The Disney Proxy War: Does Peltz Have a Shot Against Iger?

The Town with Matthew Belloni

The Ringer

Society & Culture

4.3 • 847 Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2024

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss what’s at stake in Disney’s proxy battle with billionaire corporate raider Nelson Peltz. With the annual shareholder meeting coming up this week, they dive into the war Peltz has waged against Disney and CEO Bob Iger, whether his case has any merit, and whether he could actually win. Matt finishes the show with a prediction about how the box office will fare in Q2. For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, ‘What I’m Hearing ...,’ click here. Email us your thoughts! [email protected] Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Lucas Shaw Producer: Craig Horlbeck and Jessie Lopez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	There are a lot of quarterbacks in the NFL draft this year.
0:03.7	My name is Ben Solac and I host the Ringer NFL Draft Show with Danny Kelly, Danny Hypatts, and Craig Horlebeck.
0:08.5	We cover trades, free agency, and the draft, which is, yeah, obviously.
0:12.1	We'll tell you about everything, which includes which quarterbacks are good, which quarterbacks are bad, and which quarterbacks are just Kirk Cousins.
0:17.2	That is the Ringer NFL Draft Show. Search the bringer NFL draft show on Spotify.
0:24.2	It is Monday, April 1st. This Wednesday is a pretty special day for the Walt Disney company.
0:29.7	It's the annual shareholder meeting. I'm sure, like Craig and I, you'll be wearing your
0:33.6	Mickey hat all day to celebrate. This year is the culmination of the proxy battle
0:38.2	that investor Nelson Peltz has been waging against the company and its CEO, Bob Iger.
0:42.9	I've been writing a lot about this in my Puck newsletter. But to sum it up, Peltz, the billionaire
0:47.4	corporate raider, an investor at Tri-end Partners, has teamed up with Ike Pearl Mother, the fired
0:52.9	Marvel executive and a major Disney shareholder
0:55.5	to try to put Peltz and another disgruntled former Disney executive, Jay Rizulo, on the board of directors.
1:02.2	Peltz has no experience in entertainment, has never been on an entertainment company's board,
1:06.4	and it is 81 years old, but he's got ideas.
1:10.2	And mostly he's upset that the Disney stock is trading at about $120 a share,
1:15.1	down from nearly 200 at the height of the streaming wars three years ago,
1:19.0	but up about 30% this year.
1:21.2	That's a key factor for Ike.
1:22.9	Pelt says he's got a plan to help get Disney back on track,
1:25.8	give it a Netflix-like earnings in streaming,
1:28.8	figure out the path for ESPN and specifically to help the CEO succession problem.
	...

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