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Former Marvel boss Ike Perlmutter has sold his entire stake in Disney for nearly $3 billion after their joint proposal to restructure the board of directors was soundly defeated.
Perlmutter, once a major Disney shareholder, sold all of his 25.6 million shares for a staggering $2.9 billion. Wall Street Journal reported.
The billionaire businessman sold his shares between early April and mid-July at an average price of just under $115 after saying he had no confidence in the company's current management.
Perlmutter joined Disney as CEO of Marvel Entertainment when it was acquired by the media giant in 2009.
The 81-year-old had been a member of Marvel Comics' board of directors since the early 1990s, but was eventually ousted from his position in 2015 and then fired entirely in 2023 when Bob Iger returned to his role as CEO.
Although he never won a board seat, he held on to his shares and backed hedge fund billionaire Nelson Peltz's bid to join the board this year.
The campaign was motivated by Iger's failed attempt to name his successor, following complaints from Peltz that the board had not done its job regarding CEO succession planning by failing to investigate former parks chief Bob Chapek.
Chapek had a brief and disastrous stint as CEO, forcing Iger to return to the role for several more years.
Upon his return, he was less than happy with Peltz and Perlmutter's attempts to change the board, saying in 2023: “Ike and Nelson were working together to try to […] “Convince the board of directors to include Nelson on the board.”
He added: “They have a relationship that goes back quite a while. We bought Marvel in 2009. I promised Ike that I would continue to run Marvel after that. Not necessarily forever.”
Peltz's bid to join the board, which would allow Perlmutter to grant him voting rights to his shares, was soundly defeated by other shareholders at the April 3 annual meeting.
In the following weeks, actress Nicola Peltz-Beckham's father, married to Brooklyn Beckham, sold his shares for around $1 billion.
Following the April vote, Peltz vowed to continue his criticism if the board failed to meet its goals.
“I hope this isn't a repeat of last year, when we stepped away, gave management a chance and the stock fell,” he told CNBC.
He added: “Whether we stay, [invested in Disney] or not, we don't make those kinds of announcements.”
Peltz's Trian Partners wanted to oust two directors, Maria Elena Lagomasino and Michael Froman, citing sustained underperformance of the stock, according to CNBC.
However, Peltz reportedly lost to Lagomasino by a 2-to-1 margin, and all of the company's board candidates were re-elected.
Peltz is considered an activist investor, meaning he invests in companies considered undervalued and then lobbies for changes within them.
Iger led the Walt Disney Company for a 17-year stint as CEO, shepherding the multi-billion-dollar kingdom through a pandemic, scandals, the rise of online streaming and, most recently, his own successor.
In 2020, Iger passed the baton to Chapek and quickly returned less than three years later after a series of film failures and mismanagement cost the organization millions of dollars.
Mr. Iger plans to step down, hopefully on a more permanent basis, in the next few years.
According to Vanity Fair, the entertainment giant has narrowed its list of Iger successors to four candidates, with plans to hand over power in 2026 and, crucially, avoid a repeat of the 2022 disaster, when Iger returned to pick up the pieces in just three years.
The people named as candidates for the CEO position are Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro and Josh D'Amaro.
