.”