Disney shareholder meeting is set for April 3 when investors will get to participate in who guides the entertainment and media giant’s future. It reiterated that Disney CEO Bob Iger, who returned to the said position after his handpicked successor was fired in 2022, will leave at the end of 2026 and noted that his contract has been extended.
Walt Disney’s battle with activist investor Nelson Peltz heated up on Thursday. This happened as per Nelson Peltz his candidates were better suited for Disney succession planning for life after CEO Bob Iger than two current board members.
Disney shareholder meeting
Disney set the shareholder meeting for the same on April 3 when investors will get a say on the succession planning.
“Both the Board and Bob remain actively engaged in the high-priority work of succession planning,” the company said.
Those promises do not impress Nelson Peltz, the octogenarian billionaire pushing the home of Mickey Mouse to cut costs, create a profitable streaming business, improve the performance of its movie studio and clean up its succession planning. He said in a letter to investors the company’s “strategic missteps” can be “laid at the feet of its board.”
Disney succession planning
On Wednesday his firm, Trian Fund Management, made a regulatory filing which had Disney succession planning and wanting to replace Disney directors Michael Froman and Maria Elena Lagomasino with Peltz and former Disney chief financial officer Jay Rasulo.
On Thursday, Trian wrote to shareholders that according to Disney’s own criteria, Froman and Lagomasino lack skills in succession planning, media and entertainment, and strategic transformation. Peltz and Rasulo, the letter says, have skills in all areas central to Disney’s strategy.
Disney on Nelson Peltz’s filing
Disney issued a press release saying its 12 nominees are the best qualified to create value for shareholders, and urged investors to reject Trian’s nominees. It has said Peltz lacks media experience and has failed to present any strategic ideas, while Rasulo’s perspective is “stale,” since he left the company in 2015.
The company also said it does not endorse the three board candidates nominated by Blackwells Capital, another Disney investor that has largely been supportive of Iger’s efforts to cut costs and improve operations. Again Disney argued they lack the range of talent, skill or expertise to drive growth.
Disney’s board future
Disney described its succession planning in an updated proxy filed Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Committee. The company said it has contacted 96% of its largest 25 shareholders and held nearly 100 conversations with investors about topics including the ongoing leadership succession process.
The board’s succession planning committee met six times last year, and in fiscal 2024 it added James Gorman, a former Morgan Stanley CEO who has successfully led CEO succession processes at global institutions, to its board and the committee that is searching for Iger’s replacement. The board has also received reports from advisors and a search firm regarding CEO candidates.
