Bob Iger Vs. Nelson Peltz: A Former Marvel Boss Joins War Over Disney Board

Activist investor Nelson Peltz has allies in his latest fight against Disney DIS. But so, too, does Bob Iger, the entertainment conglomerate’s CEO.

What Happened: Peltz is attempting his second coup to capture seats on Disney’s board of directors. His first effort ended in February.

This time, former Marvel boss Ike Perlmutter joined the effort. Recall that it was Perlmutter who gained control of Marvel in the late 1990s. He eventually sold it to Disney in 2009 for $4 billion.

Since then, the superhero characters have become a cash cow for the studio. Marvel films reportedly generated an all-time gross of about $30 billion.

Perlmutter’s shares are under the control of Trian Fund Management, where Peltz is co-founder. Trian, according to a regulatory filing, has around 34 million shares worth nearly $3 billion in its war chest.

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Why It Matters: Peltz and Perlmutter want Iger to address Disney’s poor performance in recent years. Shareholders lost nearly $70 billion in value since Petlz’s first campaign for a board seat ended, they say.

“Disney's share price has underperformed proxy peers and the broader market over every relevant period during the last decade and over the tenure of each incumbent director,” Peltz said in a statement Thursday. “Investor confidence is low and key strategic questions loom.”

Iger returned after his predecessor, Bob Chapek, led Disney for just 11 months. Iger has since reduced debt and more than quadrupled cash flow. He also reinstated the dividend, which had been suspended since 2020.

At Disney’s results presentation last month, Iger acknowledged there was still work to be done, but said that efforts made so far had allowed the company to “move beyond this period of fixing and begin building our businesses again.”

The top priorities ahead are achieving “significant and sustained profitability in our streaming business”, which has cost the company more than $10 billion since its launch in 2019. Also, “improving the output and economics of our film studios”, which have struggled to find major box office giants in recent months.

Blackwells Joins The Battle

On Thursday, another Disney shareholder came to Iger’s defense.

Jason Aintabi, Chief Investment Officer of Blackwells Capital, said Peltz’s “mindless drum-beating activism is not the right strategy for shareholders.”

Aintabi said: “Blackwells offers support for the ongoing transformative restructuring led by the Company's CEO Bob Iger, and stewarded by an enviable Board of Directors recently enhanced through the appointments of James Gorman and Sir Jeremy Darroch.

“Displacing these individuals or other members of the Board with Mr Peltz and other Trian selected nominees would deprive shareholders of valuable, experienced voices in the boardroom at a critical time in the Company's history.”

But, while board directors do the talking, shareholders do the walking. Disney’s shares are down only fractionally over the year after a 10% rally in November. But over a three-year timescale, they’re down 40%.

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