Hedge fund investors seeking a seat on Disney's board were defeated.
Disney secured enough shareholder votes at its annual meeting on Wednesday to win a high-profile board fight against 81-year-old billionaire Nelson Peltz, founder and CEO of Trian Fund Management, and Jay Rasulo, Disney's former chief financial officer.
Disney's 12 recommended nominees were elected by shareholders “by a significant margin” over Trian and Blackwell's 5 nominees, Horacio Gutierrez, Disney's senior executive vice president, announced at the shareholder meeting at approximately 10:22 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.
Disney CEO Bob Iger on February 12, 2024. (Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images)
Disney CEO Bob Iger called the matter “this distracting proxy deal” after the earnings announcement and said Disney was now “eager” to continue to focus on creating value for shareholders.
Related: Hedge fund billionaire and Disney investor Nelson Peltz published 133 pages about how Disney should change
Peltz and Rasulo launched a months-long, multimillion-dollar campaign to secure seats on Disney's 12-member board. Peltz has challenged Disney's business decisions and recently spoke to the Financial Times about his views against casting new Disney films.
At the board meeting, Peltz spoke for about three minutes and said, “There is no doubt that Disney is an iconic company… All we want is for Disney to produce great content again.”
Peltz noted that this was the second time he had run for a board position, referencing another attempt last year that he declined, and stated that regardless of the outcome of the vote, Trian would be Disney's gig will pursue.
Peltz was interrupted by Gutierrez and informed that he was running out of time before he finished his statement.
Related: Here's what Disney CEO Bob Iger told his employees in a town hall speech
A Disney video from March said Peltz's ambitions were “more vanity than belief in Disney” and that Rasulo was “a former Disney employee who was passed over for a promotion nearly a decade ago.” Rasulo stepped down from the position of Disney CFO in 2015.
Blackwells Capital, another hedge fund, also nominated three candidates, Craig Hatkoff, Jessica Schell and Leah Solivan, to the board, according to its annual meeting notice.
Gutierrez announced at the shareholder meeting that Disney did not support Trian or Blackwell's nominees.
Instead, Disney proposed twelve directors to the board who were ultimately elected by shareholders: Mary T. Barra, Safra A. Catz, Amy L. Chang, D. Jeremy Darroch, Carolyn N. Everson, Michael BG Froman, James P. Gorman , Robert A. Iger, Maria Elena Lagomasino, Calvin R. McDonald, Mark G. Parker and Derica W. Rice.
Each board member holds the position for one year.
You can find the notice of the annual general meeting and the declaration of proxy here.