Robert Iger, President and CEO of Walt Disney Company announces a $5 million dollar donation with Mickey Mouse for the New Hospital Building at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, October 30, 2006 in Los Angeles, California.
Bob Riha Jr | Archive Photos | Getty Images
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So in the end, Disney won the fight with activist investors.
After blowing a reported $40 million battling Nelson Peltz-led Trian Partners and former Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter, Disney’s shareholders elected the company’s full board at the media conglomerate’s annual shareholders meeting Wednesday.
It wasn’t all that close. Peltz lost out on his bids to oust director Maria Elena Lagomasino by a fairly large margin.
For all Peltz levelled at Disney’s management about their strategy for the company’s streaming business, he failed to convince shareholders that he had a credible alternative plan.
Still, Peltz made some claims that stuck somewhat, including one that questions Disney’s search for chief executive Bob Iger’s second successor. Iger returned as CEO in 2022 after Bob Chapek was fired.
Peltz, however, is not going away as Trian Partners owns a 1.8% stake in Disney.
The attention will return to Disney’s challenges with its streaming business and what it’s going to do to revitalize ESPN — and the question of Iger’s succession.
— CNBC’s Alex Sherman, Rohan Goswami and Sarah Whitten contributed reporting.