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Left: Nelson Peltz. Right: Jay Laslo.
new york
CNN
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A leading activist investor is seeking two seats on Disney’s board of directors, amid a long-simmering feud with CEO Bob Iger and the company’s management over the company’s future. It is intensifying the conflict.
Trian Fund Management announced Thursday that it has nominated founder Nelson Peltz and former Disney chief financial officer Jay Laszlo to serve on Disney’s board of directors. Following the tryout in November Started a new bid The media conglomerate rejected the move for a seat on Disney’s board, rekindling a dispute from earlier this year.
Disney this past year struggled mightily There have been a surprising number of failures, with movie and terrestrial television viewership declining and streaming businesses suffering huge losses. Mr. Peltz is aiming for a comeback.
“As Disney’s largest and most active shareholder, the current board members and their hand-picked successors are no longer standing in the way of needed change and as their peers and competitors continue to outperform,” Trian CEO Peltz said in a statement. We cannot remain silent and watch.” statement. “Shareholder-led board renewal with focused, coordinated directors accountable to company owners is long overdue.”
Disney stock was up 1.5% at midday Wednesday.
The company has pushed back against Mr. Peltz and Mr. Tryon in the past, but said it would consider the proposal.
“Disney has an experienced, diverse and high-quality board of directors,” Disney said in a release following Tryon’s nomination. “The Governance and Nominating Committee, which evaluates director nominations, will consider Trian’s proposed nominees and make recommendations to the Board as part of the governance process.”
Tryon said he believes Disney’s performance is driven by a board that is “too closely tied to its long-serving CEO and too divorced from shareholder interests.”
The company also appointed Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and former Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch as a step toward achieving “objectivity” on the Disney board. Although he approved the appointment to the board, he said it was an insufficient step.
Trian expects its next annual meeting to be held in spring 2024.
Disney shareholders welcomed CEO Bob Iger’s return to the helm in 2022, but the company has struggled this year with declining linear TV revenues, box office revenue shortfalls and cost-cutting efforts.
The company’s streaming platform, Disney+, has shed money as it struggles to transition into the streaming era. Disney increased the subscription price for ad-free streaming to $13.99 per month in October, but kept the ad inventory price at $7.99.
Disney has said it expects its streaming division to start generating profits by the end of next year, but it lost streaming subscribers in the U.S. and Canada last quarter. Disney has indicated it may expand its efforts to prohibit password sharing between users.
Even Disney’s former cash cow, ESPN, has seen ratings slump, putting pressure on Disney to move quickly to streaming.
In November, Iger acknowledged the challenges Disney faces this year. annual company town halland said they are focused on building a new, more modern business model for Disney.
Meanwhile, Disney stock, at about $95 a share, has risen since trading at a nearly 10-year low in November. The stock price has risen about 9% since the beginning of the year, but remains well below recent highs.
CNN’s Samantha DeRuya contributed to this report.