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Nelson Peltz ends Disney proxy fight in a great win for all the shareholders MarketWatch Nelson Peltz ends Disney proxy fight in a great win for all the shareholders By Emily Bary MarketWatch Disney is cutting 7,000 jobs and giving creatives more profit responsibility Activist investor Nelson Peltz of Trian Fund Management is ending his proxy battle with Walt Disney Co. (DIS) amid changes initiated by newly reinstalled chief executive Bob Iger. "This was a great win for all the shareholders," Peltz said in a CNBC interview Thursday morning. "Management at Disney now plans to do everything that we wanted them to do." He had been looking to replace Michael Froman on Disney's board of directors as part of a broader plan to "restore the magic" at the company, but that's no longer the plan, as Trian announced in a press release later Thursday that it was withdrawing Peltz's nomination to eliminate that distraction. "We will be watching, we will be rooting, and the proxy fight is over," Peltz told CNBC. Trian owns about 9.4 million Disney shares valued at roughly $1 billion, according to the press release. "We respect and value the input of all our shareholders and we appreciate the decision by Trian Fund announced by Nelson Peltz this morning," a Disney spokesperson said in a statement. Disney announced alongside its Wednesday afternoon earnings that it would be cutting 7,000 jobs and conducting a reorganization of the business that gives creative heads more say in how content is marketed and distributed, and also more profit responsibility. Shares of Disney were up 1.7% in midday trading, after rising as much as 5.7% earlier in the session. Don't miss: Disney CEO Bob Iger says 'everything's on the table right now' for Hulu Peltz's interest in Disney was part of a trend among activists to increasingly target larger companies. Salesforce Inc. (CRM) has been of particular interest lately, garnering the attention of five activists. Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL)(GOOGL) Google has also seen activist pushback, with one hedge-fund billionaire urging the company to cut more jobs than it already has. |
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