#great #battle #future #Disney
The big battle for Disney’s future is over, and former CEO Bob Iger has emerged victorious.
For months, his opponents — billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz with his Trian Fund Management and former Disney chief financial officer Jay Rasullo — have been mounting a campaign to install them on the entertainment giant’s board.
The two were harshly critical of the way Iger managed Disney because of the company’s losses, criticized the hard line of political correctness and the overall approach to business development.
Trian Fund Management owns a stake in the company equal to about $3 billion (at Disney’s total value of about $218.25).
Peltz has repeatedly expressed his concerns that despite being such a mastodon in the entertainment world, recent years have shown many weaknesses, especially when it comes to the success of new films and the development of the Disney+ platform (which has been operating at a loss since its launch a few years ago ).
Home of Mickey Mouse features extremely valuable and popular intellectual property, from the company’s own films, through Marvel superheroes, the Star Wars epic and the entire catalog of Pixar animations.
Photo: Disney The fifth film in the Indiana Jones series has become a symbol of Disney’s failures in recent years. The film neither performed satisfactorily at the box office nor in terms of critical reactions.
However, the strategy of churning out sequels and new versions of old stories, which for years brought in serious profits, has recently led to disappointing results.
Viewers simply got tired of new, not very creative stories from Marvel or continuations of already known stories. There was also the element of the scandals surrounding accusations of excessive political correctness in films under the Disney umbrella.
Perhaps the only truly definitive pillar in the extremely rich portfolio of the company remained the amusement parks “Disneyland”.
So Peltz and Rasullo promised that if they joined the board of directors, they would be able to “steer the ship” in a different direction – far less political messaging at the expense of stabilizing the financial results and the overall health of the entertainment giant.
Nelson Peltz caused quite a stir with his recent interview with the Financial Times, in which he cited the “woke” agenda in Disney films such as Captain Marvel 2 and Black Panther as one of the problems with the studio’s output right now.
“Why does there have to be an all-female Captain Marvel? Not that I have anything against women, but why do we have to do it? Why do I need to have an all-black cast?” he told the publication, prompting speculation , that it could bring with it a “more conservative” vision for future Mickey Mouse Home movies
As part of their campaign, he and Jay Rasullo received the support of former Marvel Studios boss Ike Perlmutter and Tesla and X boss Elon Musk.
However, that proved to be insufficient, as according to sources cited by Forbes, Time and CNN, the lobbying victory of Disney CEO Bob Iger has achieved a landslide victory.
Photo: Getty Images Bob Iger will continue to set the direction for Disney for the next two years.
His nominees for the company’s board beat out Peltz and Rasullo by about a 2-to-1 margin, with many calling it a landslide victory for Iger’s vision for the entertainment giant’s future.
The vote itself was clearly defined as a vote of confidence of sorts for the CEO.
Before the April 3 vote, he was backed by some of the company’s major shareholders, including George Lucas (who himself owns one of the largest private equity stakes in Disney).
The other factor that played a major role in Iger’s support was the earnings report he presented for the previous year, where it is seen that the situation is more positive than expected by the experts.
He announced at the start of the year the layoff of 7,000 jobs, along with a restructuring plan aimed at reinvigorating Disney’s core creative departments.
The CEO also promised a big return on upcoming releases of the exclusive broadcast rights to Taylor Swift’s tour, which is expected to boost the Disney+ streaming platform.
He also laid out plans for the future of the ESPN sports channel in a streaming version, potentially becoming part of a mega sports streaming platform in which Disney will partner with Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox.
Iger has ambitious plans to grow the company’s gaming wing as well, using its wealth of intellectual property to create new, popular games.
To top it all off, he envisions a $60 billion investment in new attractions at Disney’s theme parks and cruise ships.
So, at least for now, Bob Iger has managed to fend off the invasion at least until 2026, when he has promised to step down as CEO.
However, Peltz and Rasullo still haven’t given up on the idea of reviving the company. In an official statement, Trian Fund Management said it appreciated “the support and dialogue we have had with Disney stakeholders.”
“We are proud of the impact we have had in repositioning this company towards value creation and good governance,” the statement said.
“We will monitor the company’s performance and focus on its continued success,” they added.
