Ex-Marvel boss sells entire stake in Disney after losing board fight

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Former Marvel boss Ike Perlmutter has sold his entire stake in Disney for nearly $3 billion after his joint bid to shake up the board was soundly defeated.

Once one of Disney’s major stakeholders, Perlmutter has sold all of his 25.6 million shares for a staggering $2.9bn, the 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 claiming he doesn’t have 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 the board of directors of Marvel Comics since the early 1990s but was eventually pushed out of his position in 2015 and then altogether laid off in 2023 when Bob Iger returned to his role as CEO.

Although he had never obtained a seat on the board, he retained his shares and backed hedgefund billionaire Nelson Peltz’s attempt to join the board himself this year.

The campaign was motivated by Iger’s failed attempt to appoint his successor, following complaints from Peltz that the board had failed to do its job with regards to CEO succession planning in not vetting former parks boss Bob Chapek.

Chapek had a brief and disastrous stint as CEO, forcing Iger to return to his role for several more years.

Upon his return, he was less than happy at Peltz and Perlmutter’s attempts to shake up the board, and said in 2023: “Ike and Nelson were working together to try to […] convince the board to put Nelson on the board.”

He added: “They have a relationship that dates back quite some time. We bought Marvel in 2009. I promised Ike the job that he would continue to run Marvel after that. Not forever, necessarily.”

Peltz’s bid to join the board, which saw Perlmutter gave him authorisation to vote his shares, was soundly defeated by other shareholders at the annual meeting on April 3.

In the weeks that followed, the father of actor Nicola Peltz-Beckham, married to Brooklyn Beckham,  sold his stock for around $1bn.

Following April’s vote, Peltz vowed to continue his critique if the board failed to deliver.

“I hope this is not a redo of last year where we pulled out, gave management a chance and the stock went down,” 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 share underperformance according to CNBC.

However, it was reported that Peltz lost to Lagomasino by a 2-to-1 margin, and the company’s entire slate of board nominees were re-elected.

Peltz is regarded as an activist investor, meaning that he invests in companies considered undervalued and then lobbies for change within them.

Iger has led the Walt Disney Company for a 17-year term as CEO, leading the multi-billion dollar kingdom through a pandemic, scandals, the rise of online streaming, and more recently, his own successor.

Chapek was passed the mantle by Mr Iger in 2020, who quickly swooped back in less than three years later after a string of film flops and poor management costing the organisation millions of dollars.

Mr Iger does plan to step down - hopefully more permanently - in the coming years.

According to Vanity Fair, the entertainment giant has narrowed down Iger’s list of successors to four candidates, with plans in place to hand over in 2026 – and crucially avoid a repeat of the 2022 disaster that saw Iger return to pick up the pieces within just three years.

The people tapped as candidates for the CEO position are Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro, and Josh D’Amaro.