Wall Street loves Disney’s kitchen-sink quarter, but Nelson Peltz says he isn’t backing down

Are
you
not
entertained,
Nelson
Peltz?

Disney
shares
jumped
6%
in
after-market
trading
Wednesday
after
the

company
posted
earnings
and
flooded
the
zone
with
new
announcements
meant
not
only
to
excite
its
employees
and
shareholders,
but
also
to
put
activist
investor
Nelson
Peltz
in
his
place.

Peltz
has
launched
a
proxy
fight
against
Disney,
asking
investors
to
nominate
him
and
former
Disney
Chief
Financial
Officer
Jay
Rasulo
to
replace
current
board
members
Michael
Froman
and
Maria
Elena
Lagomasino.
Both
Disney’s
higher
profits,
and
string
of
content
and
partnership
announcements,
appeared
to
form
a
direct
rebuttal
to
Peltz’s
concerns
about
the
company.

“The
last
thing
we
need
right
now
is
to
be
distracted
by
an
activist
or
activists
that
have
a
different
agenda
and
don’t
understand
our
company,”
Disney
Chief
Executive
Bob
Iger
told
CNBC’s
Julia
Boorstin
in
an
interview
Wednesday.

During
his
company’s
first-quarter
earnings
conference
call,
he
added,
“we
have
turned
the
corner
and
entered
a
new
era.”

Peltz,
who
first
took
a
stake
in
Disney
last
year

only
to
abandon
and
then
renew
his
proxy
fight
threats,
responded
with
a
statement
to
CNBC
that
he
won’t
be
backing
down
this
time.

“It’s
deja
vu
all
over
again,”
Peltz’s
firm
Trian
Fund
Management
said
in
a
statement.
“We
saw
this
movie
last
year,
and
we
didn’t
like
the
ending.”

It
was
hard
to
keep
up
with
Disney’s
announcements
this
quarter:

• 
  ESPN
  finally
  set
  a
  launch
  date
  for
  its
  direct-to-consumer
  service:
  August
  or
  fall
  of
  2025.
• Disney
  
  is
  buying
  a
  $1.5
  billion
  stake
  in
  Epic
  Games,
  the
  maker
  of
  Fortnite.
  It
  is
  Disney’s
  “biggest
  foray
  into
  the
  gaming
  space
  ever,”
  Iger
  said
  to
  Boorstin.
• Taylor
  Swift’s
  Eras
  Tour
  film
  
  is
  coming
  to
  Disney+.
• Disney
  upped
  its
  dividend
  by
  50%
  versus
  the
  last
  dividend
  paid
  in
  January.
• Disney
  announced
  a
  sequel
  to
  “Moana”
  is
  coming
  to
  theaters
  in
  November,
  which
  will
  likely
  be
  the
  studio’s
  biggest
  box
  office
  hit
  of
  the
  year.
• Disney
  is
  on
  track
  to
  meet
  or
  exceed
  its
  $7.5
  billion
  targeted
  spending
  cuts
  by
  the
  end
  of
  fiscal
  2024.
• The
  company
  said
  it
  expects
  full-year
  fiscal
  2024
  earnings
  will
  increase
  at
  least
  20%
  over
  2023.

All
of
these
announcements
came
a
day
after
Disney
made
more
big
news,
revealing
it’s
launching
a

joint
venture
with
Warner
Bros.
Discovery
and
Fox
to
offer
ESPN
in
a
new
skinny
bundle
of
linear
networks
that
caters
to
sports
fans
later
this
year.
It
will
be
the
first
time
cable
cord-cutters
and
cord-nevers
will
have
access
to
ESPN
outside
the
traditional
cable
bundle.

It’s
only
logical
that
the
mountain
of
announcements
came
this
quarter,
given
activist
pressure
from
Trian
and

Blackwells
Capital.
Iger
has
a
vested
interest
in
beating
back
critics
of
his
performance
and
strategy.

Peltz
has
been
vocal
about

bashing
Iger’s
leadership
as
shares
have
slumped
in
the
past
year,
underperforming
the
S&P
500.
Trian
has
launched
a
website,

Restorethemagic.com,
that
claims
Disney
has
“not
performed
for
shareholders.”

“It
saddens
me
that
the
board
didn’t
welcome
me,”
Peltz
said

last
month.
“This
company
is
just
not
being
run
properly.”

Iger
said
he
hasn’t
spoken
with
Peltz
recently
and
doesn’t
intend
to
speak
with
him.
In
a

filing
last
month,

Disney
said
“in
deciding
not
to
recommend
Mr.
Peltz,
the
directors
considered
a
number
of
factors,
including
that
in
a
two
year
quest
for
a
seat
on
the
Disney
Board,
Mr.
Peltz
had
not
actually
presented
a
single
strategic
idea
for
Disney.”

WATCH:
Disney
CEO
Bob
Iger
on
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streaming
bundle
partnership:
‘I’d
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be
a
disruptor.’