Activist investor Nelson Peltz has made good on his latest proxy-war threat against Disney.
On Thursday, the 81-year-old former frozen-food company magnate, who controls around $3 billion worth of Disney shares through his Trian Fund Management, along with his alliance with ousted Marvel Entertainment chair Ike Perlmutter, asked Disney shareholders for his nomination to the company's board of directors.
Peltz also asked for the nomination of former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo.
In a proxy filing headlined "Restore the Magic," Trian seeks to "align management pay with performance," specifically noting CEO Bob Iger's $31.6 million annual compensation package.
Trian also promises to help Disney "finally complete a successful CEO succession" ... again noting Iger. Additionally, Peltz' firm asked Disney shareholders to reject three nomination bids made by another activist firm, Blackwell.
Peltz made a similar nomination request a year ago, but he dropped it after newly reinstalled CEO Iger announced his intentions to dismantle displaced chief executive Bob Chapek's reorganization plan, as well as conduct layoffs and streamline operations.
With Disney stock down over 17% since that time, Peltz told CNBC's Squawk Box Thursday he was intent on making another "run" at the company.
"I made a run at them last year," he said. "They promised they were going to improve things. I took them at their word. Things got worse. The stock went down."
Asked why he's targeting Disney amid streaming disruption to the broader media-entertainment sector, Peltz noted the company's 6% margins vs. 20% margins for competitors Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery.
"Bob [Iger] said in ’15 and ’16 that streaming was a big issue. It was coming. Then what happened? They did nothing," Peltz told Squawk Box. "And look what happened to ESPN, the crown jewel of Disney, it continued to lose subscribers, lose value, and now they’re negotiating deals for ESPN out of total weakness. They could have made deals for ESPN back in ’15, ’16, ’17,, ’18, when they saw this streaming thing coming. They said it directly."
