We expected this to be the case, but Disney shareholders have today ended billionaire Nelson Peltz's repeated attempts to insert himself and Jay Rasulo onto the House of Mouse's board of directors.
Instead, all 12 Disney-backed board members, including current Disney CEO Bob Iger, have been reelected after what's proven to be the most expensive corporate proxy fight ever.
It was a landslide victory for Iger with 94% of the votes cast in his favour and a mere 31% for Peltz. Investors were given the chance to vote on three competing board candidate slates: Disney's 12 board members, Trian Partners' nominees, Peltz and Jay Rasulo, and three from investment firm Blackwells Capital.
Addressing the company's victory, Disney Chairman Mark Parker said, "We are immensely grateful to our shareholders for their investment in Disney and their belief in its future, particularly during this period of great change in the broader entertainment industry."
"We are fortunate to have a highly qualified board of directors who possess a profound commitment to the enduring strength of this company and an enormous amount of experience and expertise, including succession planning."
He'd later thank Iger, "his exceptional management team," and Disney's employees "for continuing to deliver for consumers and shareholders throughout this distracting proxy battle."
Iger has also shared a statement which reads, "I want to thank our shareholders for their trust and confidence in our board and management. With the distracting proxy contest now behind us, we’re eager to focus 100% of our attention on our most important priorities: growth and value creation for our shareholders and creative excellence for our consumers."
For what it's worth, Trian appears to view this as a win. The company responded to today's failure by stating, "While we are disappointed with the outcome of this proxy contest, Trian greatly appreciates all of the support and dialogue we have had with Disney stakeholders. We are proud of the impact we have had in refocusing this company on value creation and good governance."
"Over the last six months, Disney’s stock is up approximately 50% and is the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s best performer year-to-date. We thank Trian’s investors for the confidence they have placed in our efforts."
Peltz may have doomed his efforts after a recent interview which saw him admit to knowing nothing about the film industry and questioning the track record of Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige after the executive spearheaded a $30 billion franchise for Disney.
His comments about "woke" Marvel movies with Black and female characters also went down like a lead balloon and echoed the viewpoint of one of his main supporters, Isaac Perlmutter (who has no love for Iger after he pushed him out of Marvel Studios and, later, Marvel Entertainment).
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