Yahoo Finance Mission Accomplished? Despite Losing Proxy Fight, Billionaire Nelson Peltz Reportedly Sells Entire Disney Stake For $1B In Profit
Nelson Peltz may have lost the battle with Disney, but in strict financial terms may have won the war.
The activist investor waged a months-long campaign against CEO Bob Iger and the media company’s board of directors, ending in a decisive defeat at April’s annual shareholder meeting. At the heart of the effort was a blistering critique of the company’s then-languishing share price. As Iger sought to deliver cost reductions and streaming profits, while also trying to right a capsized movie ship and work through a host of other challenges, the stock sank to multi-year lows last year. It has since rallied, rising 11% in 2024 to date, better than the growth of the benchmark S&P 500.
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Multiple media outlets, citing an unidentified source familiar with the transaction reported that Peltz’s firm, Trian Fund Management, unloaded its entire stake in Disney. Trian at one point controlled $3 billion in shares, including voting rights conferred by former Marvel Chairman Ike Perlmutter, who teamed with Peltz in the proxy fight. CNBC, which had the first report of the share sale, said last October Trian had upped its stake to some 30 million shares.
A rep from Trian declined to comment when contacted by Deadline. Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The profit from the stock sale, which occurred as shares were at around $120, came to about $1 billion, reports said. Disney stock closed Wednesday at $100.88
Peltz, who has waged successful battles against corporate behemoths like Procter & Gamble, came into the Disney clash already a billionaire. When challenged over his lack of Hollywood knowledge, he didn’t deny it, but insisted that his outsider perspective would be a tonic on the board, especially when combined with the background of ally Jay Rasulo, former CFO of Disney. Peltz also accused board members of treating Iger with too much reverence. Disney, for its part, maintained the company was in capable hands with Iger, who returned as CEO in 2022 after his nearly five-decade run at ABC and Disney culminated in a prior CEO stint from 2006 to 2020.
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