Trian Partners LP founding partner Nelson Peltz said Thursday his proxy battle with Walt Disney Co. is over.
The activist investor announced in January that he would seek a board seat at the company to try to initiate changes after being rebuffed in his outreach. Peltz changed his mind after Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger unveiled plans for a dramatic restructuring during Wednesday’s earnings call.
Peltz announced the move in an interview with CNBC. Trian confirmed the decision to drop the proxy battle, calling it a “win for all shareholders.”
Iger’s plans for the world’s largest entertainment company include 7,000 job cuts and $5.5 billion in cost savings. He also said Disney’s board would consider reinstating the company’s dividend, which was suspended at the start of the pandemic.
The steps addressed two of Peltz’s biggest complaints. “We are pleased that Disney is listening,” Trian said in a statement after Iger’s announcements.
Separately, Iger said in an interview with CNBC that he isn’t entirely committed to buying the one-third of the Hulu streaming TV business that Disney doesn’t already own. Disney has an agreement to purchase the stake from Comcast Corp. next year at a price that values all of Hulu at a minimum of $27.5 billion.
In the interview Thursday, Iger called Hulu a “very successful platform” and a “good consumer proposition,” but said “everything is on the table right now.”
“I’m not going to speculate on whether we’re a buyer or a seller of it,” he said, adding he’s “concerned” that general entertainment programming is “undifferentiated.”
Proxy fights are expensive and can run into the tens of millions of dollars. Trian also has likely already seen a sizable gain on its $1 billion stake in Disney, with the shares climbing 31% this year.
The proxy fight had been shaping up to be one of the biggest board showdowns of 2023. Activist investing has been on the rise this year as large tech and health stocks have lagged and it’s become easier for investors to nominate their own directors under new regulatory rules. With Peltz out of the way at Disney, the big corporate drama to watch now will be what happens with Salesforce Inc., which is being targeted by Elliott Investment Management and several other activist investors.
